After Critical Illness

Name: After Critical Illness
ISBN: 9787557699642

丹妮拉·拉玛斯 / 王新宇 / 王索娅Tianjin Science and Technology Press · ChinaApr 2022

4.1

Word count: 114K words
Chapters: 51
ISBN: 9787557699642

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Summary

This is a classic of medical humanities that gives readers a deeper understanding of critical care and prompts reflection on the development of technology. In the book, the author Daniela Lamas records in restrained prose a little-known side of critical care treatment—leaving the ICU does not mean everything has improved; although advanced medical technology saves patients' lives, it also creates complex situations between life and death, in which medical staff, patients, and their families often face choices where distress and hope coexist.

Editor's review

The book's greatest strength lies in placing the narrative focus on the often-overlooked period after the ICU: patients survive, but they do not return to how things were before. Writing as both a clinician and a recorder, the author presents the dilemmas of treatment in restrained, unsentimental prose—technology can pull people back from the brink of death, but it can also leave patients and families in a distressing state that is neither life nor death. Readers can see clinicians weighing resources against ethics, and families hesitating between hope and letting go. It is not a book that offers standard answers, but one that makes people rethink the meaning of 'successful treatment.' It is suitable for slow reading in quiet moments; after finishing, one might pause to think: if the boundaries of medicine are determined by technology, then what determines the boundaries of care? For readers concerned with medical ethics, caregiving experiences, and end-of-life issues, this is a work worth revisiting.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in medical humanities and ethical issues
Families of critically ill patients and long-term caregivers
Medical students, nurses, and clinical practitioners
Those who reflect on end-of-life and the boundaries of medicine

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting light, healing stories or inspirational recovery narratives
Those hoping for specific disease treatment plans and practical guides

Reading tips

After each chapter, take a few minutes to note the choice dilemma that concerns you most
Read the book's descriptions of the post-ICU period alongside your own caregiving experiences
Have a discussion with a companion or book club about 'what counts as successful treatment'
When you reach an ethical debate, write down your own judgment first, then continue reading the author's handling

About the publisher

Tianjin Science and Technology Press China · Founded in 1979

Tianjin Science and Technology Press is a science and technology publisher whose main publishing areas are the natural sciences, engineering and technology, medicine and health, popular science for everyday life, and science and engineering textbooks, with a particular strength in medicine and health, health care, and traditional Chinese medicine books. Its catalogue covers popular science, social sciences, medicine, finance and economics, and philosophy; it includes classic translations such as The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, On the Origin of Species, and Euclid's Elements, alongside popular science and finance titles such as Hallucinations, Parasite Rex, The Six Numbers, and The Man Who Solved the Market. Its TCM health titles include a two-volume work on Li Dongyuan's spleen-and-stomach theory. Authors and translators represented include Zhang Cang, Charles Darwin, Oliver Sacks, Luo Dalun, Carl Zimmer, and Martin Rees. Public information is limited, so this profile focuses on the publishing directions reflected in the catalogue.

版权信息
说明
推荐序重症之后当明白
引言
第1章成为绝症年轻人的“好友”
患者也是一个完整的人
理想的医患对话是怎样的
关心的边界是隐私权
第2章重症患者中幸运的百分之十
气管插管到底意味着什么
中间站——长期急性病护理医院
慢性危重症的一种结局
慢性危重症的另一种结局
每一天都要衡量治疗的利弊
第3章 “明年夏天，想带外孙去钓鱼”
融合人与机器的新医疗
花甲老人与电动心脏
另一种心跳，另一种活法
不移植也是一种选择
要生存，更要生活
第4章在急救治疗中被噩梦缠上的艺术家
病房中的无形抗争
身体恢复，不代表一切就好了
伴随重症监护而来的综合征
积极干预，会好起来的
第5章再次踏上成长之路的脑损伤青年
喧嚣的清晨和沉默的长子
九死一生后的漫漫康复路
心怀希望，步履不停
第6章坚强等待肺移植手术的母亲
每块伤疤都记叙了一个故事
堪比癌症的肺病VS最顶尖的生命支持技术
丈夫的决定——尽一切可能挽救妻子
最后一场手术，最后一块伤疤
接受不完美，面对不可知
第7章通过网络捐出器官的好心人
传递生命的接力棒
两个陌生人的心愿——赠予／争取一个肾脏
善意是最大的救赎
第8章超出预期寿命15年的患者
随意停药后被告知的坏消息
摇摆不定的未来
终身患者的寻常幸福
医学的进步与局限
第9章治疗之前与治疗之后的世界
成为一个真正的医生——身担数责
为早期患者服务的移植门诊
为长期患者服务的护理医院
出院，走入夏日午后的阳光中
后记生存之外，每个选择都有其意义
致谢

