Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit [Hardcover]

Michael Ruhlman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 2003

Michael Ruhlman is fascinated by people at work-especially those in pursuit of perfection. The Soul of a Chef and Wooden Boats have established him as a deft chronicler of unique cultural microcosms. Now, in Walk on Water, he documents life in the most intense environment yet-a pediatric heart center specializing in neonatal open-heart surgery. The precision needed for such delicate surgery puts "soul-crushing, diamond-making stress" on physicians and nurses every time they operate.

The colorful focus of Ruhlman's narrative is the Cleveland Clinic's world-renowned, idiosyncratic Dr. Roger Mee-a virtuoso within a very select surgical specialty and a mine of information on statistics, ethics, and medical politics. A riveting glimpse into the heart and mind of a man in whose hands literally rests a young baby's life on a daily basis, Walk on Water explores controversial topics-from questionable referral patterns by cardiologists to physicians who are punished for doing what's best for their patients to physicians who don't do what's best for their patients-and breaks the taboo on subjects not often written about.

Walk on Water is a must for all readers of serious nonfiction that will also have health professionals and the media paying rapt attention.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

What kind of person operates on babies' hearts for a living? This is the question Ruhlman set out to answer when he entered the pediatric heart center at the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio, to observe Dr. Roger Mee, one of the best pediatric heart surgeons in the world, and his team at work. Ruhlman, who has written two other books about people striving for excellence (The Soul of a Chef and Wooden Boats), describes with awe the precision, speed and ingenuity required to repair or transplant an infant's tiny heart. His gripping OR scenes capture the life-and-death nature of each surgery and illustrate why only perfection is good enough in this new and rapidly developing specialty. As the clinic's physician's assistant tells Ruhlman with a bluntness characteristic of the people he depicts, This is a kid, not a Yugo here. The anguish the families endure only adds to the pressure on the surgeons. And while congenital heart defects are the most common kind of birth defect, the book reveals that most parents are unaware of the vast difference between having surgery performed by a virtuoso like Dr. Mee and an average surgeon whom a local cardiologist might feel compelled to refer patients to because of HMO protocols. Ruhlman also provides some historical context, weaving in the stories of the maverick surgeons who pioneered the specialty. Although the medical terminology can slow the reader down at times, most will tear through this engaging and often wrenching account.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Michael Ruhlman, author of The Soul of a Chef and Wooden Boats, has written extensively for The New York Times and numerous magazines. He is also the winner of the 1999 James Beard Award for Magazine Writing.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; First edition. edition (April 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670032018
• ISBN-13: 978-0670032013
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #390,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Ruhlman is the author of twelve books, including the bestselling "The Making of a Chef" and "The French Laundry Cookbook." He lives in Cleveland with his wife, daughter, and son and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and Gourmet.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insight Into Unfamiliar & Intense Medical Area, May 26, 2003

By 

rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit (Hardcover)

A real fan of Ruhlman's previous books, I knew that this would make for good reading. Squeemish at times for those of us not use to inside O.R. environments with all the procedures and organs being talked about, this rivets one to pediatric heart surgery.

Fashioned around a premier surgeon at a leading hospital, the reader is taken on a whirlwind of living on the edge of technology and skill and emotions as heart defects are diagnosed during pregnancy while others found at birth and thereafter are the daily routine of this top notch surgical team which Ruhlman lived with and writes about.

One is touched by the intensity of the whole enterprise, the stark reality of it all, day after day, year after year. The enormity of it all. Patching this, switching that, shunting here, stiching this together---all to keep young precious life.

The history of the discipline and current happenings are reviewed, with its emphasis on comparative mortality stats for various surgical procedures. Scary to think one's future might well be determined by where one lives and where taken when heart defects occur.

The precision and dedication of those who live in this arena is beyond most of our scopes to even begin to fathom, but this book seems to take one there in spirit and interest. The compassionate care looms ever large.

Thoughtful, provocative and reflective view of speciality surgery at the leading edge and all the while on edge.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I am one of "those" parents..., September 11, 2003

By 

LAURA HACKATHORN (EUCLID, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit (Hardcover)

Dr. Mee has operated on our daughter two times now and a third operation (and possible transplant) is in her future. I will tell you that the Cleveland Clinic was not our first choice, however, I am greatful that Dr. Mee ended up being our daughter's surgeon in the end. I was not shocked by what I read because I have been in the care of everyone mentioned in the book. What I would have liked to read were more personal stories and less technical stuff. Although, personal stories was not what the book was intended for so I don't fault the author at all. As it turns out, our second opinion at the Clinic included a "sit in" by this author... who knows, maybe our story would have been told. At the time, however, we decided to stay with University Hospitals. Little did we know that their then surgeon would quit right before our little Sophia was to be operated on (she was the next case!)

Read the book, if you are not a parent of a CHD child, you won't appreciate it as much. If you are expecting a CHD child in your life, the book will scare the hell out of you until your first trip down that long hallway to the O.R. Once you have walked your child to surgery... you no longer have a sense of fear for anything as their is no greater fear.

Laura in Cleveland

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The operation is a success!, June 17, 2003

By 

George R. Kasica (Jackson, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit (Hardcover)

This book by Michael Ruhlman detailing the day to day work at Cleveland Children's Hospital is one of the best medical narritives that I've read. On par with "The Healing Blade" or "When the Air Hits Your Brain".

Michael does a masterful job of telling both the technical/medical side of the story as well as the deeply human side of the patients and families throughout the book.

Given my background (EMT) and my wife's (CardioVascular ICU RN in Milwaukee) we both agree that the facts are correct and showed a balanced view of the topic. Many times books of this type show only "glowing successes" rather here reality is shown in that not everyone gets better like on TV and lives happily ever after.

Lastly, I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Mee's Coordinator Deb Gilchrist at Ceveland Cinic shortly after finishing the book and she did bring up one point, the language was commented on by one reader and former patient as being too "rough". While I agree that the language is at times quite frank, the reality of the world is that these are real people and real life somtimes isn't neat and clean as we would like it to be. I don't see this as a reason to NOT read the book, however parents might want to be aware of this if children might be reading it.

ALl in all and excellent work and definately 5 stars.