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Life in the Balance

A Doctor’s Stories of Intensive Care

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Life in the Balance

By: Dr Jim Down
Narrated by: Dr Jim Down
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

A frank and unflinching account of intensive care medicine.

In these stories, Dr Jim Down brings us to the very heart of the intensive care unit - the section of the hospital where the sickest patients are brought to be cared for until their condition improves. With honesty, humility and a streak of dark humour, Dr Down describes the quietly heroic work of doctors and nurses on the ICU, a place which sits at the cutting edge of medical technology and where a split-second decision can make the difference between life and death.

From headline-grabbing cases like that of Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned by Russian agents and admitted to Down's ward, to the appalling aftermath of a train crash, Life in the Balance offers an inside glimpse of intensive care medicine, its immense challenges, deleterious effects on doctors' mental health and enormous rewards. Its profundity will make you reconsider the fragility of life and reframe your understanding of what it means to care.

©2023 Jim Down (P)2023 Penguin Audio Business & Careers Emergency & Critical Care Medical Medicine & Health Care Industry Health care Hospital

Critic Reviews

"If Jim Down is as good a doctor as he is a writer, I'd definitely want him treating me." (John O'Farrell, author and scriptwriter)

"A remarkably honest memoir of a life spent pulling people back from death." (Adam Kay)

"Whether treating famous Russian spies, the victims of terrorist attacks, or people taken close to death by Covid, he shows us what it's really like to care for those who are clinging to life, and describes with unflinching honesty the toll that working in intensive care can take on his own mental health." (Alastair Campbell)

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Profile Image for Louise Inglis

Interesting, learnt a lot, funny and thoughtful

I really appreciated listening to this book. I’ve had too much time in hospital with sick family members and could identify with much that was said. Thank you for all you do on a day-to-day basis and for taking the time to share it and this extremely well written book.

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