Paramedic

An emergency medical technician working in Manhattan describes his daily adventures, and his own private misery--coming home each night to his dying girlfriend

In this account of his years as a paramedic Shapiro freely admits that he is an excitement junkie. The adrenaline of the life-and-death struggle is his fix, and readers of his and his sister's first book will be hooked as well. Although the author details much of his life, from his initial exposure to paramedic work while in college through his girlfriend's death from cancer, he always returns to trauma in the streets of New York. His material could be overbearing or depressing, but Shapiro leavens the mix with the black humor and camaraderie that sustain paramedics as they rush from stabbings to births, ambulances on fire and suicides on the Great Lawn of Central Park. One incident involves a heart attack in the office of a fancy but incompetent doctor who allows the patient to die; in another, a wife, after an argument with her husband, takes a packet of suicide pills that the couple had prepared in anticipation of some dreaded occurrence. Shapiro neatly and unobtrusively allows the events to carry the narrative. While saving lives is his greatest high, he understands that death often wins: "You spend a lot of time on losing causes. . . . It's part of the job."p. 6
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

If violence, blood, gore, and dirty words make for exciting reading, then this is the book for all big-city libraries (the action takes place in New York City). What makes a person want to become an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and what he or she does after the training is the subject; how it is done is the substance. Shapiro, a self-described "trauma junkie," recounts his adventures as a New York City paramedic, telling stories that are full of black humor, bitterness, foul-ups, and even successes. Well written and informative, his book provides a good picture of life on today's mean streets.
- Edward R. Pinckney, M.D., Beverly Hills, Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.