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Genius On The Edge: The Bizarre Double Life Of Dr. William Stewart Halsted (2010)

by Gerald Imber(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1607146274 (ISBN13: 9781607146278)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Kaplan Publishing

review 1: I reserve 5-star ratings for books that have profoundly added to my understanding of the world and have a lasting effect on how I live my life. Gerald Imber, MD, presents William Stewart Halsted as a dedicated innovator who, along with several physicians of the age, changed the practice of medicine with his insight and hard work. As a practicing surgeon himself, Imber is able to give invaluable accuracy to the various advancements to medicine and surgery by Halsted and his colleagues.Medicine in the United States at the turn of the 20th century was too reminiscent of the dark ages, with little empiric evidence guiding patient care, which carried poor outcomes and too much suffering. William Halsted devoted his life to improving, among other things, how doctors are trained... more, how studies are designed, and how surgery is performed. As the progeny of a wealthy family of investment bankers and real estate developers (Halsted Avenue in Chicago is named for his grandfather), Halsted dismayed his parents by pursuing a medical career.Born in 1872, Halsted went to Ivy League schools, trained in surgery at his own expense with some of the great physicians in Germany (Europe was ahead of the US in training), and brought the science of medical training to the USA. Imber’s book is largely the story of the making of Johns Hopkins Hospital and medical school in Baltimore, with the surgeon Halsted joined by other key players: William Osler (medicine), Howard Kelly (gynecology) and William Welch (pathology). This emphasizes the necessity of collaboration and a robust system to care for sick patients.Early in his career, cocaine was discovered as the prototypical local anesthetic which, along with sodium pentothal and ether, allowed the birth of the entire field of surgery. Halsted performed the first successful cholecystectomy (removal of the gallbladder) in his kitchen on his septic mother using drip ether. He also developed the techniques for inguinal hernia repair, radical mastectomy for breast cancer, and various vascular procedures. His attention to detail, careful hemostasis to prevent blood loss, and adherence to strict antisepsis (well known in Europe but ignored in the US) were the keys to his success.Unfortunately, Halsted experimented with cocaine on himself and quickly became addicted. This led to morphine substitution as the only treatment at the time and severely limited Halsted’s ability to contribute over the years. Despite his addiction, Halsted slogged on, humanely studying techniques on dogs before operating on his patients. Halsted set the standards for formal residency training that persist today, replacing the archaic system of apprenticeship and journeyman extant at that time. Gerald Imber presents a compelling narrative of a devoted surgeon who struggled through personal hardship and failings to revolutionize the practice of surgery. Many of the benefits we enjoy today began with the insight and innovation of men like Halsted. This book is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in medical care: students, doctors, nurses, ancillary technicians. Imber provides expert insight in the importance of hard work and imagination, and the value of empiric observations, in caring for patients. Halsted joins the pantheon of secular saints who have made our lives better.
review 2: This book was one of those reads that you can tell is written by a white man well before you even look up anything about who wrote the book. Any mention of women was matched with some sort of disparaging remark about how they looked or what the men thought of them. He presented subjective views as though they are fact, which is really irritating. For example, he wrote about Gertrude Stein failing at the medical school, and ended it by saying, "Much of her writing was obtuse, and though few believed her work to be as great as did she, much of it survived." I think that's a little arrogant and many people would quickly argue that point. All in all, I'm glad I know more about who Halsted was, but I can't say the book was well-written or even very engaging. I'm not sure who I'd recommend this to...perhaps a surgery student. less

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