


Finally, he gives a brutally honest insight into life as a practising surgeon. He discusses the ethical dilemmas of doctors’ participation in lethal injections, examines the influence of money on modern medicine and recounts the astoundingly contentious history of hand-washing. His vivid stories take us to battlefield surgical tents in Iraq, to a polio outbreak in India and to malpractice courtrooms around the country. In his new book, Atul Gawande explores how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable.

The struggle to perform well is universal, but nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine.
