Product Description
School bullying is universally decried, bemoaned, and condemned. And on the rise. Whether it's a teenager committing suicide as a result of a Facebook posting or a group of schoolchildren taunting another child with autism and filming it for the "entertainment" of others, the longest-lasting, deepest-scarring impact of bullying is emotional, not physical. Failure to understand this has handicapped an already-insipid series of failed "solutions." Heart Transplant is aimed at actually changing the way we deal with perhaps the most critical issue for children and parents alike today. To accomplish this mission, an entirely new genre was created. Neither a graphic novel nor a self-help book, it uses elements of both to reach parents and children alike. The intermingling of word and art is achieved so smoothly that it is experienced as one does words-and-music: you may forget the lyrics and hum the tune, but that very act evokes the lyrics. And if it's the lyrics that stick with you, you'll find yourself humming the tune. The anchoring essay (by clinical social worker Zak Mucha) explains in prose detail what the reader has just experienced. This book will be shelved under "Parenting" and  "Young Adult." Why? Because there is no "Bullying" section in any bookstore. And if Heart Transplant hits either  target, it will hit both. Nothing like this has ever been tried before. But if it works, the high risk will be rewarded by the greatest prize of all. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

HEART TRANSPLANT - MAKING BULLIES PAY THE PRICE
HEART TRANSPLANT is a uniquely conceived book --- impactful in its prose, visually stunning by virtue of the accompanying illustrations. It's not a straight novel or graphic novel or self-help book, yet elements of all three are combined into the final product. The result has been likened to the words-and-music of a song. The lyrics may be memorable in and of themselves; the tune may be memorable in and of itself --- together they unify to create something even MORE lasting. In this case it is a collaboration of words and illustrations brought together to create an enduring work that addresses one of the biggest problems in our world today: Bullying.

The storyline of HEART TRANSPLANT, as penned by Andrew Vachss, is the tale of Sean, one of the "invisible" children who are noticed only when someone seeks to abuse them in some way. As Sean puts it (in the first-person narrative): "Kids like me ... The only time anyone ever saw us was when they needed someone to make themselves look big. By making us look small."

As the story unfolds, Sean is rescued from this invisible, small-seeming existence when his "parents" (his mother is a fat, lazy, neglectful drunk and his "Daddy"-of-the-moment is a physically abusive lout mooching off her welfare checks and dabbling in petty crime) are murdered, and the boy is taken in by his grandfather. The crusty old Irishman --- Paddy, or "Pops" as Sean comes to call him --- quickly spots the lad's scars and insecurities. But he also recognizes Sean's intelligence and strong heart, something no one else ever took the time to notice. Paddy then opens up his own great heart and begins to impart to the boy his simple wisdom in ways that will eventually draw Sean out of his shadows and help him to realize the strengths about himself that Paddy already knows. Paramount in this teaching is a lesson to Sean about the need to be willing to pay the cost of confronting the kind of bullies who've belittled him all his life and make them understand that they, too, will pay a price EVERY TIME from now on should they attempt to continue.

In the end, looking back as a young man after Paddy has passed on, Sean comes to the full realization of how valuable the old man's lessons, and moreover his love, truly were. When the doctor tries to explain to Sean that Paddy had been suffering from a variety of ailments near the end until finally his heart failed, Sean replies: "you write whatever you want on that paper of yours ... But it wasn't his heart that gave out. It would never be his heart."

The story tht lawyer/best-selling crime novelist Vachss weaves here is basic and straightforward, yet nonetheless immensely powerful. Some may see this as a departure for Vachss, but it really is not. HEART TRANSPLANT is a perfect companion piece to his earlier book, ANOTHER CHANCE TO GET IT RIGHT, and the theme of combating abuses against the young and the weak has become the focal point of Vachss's life work.

The illustrations by Frank Caruso --- renowned cartoonist and VP of Creative Services for King Features --- beautifully amplify the moods and message of the prose. And an anchoring essay at the close of the book --- by Zak Mucha, clinical social worker and supervisor of Chicago's Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) program --- adds an insightful overview.

HEART TRANSPLANT is an important work that should be available in every local library and middle school library across the land and should be read and discussed by families everywhere. ... Read more

Product Description
Endorsed by the International Transplant Nurses Association, this book provides a guide to safe and effective care for solid organ transplant recipients. It includes coverage of the unique requirements of each organ transplanted, with separate chapters for heart, lung, kidney, liver, small intestine, and pancreas/islet cell transplantation. Other chapters cover important topics that affect all organs, such as immunology, infections, pharmaceutical agents, and patient education and discharge planning.

