Rocky Lang and Dr. Erick Montero offer up more than 200 firsthand accounts of emergency room dramas along with bizarre and insightful medical facts and stats inside Confessions of Emergency Room Doctors. Sample entries include: * Strange Disease Fact: A melcryptovestimentaphilliac is someone who compulsively steals ladies underwear. * Dr. Brown, Chicago Hospital, writes: "A woman came into the ER, ready to give birth, followed by her husband and about ten kids. Their last name was King. We took her to the operating room and soon I came out and announced that he was the proud father of a baby boy--I told him his wife said that he should name the little one. Mr. King scratched his head and said, "Gee I just don't know, I've just about used up all the names I can think of." He glanced up at a sign that read, "No Smoking." "That's it," he says, "I'll name him Nosmo--Nosmo King."

Covers issues from unnecessary surgeries and prescribed drugs to preventive medicine and home births.

This book probes the ethical structure of contemporary medicine in an argument accessible to lay readers, healthcare professionals, and ethicists alike.

"An incredible true story of a gay man's triumph over addictions and loss." A riveting memoir of a gay man coming of age and coming out in the drug-drenched 1980s Guilted by his Italian-Catholic upbringing and grieving the sudden death of his mother, Michael Fredericks easily slips into multiple addictions (vodka, Valium, cocaine, sex), even as he is preparing for a dazzling medical career. With a sharp eye for detail and a natural sense of drama, Fredericks recounts in A Doctor's Confession the wretchedness of detox and rehab, the struggle to maintain sobriety, the serial trysts and boyfriends (some of them sociopaths), and the eventual rebuilding of his life. His sincerity and the energy of his chi permeate every page of this beautifully crafted memoir about one gay man's odyssey from success to surrealistic depths to recovery. Anyone who has struggled with addictions or loss will find this book inspiring. Fredericks gives hope that all of us can overcome our darkest and most difficult obstacles. This is a must-have for fans of gay nonfiction, addiction memoirs, and recovery. Get your copy today. Click the 'Buy now' button on this page.

* JFK's autopsy failed to disclose crucial evidence. * The deaths of John Belushi and Elvis Presley were far more complex than anyone has let on. * Decisive medical findings in the von Bulow affair were consistently overlooked. These are but three of the shocking revelations in Dr. Michael Baden's first-person, no-holds-barred account of his distinguished career in forensic pathology. In determining the causes of tens of thousands of deaths, from those of presidents and rock stars to victims of serial killings, exotic sex rituals, mass disasters, child abuse and drug abuse, Baden has come to the unavoidable conclusion that the search for scientific truth is often sullied by the pressures of expediency. He produces dramatic evidence to demonstrate that political intrigue, influence peddling, and professional incompetence have created a national crisis in forensic medicine. "A fascinating look into the mechanics of forensics and a disconcerting lesson in the politics of death." -- The New York Times Book Review

Unnecessary death rarely happens at the hands of doctors, but it does happen. Sometimes the cause is medical error. But sometimes the cause is politics. The issues underlying many medical catastrophes are numerous: a power struggle between providers, uncertainty over who’s in charge, hesitation to practice good medicine for fear of being fired, specialization run amok, part-time doctoring. Doctors often prefer to ignore the problems, but patient safety demands that they be aired. And so does the future of the medical profession. Beneath the politics lies confusion: Doctors no longer know who they are. They don’t know how much authority they should wield. They don’t know what distinguishes them from other healthcare professionals. They don’t what about being a doctor should make them proud. When doctors lack a firm sense of who they are, the whole of medicine lacks an essential core, giving rise to personal and professional politics—and catastrophes. Patients may be relying on a system that has veered off course. In dramatic and revealing stories of patients in the operating room and interactions with colleagues, Ronald W. Dworkin traces his path from medical school to anesthesiology residency to his early years in private practice, with the experiences of his father and grandfather, also doctors, hovering overhead, in his quest to answer the question: What is a Doctor? Sometimes funny, sometimes scary, sometimes poignant, the story of what it means to be a doctor in today’s medical setting comes to life, as Dworkin outlines the contours, the challenges and rewards, of modern medicine, and how it must be rescued in order to preserve the profession and protect patients from disasters.