Book Review: Admissions by Henry Marsh

Quick book review while I'm on the road in New Zealand.  New Zealand is quite a big place, and over the last week I've covered about 1500 miles of road on the south island.  During this time, my husband has done an excellent job of keeping us on the left side of the road while I've been reading aloud from Dr. Henry Marsh's newest book, Admissions.   This book follows on the doctor's wildly successful book, Do No Harm which I reviewed a few months ago.  Click here for a link to that review.

This book was a great read, and especially so if you have read Do No Harm.  Knowing a bit about his life and work when reading this book, you can see how his retirement from his full-time brain surgery work in England and his fear of being stricken by Alzheimers in his advancing age have led him to reflect on his life and career in this book.

This book again talks about surgeries and their outcomes for the doctor, the medical staff, the patient and the patient's family.  It also talks about Dr. Marsh's volunteer medical work in Nepal and Ukraine.  He discusses his post retirement medical work and his ongoing spiritual journey.  Additionally, the doctor works hard to get back into a big personal love of his, woodworking.  The woodworking is secondary to his purchase of a run-down shed in the town he grew up in.  While he is rehabilitating the property, he is also reminiscing about his past and looking forward to his future putterings in his workshop.

Admissions is also a confessional of sorts.  Henry Marsh discusses surgeries gone wrong, past indignities he's suffered and the torment he has put others through.  Throughout the book the doctor shows great empathy for his fellow man, and in a way is making things right in his past.

This book is a great read about a man's professional and personal life.  It is full of wit, shocking medical situations and a caretaker's perspective on life as well as death.

Book Review: Do No Harm by Henry Marsh

Hello Fellow Readers.  Just dug this gem out of my stack of books:   Do No Harm by Henry Marsh.  A good friend had recommended it over 3 years ago and this past month I couldn't put it down

Do No Harm is written by British brain surgeon Henry Marsh.  Dr. Marsh does a wonderful job of talking about complicated brain issues in easily understandable language.  He also talks about his interpersonal relationships with patients, co-workers and his family.  He also shines light on the bureaucracy that medicine has become.

Dr. Marsh starts each chapter with a medical term for a disorder, such as Aneurysm, and then discusses the surgery he performs on a patient with that problem, along with the situations surrounding the surgery.  Situations include not having enough beds in the surgery ward for his patients, dealing with other "famous" brain surgeons and the damage they have wrought to a patient, through to working as a volunteer in a Ukrainian hospital.  Dr. Marsh also brings out his personal story, including his infant son suffering from a brain tumor, and his retinas detaching and breaking his leg falling down his staircase.  Doctors are human too, and need medical care just like you and I. 

The book was a fun and fast read.  Dr. Marsh gave enthralling descriptors of surgeries.  He also told about unsuccessful surgeries that left patients dead, in a vegetative state or otherwise.  Dr. Marsh's commitment to his patients' best outcomes was evident in each story. 

I definitely encourage you to read this book.  It will shed some light on the inner workings of the brain, and might just make you think about things in a new way.