Life in the Balance
- Author Jim Down
- Narrator Jim Down
- Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
- Run Time 8 hours and 8 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Accident and emergency medicine, Autobiography: science, technology and medicine, Health systems and services.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price p/Title
- £7.99
- £6.99
- £5.99
- £4.99
- £3.99
Listen to a sample
What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
'If Jim Down is as good a doctor as he is a writer, I'd definitely want him treating me' -
John O'Farrell, author and scriptwriter
A frank and unflinching account of intensive care medicine
In these stories, Dr Jim Down brings us to the very heart of the intensive care unit - the section of the hospital where the sickest patients are brought to be cared for until their condition improves. With honesty, humility and a streak of dark humour, Dr Down describes the quietly heroic work of doctors and nurses on the ICU, a place which sits at the cutting edge of medical technology and where a split-second decision can make the difference between life and death.
From headline-grabbing cases like that of Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned by Russian agents and admitted to Down's ward, to the appalling aftermath of a train crash, Life in the Balance offers an inside glimpse of intensive care medicine, its immense challenges, deleterious effects on doctors' mental health and enormous rewards. Its profundity will make you reconsider the fragility of life and reframe your understanding of what it means to care.
©2023 Jim Down (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Critics Review
-
A remarkably honest memoir of a life spent pulling people back from death
author of This is Going to Hurt -
[Jim] describes with unflinching honesty the toll that working in intensive care can take on his own mental health
-
Jim Down is as remarkable a writer as he is a doctor. If I’m ever in ICU I hope he’s my consultant
Medical Editor, BBC -
Whether treating famous Russian spies, the victims of terrorist attacks, or people taken close to death by Covid, he shows us what it’s really like to care for those who are clinging to life, and describes with unflinching honesty the toll that working in intensive care can take on his own mental health
Alastair Campbell -
Spies, terror, personal crisis, resolution and redemption; Life in the Balance really has it all … a hilarious, beautiful book, I was sincerely moved
Dr Chris van Tulleken -
Beautifully written, witty and heartbreaking
Olivia Colman
Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up to get tailored content recommendations, product updates and info on new releases. Your data is your own: we commit to protect your data and respect your privacy.