Cutting for Stone

Abraham Verghese

2 ideas

1. Conjoined twins, abandoned father, liver donation

   Sister Mary Joseph Praise, an Indian nun at Missing Hospital in Addis Ababa, dies delivering twin boys joined at the head, and their father, the British surgeon Thomas Stone, flees. The two doctors Hema and Ghosh raise the separated twins. Decades later Shiva, who betrayed Marion by sleeping with Genet, the woman Marion loved, donates part of his liver to save Marion from the hepatitis B she gave him, and dies from the operation.

2. Words of comfort are emergency treatment

   The novel's recurring teaching question asks which emergency treatment is given by ear, and the answer is words of comfort. Its argument is that a frightened patient's physiology and cooperation respond to reassurance. So speech from the clinician is an active intervention, not a courtesy added after the real work.

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