Better

In his new book, Atul Gawande explores how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable. In gripping stories from battlefield surgical tents in Iraq, labor and delivery rooms in Boston, a polio outbreak in India, and malpractice courtrooms around the country, he discusses ethical dilemmas of doctors' participation in lethal injections; examines how money influences modern medicine; and recounts how handwashing became so contentious.