All Bleeding Stops (Life and Death in the Trauma Unit)

A gripping portrait of trauma surgeons and their place in the controlled chaos of a trauma center, as told by a 40-year veteran of trauma care.

For all the awe-inspiring medical stories we might hear and the hospital dramas that dominate the ratings on television, most of us have no conception of the daily, Herculean efforts of trauma surgeons. A good trauma surgeon must be a conductor presiding over an orchestra of healthcare providers as their patients cling to life by a thread. They are also a steely quarterback who can’t be rattled when they throw an interception—lingering on a past failure would only ruin their ability to care for the next patient, and the next. They have an encyclopedic knowledge of medical science and are practiced in the art of instinctively reacting to whatever emergency comes flying at them on a stretcher, in addition to doing anything they can to comfort patients’ distraught families and friends.
All Bleeding Stops gives readers an intimate look at what goes on inside a trauma center, highlighting injuries sustained in car crashes, shootings, and stabbings—basically anything bleeding, obstructed, or perforated. Having lived and breathed trauma for four decades, Dr. Cohn is an ideal guide to demystify the role of the trauma surgeon and their place in a hospital. He pulls back the curtain to clarify such questions as: 

• What exactly is a trauma surgeon, and what does one do?
• How does a trauma center function, and what really goes on in the operating room?
• How do you mold a medical student into a surgeon who can stay cool and act decisively when a patient’s life hangs in the balance?

His answers are infused with sobering tales from his career as a military surgeon and in trauma centers across the country as well as his descriptions of high-profile medical stories.