Transplant: A Heart Surgeon's Account of the Life-and-Death ** [Mass Market Paperback]

William H. Frist M.D. (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Focusing on one year at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Heart and Heart-Lung Transplant Program (which he directs), Frist, also an acknowledged authority on artificial heart implants, celebrates the last five years' dramatic increase in number and quality of transplant cases, caused in part by cyclosporine, a new immunosuppressant used to prevent rejection of transplanted organs. This dramatic, instructive, highly personal account dwells on the long-term surgeon-patient relationship and on the emotional aspects of these still-costly procedures involving the families of de ceased donors. Concerned by the pain and often long waits suffered by prospective organ recipients, Frist consantly seeks to enlist the cooperation of medical professionals, the media and others in locating and cajoling potential organ donors. Author tour.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The brave new world of organ transplant surgery has its share of pioneers, and Frist is one of the foremost. His dramatic and often moving account of the triumphs and tragedies in state-of-the-art surgery reveals why he is so renowned as a physician. The reader is brought face to face with the meaning of the term "medical heroics." Yet this very focus on gladiatorial conquests gives Frist's account a kind of sterility. Not enough attention is spent on his equally heroic patients or on his struggle with the ethical questions posed by this surgery. This is an exciting, absorbing story by a courageous young doctor, inspiring to anyone personally or professionally involved in the field, but it leaves the reader with worrisome questions about high-tech medicine. For more on this subject, see Mark Dowie's We Have A Donor ( LJ 3/1/89).
- David A. Buehler, Charlton Memorial Hosp., Fall River, Mass.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Fawcett (August 28, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449219054
• ISBN-13: 978-0449219058
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,121,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Self-Serving Screed from a Deeply Disturbed Man, February 8, 2004

By 

Rural Gal - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transplant: A Heart Surgeon's Account of the Life-And-Death Dramas of the New Medicine (Hardcover)

The relevant text in this book--which, by the way, is becoming harder and harder to get (could the author be buying up all extant copies to contain the damage?)--says of his kidnapped cats that Frist "treated them as pets for a few days" prior to his "cart[ing] them off to the lab to die." The standard practice among researchers and medical students is to avoid becoming emotionally attached to their lab subjects, and for good reason; it makes the objectivity necessary for scientific work more difficult. Yet Frist, by his own admission, "treated them as pets." The implication is that since no one forced Frist to do this that he got some sort of emotional thrill from killing and cutting up these unfortunate cats and kittens that he kidnapped under false pretenses. There is a word for people like that: sociopath. It's common knowledge that people who abuse and kill animals for thrills often become serial killers later in life. Is this the kind of person we want serving as Senate Majority Leader? Be very afraid.

29 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Words of wisdon from a butcher, January 2, 2003

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transplant: A Heart Surgeon's Account of the Life-and-Death ** (Mass Market Paperback)

In this book, Frist admits to adopting homeless animals from Boston shelters and promising to keep them as pets, only to bring them home to vivisect and eventually kill. The fact that he was a medical student is no excuse - he knew it was wrong, not to mention illegal, otherwise he would have no need for secrecy. Didn't he get enough dissection and vivisection in his medical school classes? Apparently not. I don't buy his explanation that the clandestine torture and killing of these animals was done to further his studies - if that were the case, he would have done the experiements IN SCHOOL under the SUPERVISION of a professor. Yes, it's impressive that he was a medical student - he is obviously intelligent. However, the frenzied, repeated torture and killing points of these adopted animals points to an deviant character, pure and simple.

11 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Confessions of a Cat Killer, April 27, 2005

By 

Max Hodges (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transplant: A Heart Surgeon's Account of the Life-And-Death Dramas of the New Medicine (Hardcover)

I'm not sure what is the greater act of stupidity: Nazi-like killing of cats for medical experimentation OR being a public figure and writing about it in your autobiography.

Cat killer enthusiasts will also enjoy the original and artistic film on the subject entitled "Gummo" (...)