On Call
Meredith, Ineke
The world of surgery is strange, messy and intense. From a man presenting with fishhooks in his stomach to being punched in the face by a patient, it's all in a mad day's work for a female general surgeon. Even with emergency operations in the wee hours and constantly being mistaken for a nurse, there are still moments of laughter and tenderness amid the chaos.
When Ineke's parents in Samoa fall ill, she becomes torn between her roles as a surgeon, a daughter and a single working mother, leading her to ask: are the sacrifices of a life in scrubs worth it? [Taken from the book cover, Harper Collins Publishers]
Comments from BDS Reviewers
"So well written you could feel yourself beside the author as she treated patients."
"I enjoyed the candour with which it was written and the absolutely honesty Ineke portrays as a daughter, mother and doctor."
"This is not just another book about life in a hospital. It is told with brutal honesty, humour and candour."
"An absorbing read and well worth reading."
"It demonstrates, very ably, how women still struggle to manage family and career, without blame or self-pity."
"The writer's sometimes blunt, always honest, account differs from similar texts by male surgeons. She relates details of failures and feelings in a way they rarely do."
304
2024