Inside the operating room, inside humanity
July 4, 2008 · Updated 1:09 PM
The patient is prepped for surgery, lying horizontal on the operating table, staring up into a vastness of bright light.
The anesthesiologist readies the syringe and flushes the drug into the IV line. She watches the patients face and posture slacken as they drift out of consciousness. And everything fades to black ...
Its an intimate moment, says Dr. Marie Heaton, a moment of transferred power.
But what if the patient doesnt wake up?
Heatons an anesthesiologist in Bainbridge authoress Carol Cassellas debut novel, Oxygen, in bookstores July 1.
Heatons at the top of her profession when an 8-year-old patient dies under the knife and she is left staggered in the aftermath. Sounds like a real downer on the surface, but its actually rather insightful. And its said to end with a surprising conclusion.
The real hook, Publishers Weekly says, is Cassellas in-depth knowledge of the complex inner workings of the health industry. Shes spent 25 years in the medical field, currently an anesthesiologist/freelance medical writer in Seattle.
Whats more, shes the mother of two sets of twins born 15 months apart.
And she writes novels.
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