Interview with David Alfery, MD, Author of Saving Grace

Ed and Ron are honored to have Dr. David D. Alfery on the show. He is the author of Saving Grace: What Patients Teach Their Doctors about Life, Death, and the Balance in Between. We loved this book, because it will resonate with any professional. From the Introduction: “Many individuals, of course, have professions in which they are privileged to interact with others and to profoundly affect their lives. I was fortunate to be one of them. For all good doctors, the kind you want looking after you, there is a transition where you go from thinking that the patient is there for you, to realizing that you are there for the patient. When you understand that it is an honor to be trusted with another person’s life, medicine becomes your profession rather than your job, and someone you take care of becomes a unique individual with needs rather than a patient with a number. Only then can you fully embrace the shared humanity that binds physicians to their patients.” And from the press release on the book: From the OR to the ICU, cardiac anesthesiologist Dr. David Alfery brings you into a hidden world of medicine. You will witness the exhilaration a physician feels when a life is miraculously saved, the terror when a life is on the line, the shock of an unexpected demise, the grace patients evidence when facing the end of life, the anguish one suffers when a family member is perilously close to dying, and much more. A book that shows what really goes on in acute care medical settings, Saving Grace will help you view your doctor—and your life—in a new light. Please join us for what will no doubt be a very moving and profound discussion.