Overview

In this fascinating memoir, cardiologist Stephen Stowers eloquently captures the various changes that he has lived through over a lifetime spent as a caring and ethical medical professional. With sadness, he watched as a profession he loved became more and more focused on the bottom line, while working as a doctor in the United States. He unpacks for the reader exactly what has gone awry in American medicine, showing us how the misguided shift toward a more corporate mindset was ushered in by hospital administrators, leading even well-intentioned doctors astray, as they are encouraged to place costly interventions above equally effective less invasive therapies. He also shows how he found refuge in another country, where he was able to practice medicine in a more ethical fashion once again and explains to us the surprising truth that he discovered there: New Zealand has better patient outcomes yet spends less money on healthcare, compared with a country such as the US. How can this be true? Read this book to discover the astonishing answer, that doing more with less is actually often a better path for doctors, hospitals, and the patients they want to assist. Stowers writes highly readable memoir that explains in terms any reader can follow exactly why he wanted to pursue medicine in the first place, how he grew disillusioned with American hospitals, and the joy he found in New Zealand after relocating there. Doctors, nurses, medical professionals of all kinds, and anybody who has been a patient and wondered what has gone wrong in American medicine and how to help put things right again should read this book.

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Reviews

"""This is a charming story of a man who is willing to leave his country to continue his lifelong passion to work holistically as a doctor and to care for his patients as best as he can. Having worked with Stephen I am more endeared to him after reading this heartwarming memoir."" - Anthea Gregan, Hospital pharmacist in New Zealand ""Box of Birds is a lovely memoir. It tells the story of how at first the dream of becoming a doctor to help others brought the author great joy, which then soured as American hospitals lost their way. How marvelous to see the dream come alive again in another country where the practice of morally sound medicine still thrives."" - Helen Thorpe, author, editor and journalist ""Steve's story encapsulates why so many American doctors are leaving the practice of medicine. He shows us with sobering clarity the devastating moral injury that doctors suffer when they are asked to reduce their once honorable profession of healing to little more than a revenue-oriented business. His examples reveal the stark choices doctors in the US are forced to make, such as when they are coached by administrators with business degrees to choose pills and procedures over lifestyle modifications. He lays out the undeniable truth of what happens in a capitalistic medical system, and then offers the reader hope for a different kind of future. In New Zealand, he finds a nearly perfect refuge and a place where real healing is possible. I also love how he stitches together a beautiful series of vulnerable stories that have impacted his life. What a legacy! Steve is an example to me and I have learned so much from him. In this book, he offers the same kind of guidance to health care providers of all kinds who want to work with a people-centered approach."" - Amen Sergew MD, American colleague in New Zealand."

Author Information

Stephen Stowers is a skilled clinician who practiced cardiology for twenty-nine years in Florida and six and a half years on the North Island of New Zealand as a member of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Dr. Stowers graduated from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He completed his cardiology fellowship at the George Washington University Hospital. As a pioneering cardiologist, he was a leader in the development of acute imaging of chest pain patients in the emergency room. Dr. Stowers has published widely in medical literature and recently published an international study on coronary calcium and its potential contribution to the early detection and treatment of coronary artery disease. He has also written a popular blog about his life in New Zealand, kiwicardiology.com.

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