Something for the Pain: One Doctor's Account of Life and Death in the ER »

Paul Austin was named a 2008 tuition scholar at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and his essays have appeared in Creative Nonfiction, The Southeast Review, and The Gettysburg Review. A former firefighter, he has more than twenty-five years of experience working in emergency rooms. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.

In this riveting memoir, an ER doctor reveals how his high-stress career of helping others led to a struggle to save himself.

Publishers Weekly

With a relentlessly honest look at modern emergency medicine, Austin, a former firefighter now living in Durham, N.C., writes in his debut book of his transformation to a highly capable ER doctor struggling to stay one jump ahead of death in the crowded critical care ward. The book begins deftly with Austin, a sleep-deprived physician, trying to avoid mistakes stemming from fatigue by relying on his instincts, frequently both skill and luck, to treat patients with gunshot wounds, brain tumors, asthma, heart ailments and general problems. In a narrative blur of flashbacks, he tells of his career as a firefighter before landing in medical school, which was followed by an internship at a local hospital and marriage to a lovely nurse and having a family. What makes this inspiring medical memoir stand out is the courageous measure of Austin's humanity in taking on the endless weight of suffering, and what he becomes to his co-workers, his patients, his family and his community. (Sept.)

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Introduction Tool Bag 9

Part One

Night Shift 15

Still Hurting 24

The Caring Curve 35

Something So Personal 43

Declaring a Patient 59

Ventilator 72

Among Savages 83

Face-to-Face 101

Part Two

Mrs. Kelly 113

Splinters 137

Tucker Put His Gun to His Head 143

Longing for Sleep 155

Seeking Rehab 165

Part Three

Somebody's Baby 185

Sleeping at My Mother-in-Law's 196

Sleeping Quarters 210

Gunshot Wound to the Chest 222

Why Don't You Do Something? 234

Something for the Pain 261

The Devil Is a Beautiful Man 274

Rotating Shifts 282

Epilogue 291

Acknowledgments 295