Rating: 
Summary: Incredible book but repetitive
Review: Medically focused books have always been a draw for me. When I saw this book in an Oberlin bookstore it was an instant impulse purchase for me. Ruhlman delves into the minds of the team at the Clinic and you really feel like a fly on the wall of the Clinic OR when reading about the complex heart surgeries. The book is repetitive in some chapters and I would've liked to read more about Dr. Mee's failures and how they were addressed not only by the Doctor but also the entire surgical team. There were a lot of 'close calls' described in the book but most of them had happy or semi-happy endings. I definitely would've liked to see a healthy heart diagram in the book as it would have helped tremendously to visualize and better understand the numerous lesions encountered. A glossary of terms to refer to would be beneficial as well. And finally - pictures, pictures, pictures! I found myself Googling Dr. Mee and Johnathan Drummond-Webb just to somehow get a better sense of who they are by looking at their pictures.
Rating: 
Summary: Pediatric Surgery like you never imagined
Review: Michael Ruhlman digs deep into the very elite field of pediatric surgery, arguably the most difficult and challenging aspect of medicine. Centered around Dr. Roger Mee, one of the best pediatric surgeons in the world who has been lauded as a doctor who "can walk on water" and "has the hands of God", Ruhlman brings you an inside look into this very specialized and unknown field (for those who are fortunate enough). This book takes you seamlessly from beginning to end, touching on the doctors' lives, the physician assistants, the lives of the parents, the history of heart surgery, and an in depth description of the cardio physiology and surgical procedures. The pathology of some heart defects could easily get confusing, but Ruhlman does a great job describing the situation and breaking it down for the reader. The sheer detail of the surgical procedures described in this book is enough to amaze everyone. Anyone interested in how doctors save babies by performing open heart surgery on walnut sized deformed hearts using millimeter precision against the clock should read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: Michael Ruhlman is to writing what Roger Mee is to surgery... this is a fantastic book. An incredibly detailed and interesting portrait of a man at the cutting edge of his field (no pun intended). Ruhlman humanizes medicine and lets us into the head of a master at work.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievably Fascinating
Review: Ruhlman takes the reader into the extraordinary world of pediatric heart surgeons and makes it understandable to us "outsiders." The number and complexity of the congenital horrors that the doctors tackle on a daily basis lead to the two key questions that he examines: 1) what kind of person is able to tackle these problems successfully; and 2) how does the medical business/health care system handle these kinds of cases.The answer to the first question comes by focusing on the Cleveland Clinic and its lead pediatric heart surgeon, Dr. Roger Mee. The second question is answered through a combination of statistics and moving stories about what happens in hospitals where there aren't surgeon's of Mee's caliber. The writing is as good as any first rate mystery or adventure story with the added bonus that it's about a situation that any of us could face. The author doesn't waste colorful adjectives making the stories more compelling. By explaining the situation in a rather journalistic approach, the character of the surgions, the suspense during the operations, and the impact on the families of the children is grippingly clear. Ruhlman also accepts the need for the monumental ego of the surgeons who perform these operations which require and exceptional combination of medicine, technical skills, and creativity. Given that anything short of success means losing a child, having a strong supporting ego is a must. He points out that the most successful surgeons are the ones that are the most honest with themselves; they refer to surgical failure as having "killed" the patient. Walk on Water gives due attention to the support team that Dr. Mee and his peers have. It's important to recognize that the dedication and skill of the physicians' assistants, anesthesiologists, and others are nearly as vital to success as the skills of the surgeon. The author describes the flaws in the health care system using stories of other Ohio hospitals to make his point in a convincing way. Regionalizing pediatric cardiological care would create concentrations of the few doctors who are the most successful and create a better ssytem of mentoring the next generation of surgeons. While the technical descriptions of the various heart defects can be a bit daunting, they are presented as clearly as could be expected.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievably Fascinating
Review: Ruhlman takes the reader into the extraordinary world of pediatric heart surgeons and makes it understandable to us "outsiders." The number and complexity of the congenital horrors that the doctors tackle on a daily basis lead to the two key questions that he examines: 1) what kind of person is able to tackle these problems successfully; and 2) how does the medical business/health care system handle these kinds of cases. The answer to the first question comes by focusing on the Cleveland Clinic and its lead pediatric heart surgeon, Dr. Roger Mee. The second question is answered through a combination of statistics and moving stories about what happens in hospitals where there aren't surgeon's of Mee's caliber. The writing is as good as any first rate mystery or adventure story with the added bonus that it's about a situation that any of us could face. The author doesn't waste colorful adjectives making the stories more compelling. By explaining the situation in a rather journalistic approach, the character of the surgions, the suspense during the operations, and the impact on the families of the children is grippingly clear. Ruhlman also accepts the need for the monumental ego of the surgeons who perform these operations which require and exceptional combination of medicine, technical skills, and creativity. Given that anything short of success means losing a child, having a strong supporting ego is a must. He points out that the most successful surgeons are the ones that are the most honest with themselves; they refer to surgical failure as having "killed" the patient. Walk on Water gives due attention to the support team that Dr. Mee and his peers have. It's important to recognize that the dedication and skill of the physicians' assistants, anesthesiologists, and others are nearly as vital to success as the skills of the surgeon. The author describes the flaws in the health care system using stories of other Ohio hospitals to make his point in a convincing way. Regionalizing pediatric cardiological care would create concentrations of the few doctors who are the most successful and create a better ssytem of mentoring the next generation of surgeons. While the technical descriptions of the various heart defects can be a bit daunting, they are presented as clearly as could be expected.