• Ideal as a review and study guide for the solid organ transplantation certification exam.
• Provides self-assessment questions at the end of each chapter.
• Discusses organ-specific evaluations for patients referred for transplantation.
• Identifies key physical findings of infection, rejection, malignancies, and other post-transplant complications.
• Covers the role of the immune system in rejection, infection, and malignancy.
• Describes the various immunosuppressive therapies used in solid organ transplantation.
• Identifies key pharmacologic principles regarding the care of solid organ transplant recipients.
• Discusses ethical issues such as living donations, procurement of deceased donors, and clinical transplantation.
• Describes allocation systems for organs in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia.
• Presents international nursing perspectives on organ transplantation.

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent resource
A great resource for any RN caring for patients who've had transplants. Very detailed nursing info that goes back to basic nursing care (gets a little lengthy at times). Excellent immunosuppression chapter, detailed standards for care for variety of solid organ transplants. ... Read more

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Perhaps no medical breakthrough in the twentieth century is more spectacular, more hope-giving, or more fraught with ethical questions than organ transplantation. Each year some 25,000 Americans are pulled back from the brink of death by receiving vital new organs. Another 5,000 die while waiting for them. And what distinguishes these two groups has become the source of one of our thorniest ethical questions.
In Raising the Dead, Ronald Munson offers a vivid, often wrenchingly dramatic account of how transplants are performed, how we decide who receives them, and how we engage the entire range of tough issues that arise because of them. Each chapter begins with a detailed account of a specific case--Mickey Mantle's controversial liver transplant, for example--followed by careful analysis of its surrounding ethical questions (the charges that Mantle received special treatment because he was a celebrity, the larger problems involving how organs are allocated, and whether alcoholics should have an equal claim on donor livers). In approaching transplant ethics through specific cases, Munson reminds us of the complex personal and emotional dimension that underlies such issues. The book also ranges beyond our present capabilities to explore the future possibilities in xenotransplantation (transplanting animal organs into humans) and stem cell technology that would allow doctors to grow new organs from the patient's own cells.
Based on extensive scientific research, but written with a novelist's eye for the human condition, Raising the Dead shows readers the reality of organ transplantation now, the possibility of what it may become, and how we might respond to the ethical challenges it forces us to confront. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A sensitive treatment of a delicate topic
There is no question to my mind that an organ or tissue transplant can be a life-giving and life-changing miracle for a recipient.I am one who should know this; after all, since 1990 I have had the benefit of two cadaveric kidney transplants.I know from experience the transforming power that a transplant can have on one's thinking and feeling as much as on one's health.Among other things, a transplant gives its recipient an appreciation for sacrificial generosity, and perhaps even some kind of vicarious atonement.
An organ transplant is a resurrection of sorts, for both donor and recipient.I have come to believe that part of the donor's mind and body lives on in the reinvigorated bodies and souls of recipients.One can hardly avoid thinking of this in terms of religious analogies, though this book does not take the religious dimension any further than its title and a few references to the raising of Lazarus.
It is sobering, to say the least, to think of one's transplant as a gift of life from the dead.It is sobering to think of a donor family's grief, out of which that gift of life has come.One must also remember the thousands who die every year while waiting for a transplant of some kind, and those whose country's healthcare system does not provide universal free access to transplant assessments and procedures.One thinks of thousands of medically suitable potential donors who miss the opportunity to donate their organs, whether out of ignorance or from a hardhearted selfishness.Sadly, too, there are thousands of families who override the consent of their loved one, or are ignorant of it, and who bury their treasure in the ground--a treasure that could save the lives of six or more people.But above all else there is great joy at the extraordinary grace that organ donation represents, and countless lives changed for ever by these healing miracles.Surely "no medical breakthrough is more spectacular, more hope-giving, or more fraught with ethical questions than organ transplantation."
Raising the Dead ranks with The Nicholas Effect among the greatest literature written on the subject of organ transplantation in recent years.Written by a renowned medical ethicist with several philosophical volumes and three novels to his credit, this book takes a heart-rending and dramatic case-study approach, in an effort to "remind us not to forget the personal and emotional dimension underlying the often arid discussions of transplant ethics" (p.24).Author Ronald Munson is a brilliant storyteller who has a way of simplifying complex issues and making them understandable to the lay reader.The ethical discussions and policy proposals one finds when reading this book make it required reading for anyone involved in the transplant process, whether recipients, teams of physicians and surgeons, or health policymakers.
Where the book gets somewhat more controversial is in its treatment of anencephalic infants, as well as its advocacy of organ sales (under exceptional circumstances), xenotransplantation and stem-cell regenerative therapy.Being so recently published, the book is right up-to-date with the latest frontiers of research, and considers the ethical implications of them all.It is furnished with a full apparatus of references for those who want to follow up with a study of the relevant source materials.The author has even included his email address for those who want to provide direct feedback.
I believe this book would make an excellent candidate for a no-holds-barred television documentary series.If such a documentary series were to be produced for a general audience, I am sure it would bring the issues surrounding organ transplantation and regenerative therapies the spotlight they surely deserve. ... Read more

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Product Description
Joseph Helfgot, the son of Holocaust survivors, worked his way from a Lower East Side tenement to create a successful Hollywood research company. But his heart was failing. After months of waiting for a heart transplant, he died during the operation.

