In his memoir, A Life in Medicine: From Asclepius to Beckett,
Eoin O’Brien, a cardiologist with an international reputation as
a clinical scientist, recounts his life in medicine and literature.
He depicts his relatively privileged upbringing in a medical family
in the impoverished city that was post-war Dublin and describes his
intensely Catholic schooling in St Conleth’s School and
Castleknock College, and his eventual rejection of religion.
O’Brien describes his training in medicine in the Royal College
of Surgeons in Dublin and in its teaching hospitals, the Richmond
and the Rotunda, with personal vignettes of his teachers and how
doctors were trained in the nineteen fifties. Moving to England to
specialise as a cardiologist, he recounts, from the unique vantage
point of a front-line doctor, the early development of the exciting
speciality of cardiology. He was actively involved in the
development of coronary care units, in which the then horrendous
mortality from heart attack would be reduced with the introduction
of new drugs, pacemakers and the techniques of resuscitation and
defibrillation. Back in Dublin, O’Brien describes the practice of
medicine in the city, and how he and his colleagues established a
research unit that would gain international recognition for the
treatment of patients with high blood pressure. He traces his role
in many activities, including journalism and recording the history
of Dublin’s voluntary hospitals, which were being closed to usher
in a new era of hospital care. O’Brien’s interest in literature
brought into a close friendship with many remarkable writers and
artists that included Samuel Beckett, Nevill Johnson, Con
Leventhal, Edith Fournier, Brian O’Doherty and Niall Sheridan and
in the final section, he writes about these associations, giving
unique glimpses into the lives of many remarkable people. His
recollections of Samuel Beckett, alone, make this an essential text
for those interested in the Nobel Prize-winning writer.
General
Imprint: |
The Lilliput Press Ltd
|
Country of origin: |
Ireland |
Release date: |
May 2023 |
First published: |
2023 |
Authors: |
Eoin O'Brien
|
Dimensions: |
234 x 156mm (L x W) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
320 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-84351-868-6 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-84351-868-6 |
Barcode: |
9781843518686 |
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