When Death Becomes Life
Joshua D. Mezrich · 2019 · 384 pages
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About this book
A transplant surgeon's "visceral tale of hearts and bones, surgical bravura, and the 'web of transplantation' that binds people who might never meet" ( Nature ) . At the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Joshua Mezrich creates life from loss, transplanting organs from one body to another. In this intimate, profoundly moving work, he illuminates the extraordinary field of transplantation that enables this kind of miracle to happen every day. Mezrich examines more than a hundred years of remarkable medical breakthroughs, connecting this history with the inspiring and heartbreaking stories of his transplant patients. He introduces the maverick surgeons who made transplantation a reality. And he takes us inside the operating room and unlocks the wondrous process of transplant surgery, a delicate, intense ballet requiring precise timing, breathtaking skill, and at times, creative improvisation. When Death Becomes Life also engages in fascinating ethical and philosophical debates: How much risk should a healthy person be allowed to take to save someone she loves? Should a patient suffering from alcoholism receive a healthy liver? What defines death, and what role did organ transplantation play in that definition? The human story behind the most exceptional medicine of our time, Mezrich's riveting book is a poignant reminder that a life lost can also offer the hope of a new beginning. "Outstanding ... . . . Medical memoirs have become a significant genre over the past two decades, and th
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Organ Transplantation: The Best Books on How It Became Possible, in Order
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