| Take the Risk: Learning to Identify, Choose, and Live With Acceptable
Risk, Ben Carson, MD, with Gregg Lewis, 2008, Zondervan, Grand Rapids,
Mich., 237 pp.
Inevitable Incompetence: Soaring Medical Costs, Dangerous Medical Care, Saul William Seidman, MD, 2007, Universal Publishers, Boca Raton, Fla., 304 pp. (paperback). The Brain Trust Program, Larry McCleary, MD, 2007, Perigee, New York, N.Y., 268 pp. |
I enjoy reading books by neurosurgeons. It seems like more neurosurgeons are writing books on a broad spectrum of subjects, and the three books discussed in this article illustrate this breadth.
Take the Risk: Learning to Identify, Choose, and Live With Acceptable Risk
This is Ben Carson’s fourth book and, like his previous books, it no doubt will be a bestseller in the field of Christian publishers. As in The Big Picture, Think Big, and Gifted Hands, his new book relates his life story and gives exciting examples from his clinical practice to illustrate his thesis. Neurosurgery is fortunate to have a high profile personality informing the world about the risks that neurosurgeons face on a daily basis.
Dr. Carson uses his much publicized cases of separating conjoined twins and hemispherectomy to describe risk and the process of making decisions. He recommends an analysis that asks the following four questions: (1) What is the best thing that can happen if I do this? (2) What is the worst thing that can happen if I do this? (3) What is the best thing that can happen if I don’t do this? (4) What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t do this?
He also personalizes decision-making with illustrations from parenthood and then even expands into the realm of world politics. I particularly like the parts where he talks about his nonprofit organizations, The Carson Scholars Fund and Angels in the OR, and the risk of caring. Like his earlier books, this is a book you would love to have your children and grandchildren read.
The Brain Trust Program
Larry McCleary is a pediatric neurosurgeon whose surgical career was cut short by health problems. He has become an expert on brain physiology and has produced a book for the lay public on brain nutrition. Dr. McCleary is convinced that a brain-building diet, brain-specific supplements, exercise, and stress reduction will improve brain function and forestall the effects of aging. This is the book to read if you have not discovered the fountain of youth, or if you are beginning to experience “senior moments.” Like so many alternative medicine recommendations, Dr. McCleary’s suggestions are supported by anecdotes and logical chemical theories, but no evidence-based medical studies support his prescriptions.
Inevitable Incompetence: Soaring Medical Costs, Dangerous Medical Care
Saul Seidman is a neurosurgeon who has joined the “ain’t it awful” crowd in his retirement. He is grateful that he was able to practice during the golden age of neurosurgery, but feels that healthcare has come upon hard times. This book tells of deterioration in quality assurance and passion for patient care; disregard for peer review; and the ascension of greed. Dr. Seidman wants to expose incompetence, protect patients and reduce cost. His major criticism, however, is saved for Kaiser Permanente which he portrays as the epitome of everything that can go wrong in healthcare.
So read these books, and then go write your own.
Gary VanderArk, MD, is clinical professor of neurosurgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. He is the 2001 recipient of the AANS Humanitarian Award. The author reported no conflicts for disclosure.