One Children's Place: A Profile of Pediatric Medicine

Novelist and science writer Gutkind ( Many Sleepless Nights ) justifiably argues that the distinctive nature of children's medical care is underrated--and here seeks to redress that wrong by focusing our attention on Pittsburgh's prominent Children's Hospital. Infiltrating the ranks of nurses, residents and surgeons, and witnessing the often heroic efforts of parents and offspring in coping with illness, the author demonstrates that treatment of the young, and the web of professional and personal relationships surrounding it, is best fostered in institutions dedicated solely to the cause of children. Employing a journalist's ``fly on the wall'' strengths of observation, rendering insights with novelistic verve, Gutkind recounts hospital procedures--from organ transplants to therapy for child abuse cases--and chronicles a procession of tragedies and triumphs. The author's two years at the facility at One Children's Place yields a striking portrait. (July)