Snapshots from an institution -- An American problem -- Giving good death -- Heart failure -- Becoming a doctor -- After -- Twenty-five things I know about my husband's mother -- Soup or sex? -- Fires and flat lines -- The psychiatrist's wife -- Blurred boundary disorder -- Vital signs stable -- Days of awe -- Lucky you -- The promise -- A medical story.
Summary:
Sixteen linked stories explore the marginalized humanity in communities, hospitals, and nursing homes in San Francisco, including an elderly Chinese immigrant who is forced to make a painful sacrifice and a young veteran whose injuries symbolize the rest of his life.
