Intensive Medicine

Author Cory Franklin, MD, who headed the hospital's intensive care unit from the 1970s through the 1990s, shares his most unique and bizarre experiences, including the deadly Chicago heatwave of 1995, treating the first AIDS patients in the country before the disease was diagnosed, the nurse with rare Munchausen syndrome, the only surviving ricin victim, and the professor with Alzheimer's hiding the effects of the wrong medication.

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.

Who cares? Ricardo Lange, Intensivpfleger, liebt seinen Beruf - und leidet an ihm. So sehr, dass er seinem Ärger über die Missstände in der Pflege auf Facebook Luft macht und an die Öffentlichkeit geht. Deutschlandweite Berühmtheit erlangt er, als er von Jens Spahn zur Bundespressekonferenz eingeladen wird und dort vom Krankenhausalltag berichtet: von den katastrophalen Arbeitsbedingungen, der permanenten körperlichen und emotionalen Überlastung und dem sicheren Gefühl, dass sich die Politik nicht wirklich dafür interessiert.

For decades, millions of ICU survivors left the hospital with disabling symptoms all now recognised as post-intensive care syndrome, or PICS. Many COVID survivors also suffer from PICS. Dr Ely’s ground-breaking investigations advanced the understanding of PICS and introduced crucial changes that reshaped intensive care. Dr Ely shows that this new way—technology plus touch—is the future of health care and is a proven path toward reclaiming vitality. Full of wisdom and heart, Every Deep-Drawn Breath is an essential resource for all those affected by critical illness.