Rating:
Summary: The operation is a success!
Review: This book by Michael Ruhlman detailing the day to day work at Cleveland Children's Hospital is one of the best medical narritives that I've read. On par with "The Healing Blade" or "When the Air Hits Your Brain". Michael does a masterful job of telling both the technical/medical side of the story as well as the deeply human side of the patients and families throughout the book. Given my background (EMT) and my wife's (CardioVascular ICU RN in Milwaukee) we both agree that the facts are correct and showed a balanced view of the topic. Many times books of this type show only "glowing successes" rather here reality is shown in that not everyone gets better like on TV and lives happily ever after. Lastly, I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Mee's Coordinator Deb Gilchrist at Ceveland Cinic shortly after finishing the book and she did bring up one point, the language was commented on by one reader and former patient as being too "rough". While I agree that the language is at times quite frank, the reality of the world is that these are real people and real life somtimes isn't neat and clean as we would like it to be. I don't see this as a reason to NOT read the book, however parents might want to be aware of this if children might be reading it. ALl in all and excellent work and definately 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but could be much better
Review: This book not only gave information that was very important to know about making decisions on the care of my OWN child, but hope. It also gave me a better understanding of the heart & how it function with or without the proper set up. I was so very glad I read this book. I was a little shocked at the profanity, but other than that the book was great. I truly felt like I was re-living a year ago. They hit the nail on the head, so to speak. If you want a better understanding of the heart in a newborn, this is the book for you. It will make you cry, but also give hope. Millions of us parents have gone down this road & had to fight for our children. What a great book....thanks
Rating:
Summary: heart stopping
Review: This book not only gave information that was very important to know about making decisions on the care of my OWN child, but hope. It also gave me a better understanding of the heart & how it function with or without the proper set up. I was so very glad I read this book. I was a little shocked at the profanity, but other than that the book was great. I truly felt like I was re-living a year ago. They hit the nail on the head, so to speak. If you want a better understanding of the heart in a newborn, this is the book for you. It will make you cry, but also give hope. Millions of us parents have gone down this road & had to fight for our children. What a great book....thanks
Rating:
Summary: Great book on surgical medicine
Review: This is the first Ruhlman book I've read, and while the flashbacks and flash forwards get a little annoying at times, his writing style otherwise is terrific. His exacting research style helps this book shine. I really felt I got to know Dr. Mee and entire staff at the Cleveland Clinic, quirks and all. The medical explanations were great (short of adding diagrams) and will leave you amazed by what these people do. It's surgery at a level most of us have never heard about before. And it's a personality study of a few very interesting people that sacrifice a lot to change the lives of sick children and improve medicine. If you're interested in surgery or even other medical specialties (such as cardiology or radiology) this is a very enjoyable read. Much more so that the typical collection of essays written by Doctors themselves. Other than the flashbacks, the only annoying thing in the book is Ruhlman's ruminations on the fact that many people, out of ignorance, send their children to sub-par surgeons for critical heart surgery when there are people like Dr. Mee out there. He points out that it changes the patient's chances of success from 98% to 80% or less. However, he just hits you on the head with this fact several times which even though true, gets old.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but could be much better
Review: While there is no doubt that Ruhlman's Walk on Water is exhaustively researched, it would have been a much better book had it been aggressively edited. The first thing that turned me off was the author's repetitiveness. Many concepts are explained, then reexplained a chapter or 2 later. One example is the pronunciation of the word "peds." Really, Mr. Ruhlman, I'm an intelligent reader and can remember from one chapter to the next what you have written. I don't need to have the concepts repeatedly pounded into my head. I found the chapter on the history of heart surgery to be about as entertaining as a college freshman's term paper. However, the main thing that bugged me was the number of misspellings of medical terms. For example, ascites (a collection of fluid in the abdomen) is spelled acites, and patent ductus arteriosus, a condition which is repeatedly described, has the last word misspelled as arteriosis. I felt this lack of attention to detail severely compromises the integrity of an otherwise factual book. Should I really trust that Mr. Ruhlman knows that he's talking about when he can't spell the terms correctly? Don't get put off by the few reviewers here who have mentioned profanity. It is used but sparingly and in situations which seem quite true to life. If it bothers you, simply take a pen and mark out the offending words.
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