Hours after his death, his wife Susan was asked a shocking question: would she donate her husband’s face to a total stranger?

The stranger was James Maki, the adopted son of parents who spent part of World War II in an internment camp for Japanese Americans. Rebelling against his stern father, a professor, by enlisting to serve in Vietnam, he returned home a broken man, addicted to drugs. One night he fell facedown onto the electrified third rail of a Boston subway track.

A young Czech surgeon who was determined to make a better life on the other side of the Iron Curtain was on call when the ambulance brought Maki to the hospital. Although Dr. Bohdan Pomahac gave him little chance of survival, Maki battled back. He was sober and grateful for a second chance, but he became a recluse, a man without a face. His only hope was a controversial face transplant, and Dr. Pomahac made it happen.

In The Match, Susan Whitman Helfgot captures decades of drama and history, taking us from Warsaw to Japan, from New York to Hollywood. Through wars and immigration, poverty and persecution, from a medieval cadaver dissection to a stunning seventeen-hour face transplant, she weaves together the story of people forever intertwined—a triumphant legacy of hope. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Extremely engaging. Could not stop reading.
I read the eBook version on my iPhone, reading every chance I got and finished it in two days.This is an extremely engaging very human story of an incredible set of circumstances that affected the lives of all involved forever. In this book you get to share in the thoughts and feelings of each person involved, and incredibly you get a sense of what it must have been like for each one of them. Thank you Susan for sharing this with us.

Amazing Story
I first heard about this story on the reality show, Boston Med.I was riveted by the story.When I learned that Ms. Whitman and Jim Maki wrote a book together, I bought it. I just finished reading the Match and was absorbed in this book since I picked it up. I was engrossed in reading about the lives of each person touched by Susan Whitman Helfgot's decision.The book is well written. It was a heroic act to donate her husband's face, I am not sure if many people would have done the same.


I saw a follow up interview with her, she said that she is donating the proceeds of this book to support organ donation.

Beautifully written book - must read
I expected this book to be the tale of a groundbreaking medical procedure but it's so much more. Written as a page turning thriller, it's also a universal story of courage and redemption, grace and generosity in the aftermath of grief and loss. Reading it offers an intimate connection with a collection of truly extraordinary people who will stay with you long after you finish the last page.

Much more than a medical tale . . .
The Match presents the story of the second U.S. face transplant: the outgoing Hollywood marketing executive whose face was donated by his wife, the Viet Nam veteran and ex-addict who received the face, and the surgeons who performed the ground-breaking surgery.It is, however, so much more than a medical tale. Susan Helfgot, with the assistance of William Novak, has written a remarkable book.

The Match is a wife's love letter to her charismatic husband.In graceful counterpoint, the character of Joseph takes shape as the story of his losing his life and his face unfolds. The thoughts that Susan has at each stage of the process appear in italics.They are compelling--never maudlin or overwhelming.

The Match is a powerful argument in favor of organ donation: it is hard to imagine that a reader could finish the book without being convinced to become an organ donor.What is less obvious but even more moving is Susan Helfgot's conviction that people deserve a second chance, that even someone with a life in tatters deserves an act of generosity and selflessness.

Most of all, The Match is an great story:the narrator is appealing, and the events are engrossing.When I finished reading, I wished the book were longer.

The Match
The Match is a unique account of two lives intertwined as a result of separate tragic events.

The text is laced with the Susan Whitman-Helfgot's raw and honest thoughts about her husband's life and death. She and William Novak give readers a behind the curtain look at the lives of face transplant donor Joseph Helfgot and Jim Maki who was the recipient of Helfgot's generosity. In this age of lawsuits and malpractice the credibility, enthusiasm and warmth of the surgical team are noteworthy.

I've heard it said that we don't realize how strong we are until we're up against what seem to be insurmountable odds. Only then do we find the strength necessary to press on. Often that strength is gained in the company of loved ones which was the case with the Helfgot and Maki family and friends. Joseph's family endured tentative moments teetering on the precipice of life and death.

The Maki family endured pain of a different kind when Jim sustained a life-altering fall. Horror turned to hope when Joseph's family agreed to donate the face of their beloved husband and father for an historic transplant.

Susan Whitman-Helfgot and Jim Maki are living proof that calamity can bond people for good. May the record books bear evidence of thousands of transplant recipients living better lives through the unselfish gift of organ donations.

