About the Book:

Watch hospital dramas? You still don’t know half of what goes on inside...

It’s the season of heatstroke: July. New resident, Adrienne, begins her training at the Children’s Hospital, almost paralyzed with fear that she will make a mistake and harm her patients. Finding a friend in bright, but socially inept, Lester, she soon learns that even the senior staff are not immune to feelings of insecurity and fear.

Carter Randolf, ultra-conservative Chief of Surgery, has for decades exerted his power to feed his ego and suit his right-wing beliefs. Now, threatened by an up-and-coming surgeon whose skills exceed his and a young girl who cannot get birth control pills at the hospital pharmacy, Randolf will fight to keep his position no matter the cost. It’s left to Robert Farmer, pediatrician, and Chief of Radiology, Dr. Spirito, to keep the hospital on its mission.

Few ever know the private dramas of hospitals, the lives of those who treat us. Discover their quirks, insecurities, insatiable egos, professional failures, marital problems and extra-marital activities, and find out how, hidden from the medical staff, the administrators’ financial manipulations jeopardize the institution’s stability.

An inside glimpse of the medical feats and personal turmoil of talented, dedicated people who are, nevertheless, human.

About the Author:

William Schwartz spent his career at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine where he was Professor of Pediatrics, senior physician, general consultant and nephrologist, as well as Associate Chairman of the Pediatric Department and Associate Dean for Primary Care in the medical school. He has edited two journals and six textbooks for pediatricians and parents. He lives with his wife Susan in the historic section of Philadelphia.