Diary of an ICU Doctor on the Frontline of the Covid Crisis

Life Support

'Deeply affecting - a personal memoir that grips, harrows, inspires and, ultimately, uplifts with its vein of deep humanity' Philippe Sands' 
 
An extraordinarily frank book laced with humour and self-deprecation' The Times 
 
As a doctor on the intensive care unit at one of London's top hospitals, Jim Down has spent his life working as healthcare's last resort, where each day reveals a new challenge. But nothing could prepare Jim and his colleagues for the events of spring 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic put them on the frontline of a global health crisis. 
 
In Life Support, Jim tells the extraordinary month-by-month story of how, as the world came to a standstill, he and his co-workers faced down the biggest challenge in the history of the NHS. Full of warmth, honesty and humour, this book is a gripping and moving testament to the everyday heroism of the NHS staff in a global emergency, and an unforgettable insight into what was really happening on the wards as we clapped on our doorsteps.

'Remarkable... humane and deeply moving, Jim's book questions the future of healthcare in Britain'

'Deeply affecting - a personal memoir that grips, harrows, inspires and, ultimately, uplifts with its vein of deep humanity'

'One of the doctors with the most hands-on experience of Covid in the country'

'A deeply moving and beautifully written account of what life was truly like for our frontline ICU teams during the first wave of COVID-19'

'Reading Life Support, I was gripped, amazed, appalled and, ultimately, inspired. If Jim Down is as good a doctor as he is a writer, I'd definitely want him treating me'

'I can't think of a more important and compulsive book to come out of the Plague Year. Read and weep with gratitude for the NHS and doctors like Jim Down'

'Jim Down's Life Support is essential reading for everyone who has been affected by Covid-19, which is to say everyone. Beautifully written, it combines warmth, humour and science to give a portrait of one of the most important but least understood parts of any hospital by one of the UKs pre-eminent ICU physicians'

'Reading this, I felt humbled. Written with great clarity, as well as humour and compassion, this is an extraordinary account of life on the Covid frontline, of the expertise and the dogged, unending labour of those who attempt to keep the rest of us - however sceptical we are, however careless - alive'

Lissa Evans, author of V for Victory

'This is the struggle against COVID-19 unfolding in real time ... it is a story of how some of our most gifted and dedicated medical practitioners have been brought to the very edge of their abilities and endurance and how they came through, scarred but wiser ... above all it is a very human story about how people - medics and patients alike - found common cause in the face of a nasty speck of a disease that threatens our way of life'

'An honest and engaging eye-witness account of the Covid crisis from one of London's busiest intensive care units, that demonstrates the compassion and dedication of frontline staff dealing with a terrible new disease. It should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand why our lives have been turned upside down by the pandemic'

'Life Support immediately transported me back to those early days of uncertainty, the growing fear as the waves lapped our feet, and then the frantic struggle to stay above water as the tsunami broke. The reader will learn a deal more about intensive care units and the jobs of the people who work there. But this book is far from a technical manual. It is a human narrative - and an important one'

Hugh Montgomery, Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, UCL and author of Control

As a doctor on the intensive care unit at one of London's top hospitals, Jim Down has spent his life working as healthcare's last resort, where each day reveals a new challenge. But nothing could prepare Jim and his colleagues for the events of spring 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic put them on the frontline of a global health crisis. 
 
In Life Support, Jim tells the extraordinary month-by-month story of how, as the world came to a standstill, he and his co-workers faced down the biggest challenge in the history of the NHS. Full of warmth, honesty and humour, this book is a gripping and moving testament to the everyday heroism of the NHS staff in a global emergency, and an unforgettable insight into what was really happening on the wards as we clapped on our doorsteps.

Jim Down

A remarkably honest memoir of a life spent pulling people back from death

[Jim] describes with unflinching honesty the toll that working in intensive care can take on his own mental health

Jim Down is as remarkable a writer as he is a doctor. If I'm ever in ICU I hope he's my consultant

Whether treating famous Russian spies, the victims of terrorist attacks, or people taken close to death by Covid, he shows us what it's really like to care for those who are clinging to life, and describes with unflinching honesty the toll that working in intensive care can take on his own mental health

Spies, terror, personal crisis, resolution and redemption; Life in the Balance really has it all ... a hilarious, beautiful book, I was sincerely moved

Beautifully written, witty and heartbreaking

If Jim Down is as good a doctor as he is a writer, I'd definitely want him treating me.

Transport yourself into the angst ridden, terrifying, and at times hilarious world of the trainee doctor of the 1990s. A cross between This is Going to Hurt and Do No Harm ... highly recommended!

Jim's book is different. His ear is attuned, and his recounting conversations makes me live his scenes. And he made me think, weep and smile. He's a smart, wise and kind doctor in real life, and these characteristics shine through. Whoever you are, you should read this book. One in five of you will, at some point, need a Jim

Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, University College London

Life in the Balance brims with the wonder, trauma and magic of medicine. Jim Down is a consummate storyteller whose tales of life and death in the ICU are riveting. I loved this book!

A beautifully written, brutally honest account of what life spent as an ICU doctor is like, how it feels and what it costs

Medical students should read this. Young doctors should read this. Patients should read this. Having read it, I have no idea how Dr Down found the time to write it!

Jim Down is as remarkable a writer as he is a doctor. It is like being by the patient's bedside in critical care, but more than that you are inside Jim's head as he struggles with ethical as well as medical dilemmas. What comes across most strongly is his humanity. If I'm ever in ICU I hope he's my consultant

A Doctor’s Stories of Intensive Care

In these stories, Dr Jim Down brings us to the very heart of the intensive care unit - the hospital section where the sickest patients are brought for emergency care. With honesty, humility and a streak of dark humour, Dr Down describes the quietly heroic work of doctors and nurses on the ICU, a place which sits at the cutting edge of medical technology, and where a split-second decision can make the difference between life and death. 
 
From headline-grabbing cases like that of Alexander Litvinenko, who was admitted to Down's ward after his poisoning by Russian agents, to the appalling aftermath of a train crash, and the daily struggle to simply find enough beds, Jim Down provides a unique insight into life on The Unit, and the critical medicine doctors and nurses perform there. 
 
Life in the Balance offers the first real glimpse of intensive care medicine; its immense challenges, its deleterious effects on doctors' mental health and also its enormous rewards. This profound work reframes the fragility of life and shows what it really means to care.

Jim Down

Praise for Life in the Balance

A remarkably honest memoir of a life spent pulling people back from death

[Jim] describes with unflinching honesty the toll that working in intensive care can take on his own mental health

Jim Down is as remarkable a writer as he is a doctor. If I'm ever in ICU I hope he's my consultant

A remarkably honest memoir of a life spent pulling people back from death

[Jim] describes with unflinching honesty the toll that working in intensive care can take on his own mental health

Jim Down is as remarkable a writer as he is a doctor. If I'm ever in ICU I hope he's my consultant

A remarkably honest memoir of a life spent pulling people back from death

[Jim] describes with unflinching honesty the toll that working in intensive care can take on his own mental health

Jim Down is as remarkable a writer as he is a doctor. If I'm ever in ICU I hope he's my consultant

Books by Jim Down

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