To learn more about organ donation:
Donate Life America - [...]
United Network for Organ Sharing - [...]
U.S. Government -[...] ... Read more

Product Description
Strange Harvest illuminates the wondrous yet disquieting medical realm of organ transplantation by drawing on the voices of those most deeply involved: transplant recipients, clinical specialists, and the surviving kin of deceased organ donors. In this rich and deeply engaging ethnographic study, anthropologist Lesley Sharp explores how these parties think about death, loss, and mourning, especially in light of medical taboos surrounding donor anonymity. As Sharp argues, new forms of embodied intimacy arise in response, and the riveting insights gleaned from her interviews, observations, and descriptions of donor memorials and other transplant events expose how patients and donor families make sense of the transfer of body parts from the dead to the living. For instance, all must grapple with complex yet contradictory clinical assertions of death as easily detectable and absolute; nevertheless, transplants are regularly celebrated as forms of rebirth, and donors as living on in others' bodies. New forms of sociality arise, too: recipients and donors' relatives may defy sanctions against communication, and through personal encounters strangers are transformed into kin. Sharp also considers current experimental research efforts to develop alternative sources for human parts, with prototypes ranging from genetically altered animals to sophisticated mechanical devices. These future trajectories generate intriguing responses among both scientists and transplant recipients as they consider how such alternatives might reshape established--yet unusual--forms of embodied intimacy. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Great book especially for families that know nothing of the transplant system
While I applaud the authors for all their research on this topic, I wonder why they never did any research or visit any dialysis clinics. Mr. Farber was extremely fortunate to have had a perfect match with his son.I wish he had included some dialysis research.As a dialysis tech for seven years, I can assure you that these patients do not think of dialysis as their only hope.For many of them, dialysis is a way to stay alive until they do get a transplant and many have very active working lives.

The author's comment "sometimes I get distressed by the willingness of some patients to allow their transplants to limit them so in their activities.......use their transplants as an excuse not to work, not to play....." was a little harsh.Many transplant patients really are tired and just cannot do much because of the required medications.I can attest to this first hand because I had a husband that was on dialysis and received a kidney transplant - he was never one to use the transplant as an excuse to not do something.

I also concur with the authors that the compensated donation is the route to go.Maybe one day we will see this.

Clear thinking on an important medical issue facing millions.
ON THE LIST is what all investigative journalism should be: great story telling that allows us to understand complex and difficult issues.In the case of ON THE LIST, Abrahams weaves a great non-fiction story to illuminate an ethically, socially and scientifically complex topic in a personal and very human way.Not just a book for those directly involved in transplant operations.A must read for those interested in health care system issues, medical ethics and a compelling tale on an important and timely topic.On the List: Fixing America's Failing Organ Transplant System

In Praise of On The List
On The List is a captivating account of how two people from such different backgrounds are able to find common ground surrounding unfortunate circumstances.Aside from the intriguing story, what I found most interesting and kept my attention throughout the book is the author's interweaving of policy, the pitfalls of our donor registry alongside two true life situations.Ultimately, the story combined with the policy aspect of the books makes it an easy and educational read.

Important Topic, but Way Too Long -
Each year 6,500 die in America waiting for organ transplants. "On The List" tells of illicit transplantation activities around the world, the author's own transplant experience,and that of an unrelated immigrant being treated at the same time. The authors see this book as a story of ethics and medicine and law gone mad, of the dramatic shortage of transplant organs, and the growth of illicit organ markets in poor Third World countries.

Shortage of donors is THE problem. Presumed consent laws in Europe have helped, but only provided a 15 - 20% improvement. The main barrier is resistance of family members after a potential donor's death, regardless of their wishes. A study of transplants using third-world paid 'donors' found that overall the donors were medically worse off afterwards, though U.S. practices have lowered donor death rates to 0.1%.

Farber (author, kidney recipient) experienced a number of post-transplant problems, most likely caused by drugs. The good news is that improvements now allow most recipients to stop using anti-rejection drugs within five years. The authors believe the answer to the donor shortage may lie in outcomes of stem cell research (long term) and a government-run compensation program for donors that assures equity.

Bottom Line: "On the List" addresses a serious problem that is not limited to just those needing kidneys. The authors' hopes and recommend ations are sound. However, the book should have been shortened to a one or two page article.

well written, excellent story
Harlan Abrahams does a great job of writing a book about a very current subject. His research is meticulous and well documented.The story about Ernesto is very interesting and poignant.Hope to read more books by Abrahams. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent guide
An excellent guide to plug growers. Interesting reading, with information on media, water, ph, and focus in every stage of the plug developing. You can't grow plugs and not hear about this book. ... Read more

