Seven Signs of Life: Stories from an Intensive Care Doctor

Seven Signs of Life: Stories from an Intensive Care Doctor

by Aoife Abbey (Author)

Synopsis

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. But there are also moments of joy, like the rare bright spots of lucidity for a dementia patient, or when the ward unexpectedly breaks into song. Dr Aoife Abbey shows us what a doctor sees of humanity as it comes through the revolving door of the hospital and takes us beyond a purely medical perspective. Told through seven emotions, Seven Signs of Life is about what it means to be alive and how it feels to care for a living.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 07 Feb 2019

ISBN 10: 178470945X
ISBN 13: 9781784709457
Book Overview: A beautiful and perceptive memoir that explores the emotional life of an intensive care unit, by the writer behind the Secret Doctor blog

Media Reviews
Heartfelt, honest, illuminating and wise - a wonderful book that I would urge everyone to read -- Julia Samuel, author of GRIEF WORKS
Aoife Abbey's honesty and insight are breath-taking. If you want to find out what it is really like to be a doctor, read this book. -- Dr Caroline Elton, author of ALSO HUMAN: The Inner Lives of Doctors
Illness is a thicket through which doctors and patients struggle-sometimes at odds, sometimes in concert. Into the harrowing penumbra between life and death come Dr. Abbey's signs of intelligent life. These seven cogent chapters probe the range of experience and emotions that patients, families, and medical workers must navigate. A welcome addition to the medical-literary canon. -- Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, author of WHAT PATIENTS SAY, WHAT DOCTORS HEAR
Author Bio
Aoife Abbey grew up in Dublin, Ireland. She completed an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, before graduating in 2011 from medical school at Warwick University. She is a member of the Royal College of Physicians, Fellow of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and council member at The Intensive Care Society UK. From September 2016, Aoife wrote a blog under the guise of the British Medical Association's `The Secret Doctor'. This is her first book.