About the Book:
Life and Death Decisions
Fighting to save lives from disaster, disease and
destruction
Dr Lachlan McIver
Keynote
An action-packed tale of medicine in the most remote, poverty-torn areas of
the globe from a Médecins Sans Frontières doctor. Set to appeal to fans of War
Doctor.
Description
Lachlan was sixteen when he found his father dead on the side of a dirt road in North
Queensland, Australia. He had suffered a sudden heart attack and died alone. It was this
tragedy that motivated Lachlan to train as a doctor specialising in providing medical care
for people living in remote, resource-deprived locations.
Lachlan’s work with the World Health Organization and Me´decins Sans Frontie`res has
taken him to some of the world’s most extreme environments from the sinking islands of
the Pacific to epidemics and war zones in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.
In this no-holds-barred memoir, Lachlan recounts his experiences treating patients
ravaged by tropical diseases, managing war wounds with drug-resistant infections,
delivering babies by the light of a head torch, dealing with the devastating effects of
climate change and narrowly avoiding being kidnapped by militia in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
Tackling such impossible problems day in and day out inevitably takes a personal toll.
Lachlan is ultimately forced to face his own battles with depression, alcohol abuse and
bankruptcy.
Life and Death Decisions is a deeply human look at the personal cost of our broken global
health system and a vital call to action.
My Thoughts:
This is a book that will let you know how good non-fiction can be; and this book certainly delivered. A memoir of how a man finds his father dead at the roadside, becomes a doctor and throws himself into more work than the human body can take.
He does not shy away from the hard decisions he has to make; or indeed the wrong decisions he has made in his life. Not for him the cosy life of the rural GP. or the life of a junior doctor in a city hospital. Lachie, as he calls himself is on a mission to bring medicine to the have nots in this world as well as the more affluent among us. Lachie writes an engaging account of his studies of and the practise of medicine in Australia and the far reaches of the world.
He finds himself in places where medicine and its advantages are few and far between for the majority of his patients. In fact medicine can be used as a tool of warfare. Lachie is his own worst enemy as he cannot resist a challenge. This is always to the detriment of his own life.
Instead of curing people he finds himself broken,depressed, suicidal, bankrupt and ruining his personal life. It also shows how selfish one man can be in pursuit of a goal to the exclusion of all others; even if he is doing it with the best of intentions.
A highly recommended and engaging memoir.
About The Author:
Dr Lachlan McIver is a rural medicine and public health specialist with a PhD in the
health impacts of climate change. He currently works as the Tropical Diseases and
Planetary Health Advisor at the headquarters of Médecins Sans Frontières in Geneva.
Lachlan is an Associate Professor at James Cook University and is the founder and past
Chair of Rocketship Pacific Ltd – an international non-profit organisation dedicated to
improving health in Pacific island countries. Lachlan’s work has taken him to thirty
different countries and he has published over fifty scientific articles and textbook
chapters. He regularly speaks at international conferences on health. For more
information, visit drlachlanmciver.com
bertyboy123 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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You’re welcome Anne xx
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