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With more than 30 of the most important, influential, and up-to-date articles from leaders in ethics, medicine, philosophy, law, and politics, "The Ethics of Organ Transplants" examines the numerous and tangled issues that surround organ procurement and distribution. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Covers a wide variety of topics
I have gone through a very emotional period in which twice, I thought I was going to be a living organ donor. Once it was to have been a kidney and the other time a lobe of my liver. Each time, I was unable to undergo the surgery. My liver's blood vessels are in the way, thus the surgeon cannot safely operate without risking severing an artery. Going through the process of preparing for surgery, even though ultimately the surgery never took place, has given me an interest in the topic of organ transplants and the ethical issues surrounding them. This book has articles on the ethics of living transplants as well as many other topics such as the allocation of scarce organs, using fetal tissue, defining "brain death," etc. Some articles are several years old so the technology discussed may be a little dated but the ethical issues remain. Some articles are from medical journals and are rather technical from a lay person's standpoint. Nonetheless, most articles are interesting and when I showed this book to my would be surgeon for the liver transplant, he immediately ordered a copy for himself.

Thought-provoking and superbly edited.
This collection of essays on issues related to organ transplantation is both thought-provoking and timely, as our society grapples with critical problems such as the allocation of donor organs, the use of animal organs,etc.Caplan and Coelho have done a superb job of editing this anthology. ... Read more

Product Description
One of the most spectacular medical advances of the twentieth century, organ transplantation has become a generally effective and routine treatment for patients with organ failure. In this riveting book, a well-known expert in the fields of clinical transplantation and transplantation research traces the evolution of organ transplantation from its initial stirrings in the imaginations of the ancients to its current status as accepted treatment for nearly 40,000 patients each year. Drawing often on his own firsthand experience, Dr. Nicholas L. Tilney tells the story of the advances in organ transplantation, discusses how societal forces have driven its development, and reveals how its current success is marred by commercialism and exploitation of the less fortunate.Dr. Tilney describes early transplantation attempts, the first successful kidney transplant in 1954 between identical twins, the scientific advances for suppressing the immune system, the introduction of the concept of host tolerance, the new research on donor matching, and the issue of donor brain death. He explores innovations in heart, lung, liver, and other abdominal transplants and reflects on the attempts to make transplants between species. Finally he explains how organ transplantation has become a vast business, creating ethical and logistical conflicts about organ donations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

From Two-Headed Dogs to the Bionic Human
Transplant might have been titled Transplants for Complete Idiots. It explains things in terms even I, a slow learner when it comes to science, can understand. Things such as the fact that a heart transplant is completely different from a liver transplant (I guess I had thought that once they'd figured out how to pop one organ into someone, the procedure would be pretty much the same for the other organs). Transplant also goes into more detail for those who are medically inclined. Still, there really wasn't very much that an interested and moderately intelligent reader couldn't understand.

Tilney covers many aspects of transplantation, such as the mythology of grafting parts of one being onto another, the pre-twentieth century history of transplants (rather gruesome), the trial-and-error progress through most of the twentieth century, the ethics of using organs from the brain-dead or from other species, and the cultural differences that make donating organs almost impossible in some countries (in Japan, for instance, a person isn't considered dead until their heart stops beating, so there is no such thing there as being brain-dead). An interesting sidelight was the effect of war on the progress of transplantation studies. World War II provided thousands of burn victims, so that by the end of the war, surgeons had developed the procedures for skin grafts and were quite proficient at it. But the same war caused delays in the progress of kidney transplant science when the Nazis disrupted the work of Dutch doctors.

Transplant has numerous photos to illustrate the readable and engaging text. And every so often Tilney tosses in an amusing story to liven things up. Like the story of a group of transplanted monkeys in Canada who got hooked on soap operas, which made it easy for the researchers to determine when they weren't feeling well. When the monkeys weren't interested in their soaps, something was wrong!

Transplant not only filled in some big gaps in my education, but it really made me appreciate what huge advances medicine made in the last fifty years. And how much more we have to learn.


... Read more

Product Description
How dohomeschoolers make it in the "real world" once they've graduated? Find out first-hand from 16 young adults who have gone on to college, careers, and marriage. Great for teens and their parents who are considering home schooling or deciding whether to continue through high school. HotHouse Transplants will inspire and encourage teens to desire God's best in their lives. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Ok ... but
a little dissapointed in the book.Thought perhaps it would contain a little more useful information.

It focused a little too much on the religious side of homeschooling without considering that not everyone homeschools for religious purposes.

It was, however, encouring to hear that all of these kids came through the homeschooling process not feeling left out.

If you're looking for helpful info - look elsewhere.If you're looking for encouragement only, you'll be satisfied with this book.

