Oxygen: A Novel

· Simon and Schuster
4.5
19 reviews
Ebook
288
Pages

About this ebook

Jodi Picoult meets Atul Gawande in this bestselling novel that blends compelling women’s fiction and medical drama to create an “involving debut that’s just what the doctor ordered” (People).

Dr. Marie Heaton is an anesthesiologist at the height of her profession. She has worked, lived, and breathed her career since medical school, and she now practices at a top Seattle hospital. Marie has carefully constructed and constricted her life according to empirical truths, to the science and art of medicine. But when her tried-and-true formula suddenly deserts her during a routine surgery, she must explain the nightmarish operating room disaster and face the resulting malpractice suit. Marie’s best friend, colleague, and former lover, Dr. Joe Hillary, becomes her closest confidante as she twists through depositions, accusations and a remorseful preoccupation with the mother of the patient in question. As she struggles to salvage her career and reputation, Marie must face hard truths about the path she’s chosen, the bridges she’s burned, and the colleagues and superiors she’s mistaken for friends.

A quieter crisis is simultaneously unfolding within Marie’s family. Her aging father is losing his sight and approaching an awkward dependency on Marie and her sister, Lori. But Lori has taken a more traditional path than Marie and is busy raising a family. Although Marie has been estranged from her Texas roots for decades, the ultimate responsibility for their father’s care is falling on her.

As her carefully structured life begins to collapse, Marie confronts questions of love and betrayal, family bonds and the price of her own choices. Set against the natural splendor of Seattle, and inside the closed vaults of hospital operating rooms, Oxygen climaxes in a final twist that is as heartrending as it is redeeming.

Ratings and reviews

4.5
19 reviews
A Google user
April 26, 2010
The book is well written, but more research, particularly into the way actions for medical negligence are run would have improved it. Complaining that a matter has not been resolved within 6 weeks of a death (and attributing the "delay" to the fact that lawyers charge by the hour) demonstrates only that the author has no understanding of what a lawyer does in preparing a case, or of the court process. It was surprising that she had even heard from the plaintiff's lawyer within 6 weeks of the girl dying. Any lawyer, even one of questionable competence, would have been onto the major clue within 60 seconds of the commencement of the first consultation (I won't reveal what it is, but it involves another person in the operating theatre). Good defence lawyers would also put a little more energy into defending what looks on its face to be an eminently defendable case. Retaining an expert witness would have been a good start, as would pursuing the clues which hung in the air like the fumes from a skunk. Dr Cassella may despise lawyers, but it would have paid to overcome her revulsion for an hour or two to have a conversation with one. Just one other little gripe: the amount doctors are paid is painted as an incidental and surprising bonus to a life of service. Payment to a lawyer seems to be against the laws of nature. The fact that the lawyers in this case seemed to do nothing except make sympathetic phone calls, or attend funerals to hand out business cards, might explain that. By the way, if you receive a business card from a lawyer at a funeral, you should report it to the bar association in your state. Georgia Rule of Professional Conduct 7.3 provides, in part, as follows: (d) A lawyer shall not solicit professional employment as a private practitioner for the lawyer, a partner or associate through direct personal contact or through live telephone contact, with a non-lawyer who has not sought advice regarding employment of a lawyer. All American states have equivalent rules. (And all I had to do to find that was a bit of googling for about 10 minutes. As research goes, it was not difficult.) This book is well written. Dr Cassella has a wonderful way of describing what an anesthesiologist does, clearly from years of hands on research, and a passion for the importance and benefit of the job to society. But when writing about a legal matter, it is important to understand how legal process works, what lawyers do, and to give lawyers a little credit for having the capacity for professional competence and rational thought.
Katherine Mason
July 25, 2015
I got lost for a bit with the 'side plot' but otherwise enjoyed the human pain and guilt and need for answers after any mistake in the medical field. Realistic but feels unfinished
Jennifer Gastelum
June 11, 2013
As a recent medical school graduate about to start my anesthesiology residency... I found this book very realistic and interesting. I felt great empathy for Dr. Heaton as she struggled with her guilt with feeling responsible for the death of her patient. It is the greatest fear of all doctors. I will highly recommend this book to my friends and family.

About the author

Carol Cassella, MD, is a practicing anesthesiologist, novelist, and speaker. She majored in English literature at Duke University and attended Baylor College of Medicine. She is the bestselling author of the novels Gemini, Oxygen, and Healer, published by Simon & Schuster. Carol lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, with her husband and two sets of twins. Visit the author at CarolCassella.com.

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