The Bizarre Double Life of Dr. William Stewart Halsted
Kaplan Publishing
February 2012
On Sale: February 2, 2012
410 pages ISBN: 1607146274 EAN: 9781607146278 Kindle: B003YFJ5PY Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
Dr. William Stewart Halstedβs life was fascinating and complex. Halsted, perhaps the most important surgeon America has ever produced, battled a lifelong cocaine addiction and maintained numerous secret relationships while simultaneously devising revolutionary medical innovations. Yet the story of Halstedβs life, one of seemingly irreconcilable extremes, is in many ways the story of modern medicine.
Before Halsted, poorly-trained doctors performed surgery without anesthesia in unsanitary conditions and patients were rarely expected to survive. Halstead transformed the medical practice by inventing local and spinal anesthesia; introducing the use of rubber gloves during surgery; pioneering the use of fine silk thread for sutures; developing techniques for stabilizing blood pressure during surgery; and inventing the radical mastectomy, blood transfusions, and surgical cures for hernias.
Genius on the Edge is an illuminating biography of a complex and troubled man whose brilliance we continue to benefit
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