Overview

In March 2005, medical school dean Steve Berk was kidnapped in Amarillo, Texas, by a dangerous and enigmatic criminal who entered his home, armed with a shotgun, through an open garage door. Forced at gunpoint to take the wheel of the perpetrator's own car, Berk faced a series of critical choices that day, any of which could have determined survival or death. Berk's experiences and training as a physician, especially his understanding of Sir William Osler's treatise on aequanimitas, enabled him to keep his family safe, establish rapport with his kidnapper, and bring his captor to justice. This chilling story is not just about a crime, or even the alarming realization that it could happen anywhere, to anyone. It is a story about patients, about physicians, and about what each experience has taught Berk about life and death, mistakes, family, the practice of medicine, and the physician patient relationship. But most of all it is a story about how Berk's chosen profession prepared him for an unpredictable situation—and how any doctormust address life's uncertainties.

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9780896729346

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Reviews

"A harrowing account of a compassionate doctor's abduction at gunpoint from his own home. Stays with you. --People An engaging story about a distinguished life in medicine and a violent crime that almost ended it. --Sandeep Jauhar, author of Intern: A Doctor's Initiation Dr. Berk's riveting narrative of four hours at gunpoint affirms the motto of his role model Sir William Osler--aequanimitas, ""coolness and presence of mind under all circumstances."" . . . A compelling read. --Charles S. Bryan, M.S., president, American Osler Society Perfectly suited for a ""required reading"" list for medical students and young doctors. --Seattle Post-Intelligencer This phenomenal memoir evokes Lewis Thomas and Richard Selzer in its insights into medicine, but it is also the suspenseful drama of an encounter with a criminal that could have ended badly. . . . Truly a harrowing, wonderful and ultimately a redemptive tale. --Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone"

Perfectly suited for a required reading list for medical students and young doctors. --Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Author Information

Steven L. Berk, M.D., is the dean of the School of Medicine and executive vice president and provost of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. As a physician certified in infectious disease and geriatrics, Berk has treated an outstanding diversity of patients in his over forty-year medical career.

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