Ins Mark getroffen

An intensive care physician experiences what it means to have cancer: Professor Dr. Thomas Bein shares his experiences as a cancer patient in the everyday life of high-tech medicine in his non-fiction book. Prof. Dr. Thomas Bein heads an intensive care unit at the University Hospital of Regensburg when he is diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. From that point on, the leading physician becomes a patient within the machinery of high-tech medicine: He experiences what it feels like to receive a cancer diagnosis, what it means to endure chemotherapy, to lose control over his own body, and to learn how to live with the disease of cancer.

Throughout, the experience and knowledge of the intensive care physician resonate, as he had previously questioned how his actions as a doctor affect his patients. Thomas Bein powerfully describes what he has learned about the autonomy and dignity of severely ill patients in the clinical setting—and what urgently needs to change, both in procedures and in the relationship between doctor and patient. His experiences as a cancer patient carry special weight, given his training as a medical ethicist at the University Hospital of Regensburg.