Medicine

Executive director of the USA division of the French medical relief organization Doctors without Borders, Nicolas De Torrente. During August, he was in the Northern Territory of Afghanistan checking on the work of the organization. To do their work, Doctors without Borders had to negotiate with the Taliban. After the attacks, the organization had to evacuate all foreign workers out of the country, leaving their Afhani staff behind. De Torrente was flying to JFK airport on Sept. 11, and his plane was one of the last international planes to land in the U.S.

Dana Wechsler Linden and Mia Wechsler Doron, M.D., authors of the book, Preemies: the Essential Guide for Parents of Premature Babies. Linden and Doron are sisters, both personally interested in providing information to the public about premature babies. Ms. Linden gave birth to premature twins, and is a journalist. She is also a former senior editor at Forbes Magazine. Dr. Doron is a neonatologist at the Newborn Critical Care Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Writer Julie Fenster. She written a new book about the coincidence and circumstance that led to the first use of ether, making surgery painless for the first time. The breakthru day — known as Ether Day — was Oct. 16, 1846. One of the men behind it was a Boston dentist, William Morton, who was also a conman and an opportunist. Fenster tells the story in her new book, Ether Day: The Strange Tale of America Greatest Medical Discovery and the Haunted Men Who Made it (HarperCollins). Fenster is a columnist for American Heritage and a contributor to the New York Times.

Journalist Jon Cohen has just written a book called Shots in the Dark: The Wayward Search for an AIDS Vaccine. (Norton) He is a leading AIDS reporter who covers science and medicine for Science Magazine. Hell talk about the work that is being done to develop the AIDS vaccine, trials, funding issues, and when the future of AIDS prevention.

Kenneth Kamler, MD is a surgeon who also climbs mountains. He was team doctor on three expeditions to the top of Mount Everest, including the disastrous 1996 trip during which 6 people died. Kamler is both storyteller and advisor in his book, “Doctor on Everest: Emergency Medicine at the Top of the World – A Personal Account including the 1996 Disaster.” (The Lyons Press) Blackened limbs due to severe frostbite were the least of his troubles. I-V fluids are frozen solid, and abrasions cannot heal at such high altitudes.

Bill Moyers has a new PBS series about death and dying, but the focus isn't just on dying; it's on trying to live a decent life in the face of death and on the movement to improve care at the end of life, such as new approaches to pain relief and hospice care. The series also examines some of the difficult personal and medical choices faced by people who are dying and their loved ones. The series is called "On Our Own Terms." It premieres Sunday evening on most PBS stations and continues over the next three consecutive nights.

We will talk about the psychology of sports and athletes with Doctor Michael Miletic. He is one of the few psychoanalysts currently treating active professional athletes. Miletic serves as a psychiatric consultant to the Detroit Pistons, several professional Hockey teams, and the parents group of the National Football League Players Association. Miletic himself was an athlete. He was even a member of the Canadian Olympic weight lifting team, until an injury cut his career short.

Dr. Mark Chassin ("cha" as In "CHAT"-sin) Is the co-author of a report on medical mistakes In our nation's hospitals. This week In response to that report, President Clinton ordered that all U.S. hospitals take measures to reduce their errors. The report, Issued by the Institute of Medicine late last year, shook up patients and practitioners alike. It estimated that between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors. The study was based on two studies In three states: New York, Utah, and Colorado.

Director of the United Hospital Fund's Project on Family Caregiving in an Age of Change, Carole Levine (Leh-VEEN). She brings her professional and personal life to bear on her work with the project: Since 1990, when her husband was critically injured in an automobile accident, she has been his caregiver. The Fund released a major new report on caregivers last month:"Rough Crossings: Family Caregivers' Odysseys through the Health Care System." Levine is also the founder and executive director of The Orphan Project: Families and Children in the HIV Epidemic.

Writer and Emergency doctor Frank Huyler (HIGH-ler). Huyler has transformed his experiences working in emergency rooms and hospitals into a series of short stories. His new book is called "The Blood of Strangers: Stories from Emergency Medicine (University of California Press)." His poetry has appeared in a number of publications including the Atlantic Monthly.