In this riveting memoir, an ER doctor reveals how his high-stress career of helping others led to a struggle to save himself.

"It turns out there are all kinds of things about working in an ER that most of us haven't learned from TV or having sat in one. In Something for the Pain, Paul Austin—the ER doc you'd hope to get if something really bad happened—tells us, vividly and with uncommon candor, how, if you aren't careful, saving people's lives can make you sick."—Ted Conover, author of Newjack

In this eye-opening account of life in the ER, Paul Austin recalls how the daily grind of long, erratic shifts and endless hordes of patients with sad stories sent him down a path of bitterness and cynicism. His own life becomes Exhibit A, as he details the emotional detachment that estranges him from himself and his family. Gritty, powerful, and ultimately redemptive, Austin's memoir is a revealing glimpse into the fragility of compassion and sanity in the industrial setting of today's hospitals.

Paul Austin was named a 2007 tuition scholar at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. A former firefighter, he has more than twenty-five years of experience working in emergency rooms. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Publisher: W. W. Norton
Distributor: W. W. Norton
Publication Date: 09-08-2008
Pages: 256
Measurements: 8in X 6in