| Life with Sudden Death: A Tale of Moral Hazard and Medical Misadventure Contributor(s): Downing, Michael (Author) |
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ISBN: 1582435227 ISBN-13: 9781582435220 Publisher: Counterpoint LLC OUR PRICE: $22.50 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: October 2009 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Personal Memoirs - Biography & Autobiography | Medical (incl. Patients) |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2009025605 |
| Physical Information: 0.9" H x 6.38" W x 9.28" (1.06 lbs) 244 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The youngest of nine children, Michael Downing was three when his father died -- suddenly and inexplicably. No autopsy was performed. The family diagnosis was God's will. As a boy, Downing rigorously trained as a spiritual athlete, preparing to vault into heaven. But eventually he escaped the religious dogma, and the family arena -- until one of his brothers died in 2003, suddenly and inexplicably. No autopsy was performed. Alarmed, Downing pursued a diagnosis: Drawn into a world of researchers, clinicians, and manufacturers with their own arcane ethics and faith, Downing discovered he had inherited a mutant protein from his father, and the first symptom would be his sudden death. To save his life, a defibrillator was hard-wired to his heart. Within weeks, he needed emergency surgery to remove the device and the life-threatening infection he got with it. Two months later, he was re-implanted -- only to read in his morning newspaper that the new wires anchored to his heart were prone to failure. His device might be powerless, or it might deliver a series of unwarranted, possibly fatal, shocks. From a bedeviled boyhood in the Berkshires to a grim comedy of errors in one of Boston's best hospitals, Life with Sudden Death is a wild ride. |