Author Description

"Over the course of a year, Charles R. Morris gained unprecedented access to the operating room, the patients, and even the closed-door meetings where the surgeons criticize their own performance. Showing how these extraordinary doctors rise to meet the demands of their virtuosic profession, Morris takes us on a late-night "harvest run" to secure a transplantable organ, and he brings us to the operating room where Jan Quaegebeur, "the greatest congenital surgeon in the universe," rebuilds a newborn baby's malformed heart. Perhaps most poignantly, we hear the story of young Erika Maynard, whose illness tested her parents' faith and the limits of modern medical technology." "With each new patient and each new procedure Morris shows us how doctors think, how they judge one another, and what really drives health care costs in America today. Along the way, he explores the fascinating history of heart surgery, investigates the influence of Big Pharma and medical device makers on practice and prices, and details the thrilling new technology being developed, including a fully functional mechanical heart - a once-futuristic device that is shockingly close to becoming a reality."--Jacket.