Encouraging
I would recommend this book to any homeschoolers seeking encouragement as they transfer from ordinary home life to college or employment. It is filled with assorted stories of how the training and nurturing of teaching children at home greatly helps them to expand their borders instead of confining them as so many folks assume. I myself am a recent homeschool graduate, and I can add my story of how wonderfully blessed I am to have been homeschooled. I directly link my success so far at college and work to the principles and love of God I learned at home. I have seen that homeschooling is a heritage to reverence, not one to regret, and this book offers the testimony of 16 other homeschoolers to support the same premise. ... Read more

Product Description
Caring for troubled adoptive/foster care children can be both harrowing and heroic.Many of today's foster and adopted children come from backgrounds where they experience not only the loss of previous caregivers, but have also suffered from abuse, sexual exploitation, or neglect.Individuals who invite these children into their homes often find themselves in a therapeutic role that can tax and exhaust.Troubled Transplants focuses on these children, their backgrounds, and their deleterious impact on the interaction and environment with the foster or adoptive family.The authors provide suggestions about behavioral roots and practical strategies to address and improve these issues. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Helpful
This book contains both useful and not-so-useful information. It covers the basics of harmful, abusive and neglectful relationships and why they cause behavioral problems. It also discusses many therapeutic adoptive and foster family environments and techniques to be used with problem kids. The methods suggested are very situation-specific, and all were developed with the advice of therapists working with the families whose situations are (anonymously) described.

The book, as a previous reviewer notes, mostly discusses methods of therapeutic intervention, with the aim of achieving four goals: Reduce and manage acting out; assist the child to become aware and conscious of others negative expectations; help the child develop constructive interpersonal skills; increase positive interactions between the parent and child.

The authors note frequently that when dealing with these kinds of situations, there is no magic bullet. Therapies and therapeutic parental reactions must be developed in response to each child's needs. But very often, these strategies work. For example, the behavior of a screaming child was changed when the parents and other siblings began to scream along with him, until he stared at them silently, in disbelief. The method also worked in a supermarket, when the child started screaming there. And humorously, the store personnel even played into the strategy, announcing over the PA system, "child meltdown in aisle 4." Ever after, this child stopped screaming for attention.

Obviously, not all therapies work in all situations. Also, some of the therapies are controversial and are probably contra-indicated in many if not all cases.

Even so, the creativity of the ideas offered herein is a very useful springboard for other parents and therapists struggling to find ways of modifying a child's behavior, when all the other, traditional behavior modification systems have failed.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

Informative and empowering
This book explores the dynamics of both harmful (abusive and neglectful) and therapeutic (specially-trained adoptive and foster) family environments.Disturbed children can be helped to develop more productive and satisfying relationships, the authors suggest, through the efforts of foster and adoptive parents working in the home environment, aided by the support, encouragement, and resources of the professionals on the team.

Most of the book is concerned with therapeutic intervention, based on four goals:Manage acting out behavior; assist the child in becoming conscious of negative expectations of others; help the child develop constructive interpersonal skills; increase positive interactions between the parent and child.Delaney and Kunstal are clear there are no magic or immediate "cures."Their "unconventional" strategies (examples rather than prescriptions) attempt to discourage power struggles, create new opportunities for both the parent and the child, and encourage small successes in order to help motivate foster and adoptive parents to keep trying.

This book, coupled with Fostering Changes (a previous book by the same author), should be required reading for foster and adoptive parents and caseworkers. It is informative and empowering. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (7)

Interesting personal account of recent surgical history
This book, by transplantation pioneer Dr. Thomas Starzl, is an easy read, a wonderfully inspiring story, and an interesting history of modern surgical medicine. I was compelled to write the review because of several reviews that disparage Dr. Starzl and this book.

The book is an inspirational story of a young mid-westerner, with no connections or wealth to help him in his journey, who innovated, struggled, competed, succeeded, and eventually became THE transplant surgeon in the world. The reason Pittsburgh is a transplant mecca is that Dr. Starzl is there.

Now, certainly Dr. Starzl's personality has a reputation that casts him in a negative light - I don't know the man, but I suspect that great succeess also breeds great resentments. Whatever his failings are, his contributions are beyond dispute.

Dr. Starzl's ability as a surgeon has also been questioned. Again, I have never operated with him, but the success of his transplant program speaks for itself. Also, if his only contribution was to innovate and educate a generation of transplant surgeons, then that by itself would be a fine legacy.

Finally, some reviews bash the book, so here goes my actual book review:

The book is an extremely personal account, with all the beauty and failings that are an inherent part of such a personal endeavor. Yes, he settles old scores. Yes, he portrays himself as the greatest man on earth. Yes he does not dwell on important social and ethical issues that confront modern surgery. However, these "problems" with the book are also what makes this book such a wonderful read - it is really like a conversation with a great man. He lets you in on his most secret fears (he hates operating), his most painful memories (his father's health and death, his failed family life, his second wife's history of physical abuse), his greatest triumphs (successful liver transplantations), his greatest failures (failed surgeries, inability to get along with colleagues and superiors in academia, his family/children). This is such a personal account that any other perspective on it completely misses the point. Dr. Starzl pours his heart out, which is what makes this book so interesting.

