Medical Care

How has the United States, with more resources than any nation, developed a healthcare system that delivers much poorer results, at near double the cost of any other developed country - such that legendary seer Warren Buffett calls the Medical Industrial Complex "the tapeworm of American economic competitiveness"?

Grief. Anger. Joy. Fear. Distraction. Disgust. Hope. All emotions we expect to encounter over our lifetime. But what if this was every day? And what if your ability to manage them was the difference between life and death? For a doctor in intensive care, this is part of the job. Fear in the eyes of a terminally ill patient who pleads with you to not let them die. Grief when you make a potentially fatal mistake. Disgust at caring for a convicted rapist.

The Healing Cell is an easy to follow, carefully researched, and clear-eyed view of medicine many decades in the making that is now paying off with treatments that repair damaged hearts, restore sight, kill cancer, cure diabetes, heal burns, and stop the march of such degenerative diseases. The emotionally and intellectually stimulating stories throughout the audiobook dramatically illustrate that stem cell therapies can change the way we live our lives after being afflicted by a disease or trauma.

Dr. Mackowiak, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, offers a gripping and authoritative account of 13 patients who took center stage in world history. The result is a new understanding of how the past unfolded, as well as a sweeping survey of the history of medicine. What was the ailment that drove Caligula mad? Why did Stonewall Jackson die after having an arm amputated, when so many other Civil War soldiers survived such operations?

Krys Stevens is the best trauma doctor at Lakeside Hospital. She runs the ER like a finely choreographed dance and her dedication to her patients makes up for the ones she cannot save. She’s got a small group of coworkers she calls friends and she’s a superstar at the free clinic where she volunteers. What more could an ambitious young doctor want? One day, a patient arrives in the ER intubated with a ballpoint pen and changes everything.

By the mid 1980s, AIDS hysteria was so rampant that a fearful and prejudiced public ignored stories of gay men falling ill with lesions and mouth ulcers. President Reagan avoided mentioning the disease entirely. Then, as chronicled in Blood Farm, a new HIV-positive population emerged, one that included kids like Ken Dixon, Brad Cross, and Ryan White who had been infected as young as ten years old. But how?

In Kidney to Share, Martha Gershun tells the story of her decision to donate a kidney to a stranger. She takes listeners through the complex process by which such donors are vetted to ensure that they are physically and psychologically fit to take the risk of a major operation. Gershun and Lantos analyze the differences that arise depending on whether the organ comes from a living donor or one who has died. They observe the expertise and the shortcomings of doctors, nurses, and other professionals and describe the burdens that we place on people who are willing to donate.

Dr. Tom Harbin outlines the many reasons medical professionals should pay more attention to the easily-forgotten principles of ethics. This audiobook discusses ethical issues of day-to-day importance, such as prescribing medications, recommending surgery, adopting new procedures, communicating with patients and colleagues, dealing with personal problems such as substance abuse, disruptive behavior, and boundary issues, and managing personal and institutional obstacles to ethics.

Go behind the scenes of popular music festivals with the medical professionals who risk it all to keep everyone safe. From intoxicated teens to patients in porta-potties, discover the hidden, often hilarious, side of music festivals from the points of view of dedicated EMTs and paramedics. Written by lawyer-turned-paramedic Jim Bollenbacher, this lighthearted collection of stories provides an inside view of the world of music festival medicine.