There seems to be an epidemic of medical books lately. (pun very much intended) Not quite the usual kind though. It seems that doctors as well as patients are dropping the veil which has shrouded the carefully guarded world of medicine. Doctors are talking about their faults and showing hospitals their failings and oversights. Additionally, patients–who because of one situation or another–are finding themselves questioning diagnoses and demanding more or different treatments for their loved ones.
Dr. Kathy Magliato is one of a smattering of female heart surgeons practicing in the world today. As a member of an even more exclusive group—she performs heart transplants—and recounts the day when she first realized she wanted to be a heart surgeon:
“When I wrapped my hand around that heart that was it for me. Love at first sight. Love at first touch. I knew this was exactly what I wanted. To touch the human heart everyday.”
In her memoir, Healing Hearts: A Memoir of a Female Heart Surgeon, Magliato gives us “a rare glimpse into the realities of being a cardiothoracic surgeon. Instantly pulled into her fast-paced world, we see first hand the struggle she felt to fit in as a female in the biggest boys club of them all; as well as learning operating room etiquette (the lead surgeon always stands on the patient’s right side), and see her skillfully juggling a full family life as the wife of a liver transplant surgeon and the mother of two young boys.”
We come to know many of the patients whose lives Dr. Magliato has touched. She is professional yet compassionate, treating her patients’ hearts in both the literal and figurative senses of the word. One thing that really struck me was when she said she is ALWAYS present at the autopsies of any of her patients. She does that out of respect to these people who were, to her, indeed people. She stays with them all the way to the end. I thought that was really cool.
Going beyond the personal stories of her patients, “Dr. Magliato sheds light on a medical epidemic, cardiovascular disease, which is the number one killer of women in America: 41,000,000 women are currently living with the disease; even more startling, one in every 2.4 women will die from cardiovascular illness. With these staggering statistics in mind, Dr. Magliato’s book is full of information to educate woman about heart disease, what the risk factors are, why more women than men die of the disease, and what women can do to minimize their risks. She is currently the director of women’s cardiac services at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, and an attending cardiothoracic surgeon at Torrance Memorial Medical Center in Torrance, California, where she is developing a women’s heart center to address the cardiac needs of female patients.” This is a great book.
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