Final Exam - Pauline W. Chen

A brilliant transplant surgeon brings compassion and narrative drama to the fearful
reality that every doctor must face: the inevitability of mortality.

"Uncommonly moving ... A revealing and heartfelt book." -Atul Gawande, #1 New York bestselling author of Being Mortal

When Pauline
Chen began medical school, she dreamed of saving lives. What she could not predict
was how much death would be a part of her work. Almost immediately, she found herself
wrestling with medicine's most profound paradox-that a profession premised on caring
for the ill also systematically depersonalizes dying. Final Exam follows Chen over
the course of her education and practice as she struggles to reconcile the lessons
of her training with her innate sense of empathy and humanity. A superb addition
to the best medical literature of our time.