All Bleeding Stops by Stephen M. Cohn
We’re all forced to make judgment calls, but for a trauma surgeon, those calls can have life or death consequences. Stephen M. Cohn has been a trauma surgeon since the ‘80s in both military and civilian sectors. All Bleeding Stops is drawn from his experiences on the frontlines of health care.
As Cohn tells it, trauma surgeons on duty in hospitals are the “utility infielders for surgical emergencies.” They must make judgment calls at breakneck speed. “We have to deal with a steady diet of calamity,” he writes, usually with no knowledge of the patient’s medical history, end-of-life wishes or even “knowing the actual injuries sustained.” As “experts at dealing with calamity,” they often wield the best tools of science and yet, “the balance tips toward art in the conduct of trauma surgery.”
Cohn also speaks his mind about the American healthcare system, the most expensive on Earth yet far from the most successful if measured in life expectancy, infant mortality and other markers for quality of life. He blames insurance companies and lavish “administrative” expenses for sucking money that could improve lives. He dismisses the idea that the high costs are paying for medical research.
“Are surgeons dangerous?” one chapter asks. Accidents in the operating room can happen, but Cohn recounts the procedures that minimize surgical errors in his frank memoir of medicine’s front lines.
Get All Bleeding Stops at Amazon here.
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