FAQ

Is this book mainly about the rescue process in the ICU?

No. Its focus is precisely on the period after leaving the ICU: the situation in which patients survive but do not fully recover, and the trade-offs that clinicians, patients, and families face afterward. Resuscitation is only the background; the author is more concerned with the complex reality left behind after technological intervention.

Can someone without a medical background understand it?

Yes. The author advances the narrative through restrained storytelling rather than technical jargon; the core is specific situations and choices, which ordinary readers can follow. When medical concepts appear, there is no need to dig deep—just grasp the dilemmas the characters face.

Is it too heavy to read?

The subject matter itself is heavy, but the author's prose is restrained and does not deliberately heighten grief. If you have recently had a critically ill family member, it may trigger emotions; it is advisable to read in sections at your own pace and pause when necessary.

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About the author

丹妮拉·拉玛斯 Author · American

Daniela Lamas is an American pulmonologist and critical care physician, as well as a writer, who teaches at Harvard Medical School. Publicly available information about her is limited, and neither her full English name nor her dates of birth and death are clearly recorded. She has long focused on the realities of the intensive care unit, turning a physician's observations and reflections on resuscitation, monitoring, and the delivery of news into writing for general readers. Her representative work, After the ICU, centers on this subject, presenting the life stories of critically ill patients from a professional medical perspective and discussing the choices, communication, and care involved in treatment, as well as the impact of illness on patients and their families. Her writing combines clinical experience with humanistic concern in a restrained and realistic tone, giving the public insight into how critical care medicine works and the human warmth and hardship within it.

王新宇 Author

Wang Xinyu is a Chinese-language book author with three published works to date: Life Is About More Than the Big Things, After Critical Illness, and The Power of Negative Emotions. Judging from these titles, his writing centers on social culture, medicine, and inspirational growth, with attention to how people cope with illness, mortality, and emotional difficulty. The books suggest an approach that brings medical issues into conversation with everyday experience, addressing serious subjects such as critical illness and the end of life alongside psychological experiences like negative emotions that are often avoided. Because public information is limited, details about the author's personal background, nationality, dates of birth and death, and education remain unclear, and no further biographical material is available in the database. Based on the existing works, Wang Xinyu writes for general readers in an accessible style, seeking to connect specialized medical topics with popular reading and to offer a grounded, concrete perspective on life, health, and emotion.

王索娅 Author

Wang Suoya is a book translator about whom limited public information is available. What is known is that she mainly translates popular foreign-language works and has long collaborated with the translator Wang Xinyu. Her translations include The Power of Negative Emotion, After Critical Illness, and Nothing Major in Life Besides Death, three titles whose subjects fall within social culture, medicine, and inspirational growth, and which largely deal with mental health, illness care, and end-of-life care. Aimed at general readers, these translations strive for plain and accessible language, helping Chinese readers engage with overseas discussions on emotional regulation, medical circumstances, and the end of life. Judging from her existing works, her choice of material leans toward nonfiction with practical concern, with an emphasis on rendering specialized or sensitive topics into readable Chinese.