Overview

Getting to know Ralph Berg, the pioneering open-heart surgeon, was not easy. Many years passed before he was willing to divulge what informed so much of his later work: Jason, his youngest son. But Ralph Berg's own story began many decades before Jason's birth.Ralph became a doctor during World War II and quickly grew fascinated with the human heart. After his chest residency, he assembled a remarkable heart and research team that helped bring open-heart surgery and advanced surgical procedures on blue babies to Spokane, Washington, in 1959. Then, in 1969, with the medical community on the cusp of discovering the cause and treatment of heart attacks, Jason was born to Ralph and Mary Berg-a doomed blue baby.Learn how Ralph Berg sought to save his son and how he and Dr. Francis Everhart developed the lauded Spokane Experience protocol. Witness the joy Ralph shared with Jason and his family. Blue Baby and Acute Coronary Revascularization is a powerful story about hope, innovation, and the love of family.

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Reviews

""Written by a loving family member and herself a surgeon about her uncle, an outstanding surgeon in his own right. It highlights the personality and professional drive that accounts for Dr. Ralph Berg's achievements in surgery and his total commitment to his wife and family. This is particularly applicable to Jason, his youngest son, born with cardiac anomalies that placed him in the category of blue babies. ""His constant search to find a 'fix' for Jason's problems was never far from his mind. His intense interest in cardiac physiology drove his desire to correct interrupted blood flow to the heart muscle, caused by said heart attacks. It became the basis for quick restoration of flow by emergent bypass surgery, which originated in Spokane and gradually became the norm throughout the world. A remarkable story about an extraordinary man, his family, his profession, and his passions.""-Julie Spores, CRNA ""A heritage of Spokane, Washington, of physicians both academic and nonacademics, of immigrants, of the American dream, and of family. A surgical master, Dr. Ralph Berg, facing rejection despite knowing he would be validated, continued to do what was right and saved lives. He continued to live his life. He struggled. He achieved both the correction of his blue baby, Jason, and validation of his acute coronary revascularization work. ""My favorite sentence in the whole book is 'With insight into what is frivolous and what is important and profound connection, I threw out the nomination, and we continued.' This is the moment my friend Tracy Berg, also the book's author, connected with her uncle, who was never going to tell this story, and this book began.""-Dr. Linda Harrison, family practitioner, PEO Chapter CL ""Especially because I am seventy-seven years young and those fifty-some years ago are now what I consider some of my most rewarding, Ralph Berg, a.k.a. 'Big Daddy, ' had ideas and solutions about life that were somewhat questionable then but make a hell of a lot of sense now.-Jim Kappen, RN and operating room manager, Valley Hospital

Author Information

Tracy Berg is a surgeon who was inspired to attend medical school and then surgical residency by her uncle, the incomparable Ralph Berg. She graduated from Washington State University with a BS and MS, then from the University of Maryland with her MD. Tracy did her surgical residency at the University of Maryland. She returned to Spokane in 1995. This is Tracy Berg's first book.

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