Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Monday Mornings

Monday Mornings: a novel by Sanjay Gupta, M.D.  290pp.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is mostly known for his work as a medical correspondent on CNN. He is also a neurosurgeon and professor of medicine. So it isn't surprising that he knows his stuff when it comes to writing about the behind-the-scenes goings on of hospitals and doctors. This is his first attempt at fiction and it is a successful one. The "Monday Mornings" of the title refers to the "Mortality and Morbidity" conferences that happen among hospital physicians and surgeons to discuss the wide range of complications and mistakes that occur in the practice of medicine. (I've probably been the subject of some some of those conferences--if a medical complication can occur, it will happen to me.) The story focuses on several doctors and surgeons in a Detroit hospital: the Chief of Surgery, an ex-football player/ER doctor, a neurosurgeon who has lost his confidence after the death of a young patient, a workaholic Korean neurosurgeon who wants to prove to others that he is the best, an extremely attractive surgeon who is questioning her sense of purpose, and others who feed in and out of the various story-lines. Some of the doctors face life and/or career altering or ending events. In the end, it is a book about realizing what in life is really important.

I enjoyed this book. It was fast moving and contained enough twists and turns to keep the plot moving and the reader interested.

No comments:

Post a Comment