Changes

|title=The Lazarus Effect

|sort=Lazarus Effect, The

|publisher=Rider

|date=March 2014

|summary=When is a dead patient no longer dead? When they're brought back to life and live happily ever after. This is a fascinating look at a specialist area of science that will have everyone talking.

}}

As part of my job, I assess junior doctors who want to specialise in General Practice at the end of their two foundation years, and this assessment takes the form of role plays where they play a doctor and respond to cues from an actor playing a patient/relative/staff member while I take notes and score them against competencies. Last year one of the scenarios included explaining DNAR (do not attempt resuscitation) to a ‘relative’ and one rather memorable candidate said ''It doesn’t mean we let your mother die, but if she does die, we won’t bring her back to life the way we might another patient''. The answer did not score well on what I was assessing (communication skills) but it stuck with me and I still tell it as a tale from time to time, along with the story of the patient who tripped and fell on a, erm, personal massage device, had to have it surgically removed…and then asked for it back. It’s relevant here, though, because what that wannabe GP was saying is that he had the power to bring people back from the dead. And that’s what this book is all about.