I've recently read the autobiography of Francis Moore, the great chair of Surgery at Harvard. It is such a boring book ! It offers nothing personal, nothing intimate, just a dry listing of accomplishments and people who were involved in them. One learns more about Dr. Moore from Dr. Starzl's book than from his own autobiography.

In conclusion, this is a very captivating account of a personal journey. For all his failings, Dr. Starzl is not afraid to reveal himself, and the result is a compelling and inspirational book that most readers will thoroughly enjoy.

Man with a heart, a real heart.
Dr. Starzl saves lifes not only with his skills, but with a real heart.A genuine human being.

Compelling at times
The author disparages several people in this book, including those who are not alive to defend themselves.This reflects more negatively on the author than on the persons he criticizes. Nonetheless, the book iscompelling at times, particularly where the author talks about the patientshe has helped, or those he has tried to help but who did not survive. Theauthor was and is clearly a major figure in a field which has done much toprolong and improve the lives of many people. If the book accomplishesnothing else, hopefully it will encourage its readers to provide for thedonation of their organs after death, or those of their loved ones.

I am a transplant recipient and need this book
Dr Starzl wrote an excellent book of the history of organ transplantation.Without his work in the late 50's many more people would have died.To me he is the real hero. Anyone who can give it a bad review does not live it everyday like my wife and I do. I wish I found it sooner. many thanks Dr. Starzl

An Egomaniac's Puff Piece
This has to be one of the most poorly written books I've ever read.There were frequent references to trivial incidents in the author's life (e.g. a surprise 50th birthday party), but there was no overarching sense of the major accomplishments and setbacks in transplant science during the author's illustrious career.By the end of the book, I was left with no sense of the next medical frontiers in transplantation, or the ethical dilemmas they would engender.Starzl would have done far better to coauthor with a journalist, the better to highlight crucial issues and establish context.

Attacks on old professional enemies and odd turns of phrase about people's ethnic backgrounds were also off-putting.Knowing that Starzl can hold a grudge for decades made me take his chracterizations of even his friends with a few kilograms of salt.

Starzl may have been a brilliant surgeon, but this book reads more like a personal indulgence meant for a vanity press.A pity that this book isn't the gripping behind-the-scenes tour of the politics and techniques of transplant it was meant to be. ... Read more

Product Description
Describes the optimal procedures to follow in the care of the lung transplant patient -beginning prior to the time of first referral and continuing through the rest of the patient's post-operative life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

For referring and primary care physicians
Lifelong care of the lung transplant recipient is essential to optimal long-term outcomes, and the University of Minnesota's multidisciplinary approach to patient care has been a significant factor in the success of their transplant program. This book outlines the university's protocols for patient care, beginning prior to the time of first referral and continuing through the rest of the patient's post-operative life. Highly recommended for primary care physicians; pulmonary specialists; nurses and care coordinators; dietitians; and other allied health professionals. ... Read more

Product Description
Medical Care of the Liver Transplant Patient looks at monitoring and maintaining the health of organ recipients and donors, pre, during and post-operatively.

There are twenty-nine chapters containing practical advice on total patient management. They are arranged into 8 sections and follow the stages of transplantation from first indication and selection of potential recipient, through to acute recovery, long-term follow-up and continued health.

In this edition there are new chapters on special considerations in liver transplant patients such as viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease and live donor liver transplantation. It also contains the very latest information concerning complications and recurring problems after transplantation. Another new chapter considers fresh approaches and developments in the future.

This is a vital reference to all members of the medical team involved at different stages in the care of liver transplantation patients including hepatologists, gastroenterologists, transplant surgeons, specialist nurses, and nutritionists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Well worth the price!!
I bought this book for my Advanced Hepatology Fellowship almost 6 months ago. Since then, I have had a chance to go through 4-5 chapters in this book and I have to say that I am amazed at the clarity and flow of information in this book. The authors have done a commendable job. This is probably the only detailed book on the market that specifically addresses the medical management of a liver transplant patient and does so beautifully. I highly recommend this book for anyone active in taking care of patients pre- or post- liver transplant. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Legal Transplants: An Approach to Comparative Law
This book is a reprint and not a second edition. THe only additional material is an afterword. It is a good starting point on legal transplants but requires reading of many other books by this author before the topic becomes clear. ... Read more

Product Description
This book provides a comprehensive overview of solid organ transplantation for residents, fellows and other personnel working in Transplant Units. It addresses the clinical management of the transplant patient from pre-transplant evaluation through surgery to outpatient follow-up. Emphasis is given to the information required for day to day management. This information is presented in a concise and practical format for easy access. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (11)

Medical thriller
This is a fast paced, medical thriller that is hard to put down, once you start reading it.Also, it finishes with a shocking surprise ending.As a retired surgeon I appreciated the skill of the author in describing many technical details about heart transplant surgery in understandable "Layman's terminology."

transplant
Our bookclub had the pleasure of reading Transplant and had an even greater pleasure in having the author attend our bookclub meeting.This book kept me glued to my seat.An absolute page turner.It's a medical, ethical thriller that keeps you yearning to see what will happen next.Full of excitement and surprises. Forces you to consider what is medically acceptable and who is to decide?

