Routine Miracles: Personal Journeys of Patients and Doctors Discovering the Powers of Modern Medicine

by Conrad Fischer

Book Overview

"This book covers medical advances that would once have been called miracles but have now become routine. The patients' stories within this book yield hope, optimism, and triumph. This is the best... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1607141191
• ISBN13: 9781607141198
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Kaplan Publishing
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Very Interesting Read

It's great to see clinical medicine from a point of view not limited by science, and Dr Fischer's honest and narrative is personal and compelling to boot. Just understanding the forces that shaped his personality and career is reason enough to read this book, which focuses equally on the small miracles of which most people do not take enough notice. This will enrich your understanding of the fast pace of modern medicine, the need to reform health care, and how much our society really takes for granted.

A must Read

This book is a must read, and this is why: At first I thought that it is another doctor talking about how great they are, for you to later find out that they work for an interest group and/or they are trying to promote their own idiosyncratic medical procedure or treatment. Well Guess what? This book is totally different. This book is about hope. It is about the patients who struggled for so many years but they never gave up. It is about these hero doctors, who they made it their goal, their own anxiety, their own purpose in life,to heal, treat,comfort and inspire others, especially their patients. I really enjoyed reading this book, it is inspiring and helped me have a little more faith in medicine, especially today with the debate on health care system, one side tells you that nothing is wrong all is perfect and the other side is saying we need to revolutionize the system we need to change everything about it. Well Dr.Fischer takes us to a place that is beyond the politics. It basically pushes the idea that while waiting for the system to be fixed, the doctors will continue to fight the diseases and will find cures for what is considered impossible or uncurable. And the patients are called to hope and not despair. One person said that the book is not actionable, well I disagree, the book asks us to write letters to our representatives and to pressure them to write bills that calls for more money in medical research,and bills that decrease the cost of medical education, which will encourage smart people to join this field and this way we will have more cures and less suffering.

Hope in Medicine

What will we do when all of the best and the brightest medical students of our generation go into lucrative subspecialties, like dermatology and radiology, instead of searching for a new cure in research? Will we be without the possibility of eradicating HIV, or curing diabetes and high blood pressure? Routine Miracles by Conrad Fischer, MD has given "hope" a new meaning in medicine. I am a recent medical school graduate, and I, too, have fallen victim to the notion that medicine was better 25 years ago. The story of Ms Frost, a patient stricken with rheumatoid arthritis, was most inspirational. The transformation from her debilitating illness to a life that enabled her to not only partake in physical activity but also engage in more meaningful relationships is passionately described in Routine Miracles. Her relationships now centered on hope rather than the pain that once surrounded her daily life. This deeply personal account of patients and doctors and how medicine has changed their lives, has inspired me to be a better physician.

Unrepentant boundless optimism

Dr. Fischer counters the cynicism young doctors face during their training with inspirational stories of lifesaving advances in modern medicine that were unthinkable just a quarter-century ago. His conversational tone and accounts of his own personal experiences make these now routine miracles easy to understand, even for the casual reader. All of us will wind up in a hospital at some point in our lives, depending on medical professionals to care for ourselves or our loved ones. When the time comes for me, I hope that my doctor shares Dr. Fischer's hope, thoughtfulness, and pride in his work. In an era of sorely needed healthcare reforms in the U.S., I hope this book will inspire doctors to rededicate themselves to the art and science of healing bodies and souls.

it's about time

This book is long overdue. The way that medicine has been over-dramatized in the media makes the reality seem mundane. But that's nowhere near as damaging to the profession as the bureaucratic mess that has mired patient care in with insurance battles and malpractice fears. With all that physicians have to contend with, it is a breath of fresh air to read how many doctors are still working with the same ideals that they set out with, to really help people who are sick, and to learn that they actually are making a difference in people's lives. Fischer's book reaffirms that medicine remains the most rewarding profession and that the best rewards are still out there, waiting to be discovered. Every current or aspiring physician should read Fischer's book.