Last Night in the OR

A Transplant Surgeon's Odyssey

By: Bud Shaw

Narrated by: Jonathan Yen

The 1980s marked a revolution in the field of organ transplants, and Bud Shaw, MD, who studied under Tom Starzl in Pittsburgh, was on the front lines. Now retired from active practice, Dr. Shaw relays gripping moments of anguish and elation, frustration and reward, despair and hope in his struggle to save patients. He reveals harshly intimate moments of his medical career: telling a patient's husband that his wife has died during surgery; struggling to complete a 20-hour operation as mental and physical exhaustion inch closer and closer; and flying to retrieve a donor organ while the patient waits in the operating room. Within these more emotionally charged vignettes are quieter ones, too, like growing up in rural Ohio and being awakened late at night by footsteps in the hall as his father, also a surgeon, slipped out of the house to attend to a patient in the ER.

©2015 Byers Shaw, MD (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A bracing, unusual personal narrative that should appeal to aspiring physicians as well as to those considering the 'big questions' around high-risk surgery." ( Kirkus)

Great author

His story telling is so relatable and most are funny. I love his voice. He’s a pleasure to listen to.

interesting subject

I liked the subject matter but the story was more like a research paper on his life then a story

Interesting!

I loved how honest this book was, I feel like sometimes autobiographies, especially by doctors, can be heavily idealized. It was refreshing to get the whole truth and understand how being on the forefront of transplantation felt. My only dislike was the organization of the stories, I wish they would have been more chronological.

Fantastic listen

Dr. Shaw gives a blunt look at his life, his struggles, successes, heartbreak, and happiness. If you're interested in medicine and entertaining the idea of being a surgeon, I would highly recommend reading/listening to this book.

Must read

After reading the reviews, I had mixed feelings. This is a wonderful book jam packed with interesting stories. Dr Shaw paints a vivid picture of his time in the OR.