A MEDICAL MYSTERY YOU WANT TO READ
TRANSPLANT IS AN INTRIGING MYSTERY YOU DON'T WANT TO PUT DOWN. IT MAKES YOU THINK ABOUT MORAL AND ETHICAL CHOICES AND WHAT YOU DO FOR YOUR FAMILY. THERE WAS ALOT OF ACTION THAT TOOK PLACE TO THE VERY END. I'LL BE WAITING FOR DR. ELEFTERIADES' NEXT BOOK. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO EVERYONE.

Great Present
My wife loves these types of books and read this one in a weekend.She loved it.

Extraordinary Medical Thriller
There are three requirements I demand in a thriller.The first is that it grips me and doesn't let my attention wander.The second is that I learn some new information and the third is that it challenges my own beliefs and gets me to think outside the box of what I have always believed to be true.Dr. John A. Elefteriades medical thriller "Transplant" elegantly meets all three requirements.

Without giving away too much of the plot, the lead character, world renowned cardiac surgeon Dr. Athan Carras is thrown in a moral quandary when he is asked to perform a heart transplant on the son of an obsessed multimillionaire, Terry Flint.You are swept away in the adventure as you are forced to confront your own moral ethics and what you would do given the circumstances that are revealed in this exciting, fast moving medial thriller.

Dr. John A Elefteriades ranks right up there with Michael Palmer and Robin Cook.As a bonus, Dr. Elefteriades presents you with thought-provoking ethical questions at the end of the books that will get you to reexamine your beliefs about what is necessary to make the leaps needed for medical advancement.
... Read more

Product Description
Many remember the proudly beaming face of South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard after he performed the first human heart transplant. But he was not alone in his quest. In truth it was a fourway race, a fierce struggle fraught with passionate rivalry. Three other surgeons were giants in the field, and by early December 1967 all were poised to make medical history.

Each had spent years perfecting his techniques; each monitored his chosen patient's condition, watching the clock, hoping a donor would be found in time. From a dank, under-equipped hospital in Cape Town to a cramped lab in San Francisco, the surgeons worked miracles, testing the limits of both science and nature. Some were friends; others were enemies. Only one would be the first. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

fascinating story
Every Second Counts: The Race to Transplant the First Human Heart

A must read book for any cardiothoracic person interested to know detailed accounts on this feverish race........you will not stop till you reach the last word in the book.....congratulations for the editor for this fascinating account.

REVIEW FROM ONE INVOLVED IN EARLY TRANSPLANTS
THIS IS A GREAT BOOK AND VERY ACCURATE ABOUT THE THINGS THAT HAPPENED BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER THE FIRST HUMAN HEART TRANSPLANT TOOK PLACE.THE BOOK WAS VERY WELL RESEARCHED PRIOR TO THE WRITING BY DONALD McRAE.I THINK HE WAS VERY FAIR IN HIS APPROACH TO ALL PHASES OF THE BOOK.I WAS DR. RICHARD LOWER'S TECHNICIAN (PERFUSIONIST) FROM 1963 AT STANFORD UNTIL 1989 AT MCV IN VA.I WAS INVOLVED IN ALL HIS HEART TRANSPLANTS SO I CAN ATTEST TO THE AUTHENTICITY OF WHAT MR. McRAE WROTE ABOUT DR.'S SHUMWAY, LOWER, AND BARNARD IN THE BOOK.I BELIEVE IT TO BE THE BEST BOOK THAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT THOSE EARLY DAYS OF THE HEART TRANSPLANT BUSINESS.
LANIER ALLEN, RETIRED CCP & RETIRED CHIEF OF PERFUSION AT MCV HOSPITAL, RICHMOND, VA

Every Second Counts
An absolutely spell binding account of the early work in the field of heart transplant.Extremely well written and very factual.A great read, indeed, it is almost impossible to put the book down once you begin.

An In-Depth Autobiography
This autobiography of Lance Armstrong will show you how teamwork plays an important role in the Tour de France.You'll also see how Armstrong coped after his first marriage ended.

A Great Book
The book deals with complicated medical matters, but is written like a novel and is riveting, and hard to put down. It covers lots of medical and human history and is required reading for those too young to understand and appreciate heart and vascular surgery. Bypass and transplant surgery has changed the world and this book tells who made it possible.

Joseph R. Newell, Jr ... Read more