Open Heart : A Patient's Story of Life-Saving Medicine and Life-Giving Friendship
by Neugeboren, Jay
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 0618112111
- ISBN 13
- 9780618112111
- Seller
-
Mishawaka, Indiana, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
The shared qualities of friendship and the healing arts are the subject of this riveting memoir of one man's battle with heart disease. When, in February 1999, Jay Neugeboren discovered he needed emergency quintuple-bypass surgery, he embarked on a journey that just began on the operating table. At sixty, he was the picture of health, swimming a mile a day and playing tennis and basketball regularly -- often with teenagers. How could he possibly have heart disease? But as he soon came to know, the difference between being healthy and being sick, and between receiving good care and receiving misdiagnoses, can be alarmingly narrow. Fortunately, on his side were four lifelong friends, all prominent physicians -- a cardiologist, a psychologist, a neurologist, and one of the world's pioneers in AIDS medicine -- who helped him sift through the contradictory advice and the uneasiness one feels when life lies in the hands of strangers who are doctors. Guiding him through the system and relying on the strength of their childhood bonds, born from their Brooklyn upbringing, his friends in effect saved his life and opened his eyes to the ways -- good, bad, miraculous, and at times chilling -- in which medicine is practiced in the United States today. In this book, Jay sets out to understand how and why he nearly died, and to find out what we know -- and don't know -- about disease and illness in general. Joined by his friends, each of whom reflects on his own life as a physician, Jay examines the faith many of us place in the advanced technologies of modern medicine and how that often distracts us from the most fundamental health care tool -- an engaged physician who listens and cares. What he discovers, in part, is that the qualities that lie at the heart of friendship also define what we hope for, and are losing, in our doctors. At a time when our health care system continues to disappoint, Open Heart will resonate with every patient who has been shuttled between specialists, with every physician who has faced impossible time constraints and technologies, and with everyone who has helped a loved one through the maze of health care choices.Clear, compelling, comic, and inspiring, Open Heart is a story that will open eyes and hearts -- a memoir every patient, doctor, and care provider will want to read.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- Better World Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 15009112-6
- Title
- Open Heart : A Patient's Story of Life-Saving Medicine and Life-Giving Friendship
- Author
- Neugeboren, Jay
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 0618112111
- ISBN 13
- 9780618112111
- Publisher
- Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
- Place of Publication
- Wilmington, Massachusetts, U.s.a.
- This edition first published
- August 6, 2003
Terms of Sale
Better World Books
Better World Books wants every single one of its customers to be happy with their purchase. If you are not satisfied your purchase or simply find out that it was not the book you were looking for, please e-mail us at: help@betterworldbooks.com. We will get back to you as soon as possible with directions on how to return the book to our warehouse. Please keep in mind that because we deal mostly in used books, any extra components, such as CDs or access codes, are usually not included. CDs: If the book does include a CD, it will be noted in the book's description ("With CD!"). Otherwise, there is no CD included, even if the term is used in the book's title. Access Codes: Unless the book is described as "New," please assume that the book does *not* have an access code.