When Michael Collins decides to become a surgeon, he is totally
unprepared for the chaotic life of a resident at a major hospital.
A natural overachiever, Collins' success, in college and medical
school led to a surgical residency at one of the most respected
medical centers in the world, the famed Mayo Clinic. But compared
to his fellow residents Collins feels inadequate and unprepared.
All too soon, the euphoria of beginning his career as an orthopedic
resident gives way to the feeling he is a counterfeit, an imposter
who has infiltrated a society of brilliant surgeons.
This story of Collins' four-year surgical residency traces his rise
from an eager but clueless first-year resident to accomplished
Chief Resident in his final year. With unparalleled humor, he
recounts the disparity between people's perceptions of a doctor's
glamorous life and the real thing: a succession of run down cars
that are towed to the junk yard, long weekends moonlighting at
rural hospitals, a family that grows larger every year, and a
laughable income.
Collins' good nature helps him over some of the rough spots but
cannot spare him the harsh reality of a doctor's life. Every day he
is confronted with decisions that will change people's lives-or end
them-forever. A young boy's leg is mangled by a tractor: risk the
boy's life to save his leg, or amputate immediately? A woman
diagnosed with bone cancer injures her hip: go through a painful
hip operation even though she has only months to live? Like a jolt
to the system, he is faced with the reality of suffering and death
as he struggles to reconcile his idealism and aspiration to heal
with the recognition of his own limitations and
imperfections.
Unflinching and deeply engaging, "Hot Lights, Cold Steel" is a
humane and passionate reminder that doctors are people too. This is
a gripping memoir, at times devastating, others triumphant, but
always compulsively readable.
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