book review: complications by Atul gawande

Books on everyday medical problems has caught my attention these days and Dr gawande does a fine job of bringing out the complexities of medical profession. While he names the book as complications, i would rather call it complexities touching upon a myriad of them.

He starts with a complex case of a boy with no obvious solution but subsequently solved with some dose of  common sense and luck at the last hour. Dr gawande brings out very lucidly the dangers fraught in various hospital interventions such as anaesthesia, tracheostomy , central venous line , etc  along with his own doubts and mistakes during these procedures . His candid admissions regarding the evolution of a resident to a trained doctor including himself is rare these days. The fallibility of doctors and uncertainty in medicine is a frequently touched upon theme .

Dr gawande also touches upon various afflictions which are very common in their occurrence but rare in their complications such as nausea , pain , blushing , obesity giving a surgeon's insight into each one of them . 

The most important theme which he touches upon again in this book and also his other book being mortal is about the goals of medicine especially in terminally ill patients and what patient doctor interaction best suits to achieve that goal.