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99 reviews for:
Fragile Lives: A Heart Surgeon's Stories of Life and Death on the Operating Table
Stephen Westaby
4.19 AVERAGE
99 reviews for:
Fragile Lives: A Heart Surgeon's Stories of Life and Death on the Operating Table
Stephen Westaby
4.19 AVERAGE
I'm so glad I finally finished this book. Due to morning sickness and first trimester dizziness I had to take a break from reading on the commute and, at times, in general.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and I was so excited when I got the email. The book took a little while to arrive, so I started it as soon as I received it (after finishing my current book of the time).
Westaby writes in a delightfully engaging manner. He manages to make heart surgery and complicated medical conditions easily accessible to the layman, so much so that I was thinking "Oh, that sounds like..." or "Perhaps they could..." during later stories in the book.
Westaby was a pioneer in the field of heart surgery. He worked with some fantastic teams across the world to implement technological advances into the cardiovascular world, in particular the pulse-less mechanical hearts.
There were times when I did get slightly bored with some of the technical explanations in his book, which is why I have awarded it 4, not 5 stars.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and I was so excited when I got the email. The book took a little while to arrive, so I started it as soon as I received it (after finishing my current book of the time).
Westaby writes in a delightfully engaging manner. He manages to make heart surgery and complicated medical conditions easily accessible to the layman, so much so that I was thinking "Oh, that sounds like..." or "Perhaps they could..." during later stories in the book.
Westaby was a pioneer in the field of heart surgery. He worked with some fantastic teams across the world to implement technological advances into the cardiovascular world, in particular the pulse-less mechanical hearts.
There were times when I did get slightly bored with some of the technical explanations in his book, which is why I have awarded it 4, not 5 stars.
fast-paced
It's a beautiful thing that books can do, and that this book does, giving you an opportunity to listen to and behold someone's best humanity and intentions and love, when that someone, Westaby, would almost definetly irritate you in person with his arrogance, casual misogyny and self-centredness. The beautiful, love-filled stories in this book about the connection between Westaby and his patients are what makes this book. It's not a surprise he's pissed off various people and medical bodies, but here I can see some of his perspectives as to why he did, and I am grateful for that.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
so interesting and inspirational > i cried a lot!! don't read if you're squeamish because the surgeries go into quite a lot of detail lol
cry count: 2 cries
cry count: 2 cries
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
An interesting and at times completely heart-wrenching read. Stephen Westaby is obviously a truly talented doctor, and it was crazy to read about how many innovative surgeries and treatments he was involved in over the course of his career. Through his writing, you could definitely tell that he has a bit of a big head which became a bit annoying at some points - though any heart surgeon worth their salt probably needs to have a bit of a narcissistic streak in them, with all of those unbelievable procedures they perform every single day. Definitely worth the read for anybody interested in medicine!
A long read, but an undeniably inspiring one. I felt as if I were following Stephen Westaby along his incredibly eventful career as a cardiac surgeon. Being guided through his triumphs and losses; the inevitable soaring highs and sombre lows of his role. Not only did he provide a raw insight into the role of a surgeon, but he clearly painted an image of the realities of mortality. Life really is balanced on a tight rope, hanging above a wide abyss of death. It was truly awe-inspiring to watch surgeons like Westaby (already struggling under the inner moral turmoil that came with a lack of funding and emotional weight that came from seeing people at their most vulnerable) grapple with that tight rope. Sometimes mending it. Sometimes standing by and having to watch it break.
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Fascinating read. Especially liked how there are frequent callbacks to previous stories making the book seem more cohesive than what I first expected to be. As a young medical student, I found it quite academic and motivating as well.
This is an incredible compilation. I'm not sure why, but with medicine, despite the fact that you lose more patients than you can save, it's those few survivors that give you the ability to persevere. They make it all matter. It doesn't matter how smart you are, you just need to be smart enough to care more than others, to be more passionate than others. It's tragic that a healthcare system is in the hands of political leaders who usually don't know enough about the preciousness of human life. Its not just the NHS, its a lot of countries' healthcare systems. Its tragic because lives are lost when support was needed.
As medical students in this new age of technology and intense competition we feel so intimidated and unsure. Our lack of experience is irritating to our seniors, and rightfully so. I'm not quite sure we'll stop being irritating and I don't think it helps for us to get upset at being looked down on. Westaby's successes are so inspiring because of how many failures he went through. They made him even more determined to press against the odds.
We all have our challenges. But it shouldn't stop us from always putting the patients first. We need to keep following the stars that led us to the profession in the first place. ❤️
As medical students in this new age of technology and intense competition we feel so intimidated and unsure. Our lack of experience is irritating to our seniors, and rightfully so. I'm not quite sure we'll stop being irritating and I don't think it helps for us to get upset at being looked down on. Westaby's successes are so inspiring because of how many failures he went through. They made him even more determined to press against the odds.
We all have our challenges. But it shouldn't stop us from always putting the patients first. We need to keep following the stars that led us to the profession in the first place. ❤️