Angina Monologues

A pioneering cardiac surgeon expertly sews up the heart of surgery, the health of the nation, and the NHS.The Angina Monologues speeds from the transporting of a donor's heart up the motorway hard shoulder, to cautionary stories of excessive intervention gone awry in US hospitals, to a traumatic trip to bring advanced cardiac surgery to the Palestinian West Bank. Nashef tells heart-stopping stories of transplants, coronary artery bypasses, aorta repair, and cardiac arrest. He also delivers humane advice about medical realities rarely observed: the futility of obsessing over diet, the necessity of calculating risks, the role of decision making, the resilience of doctor and patient alike, and the threadbare brilliance of the NHS. Nashef is a magnificently warm and likeable doctor and writer; and he has the best imaginable bedside manner.

Samer Nashef qualified as a doctor at the University of Bristol in 1980 and is a consultant cardiac surgeon at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge. He is a dedicated teacher and communicator and is recognised as a world-leading expert on risk and quality in surgical care. He is the author of The Naked Surgeon and a compiler of cryptic crosswords for The Guardian and the Financial Times.