An exhilarating, fast-paced, and beautifully written memoir filled with real-life moments straight out of a Chuck Palahniuk novel,Last Night in the ORtaps the core of what it means to be human.

A pioneering transplant surgeon shares memories from a life in one of medicine’s most demanding fields.
The early 1980s marked a revolution in the field of organ transplants, and surgeon Bud Shaw was on the front lines. As a patient’s chance of survival increased, the number of transplants performed grew at a dizzying rate. Sharing vibrant vignettes from his early days as a medical student to his work under Dr. Tom Starzl, the pioneer of liver transplant surgery, to opening an internationally renowned center in Nebraska, Dr. Shaw takes us on an intimate journey through the world of high-stakes surgery.
An exhilarating, fast-paced, and beautifully written memoir filled with real-life moments straight out of a Chuck Palahniuk novel, Last Night in the OR taps the core of what it means to be human.
Praise for Last Night in the OR
‘This is just about the best book about surgery and a surgeon I have ever read.’ Lee Gutkind, founder of Creative Nonfiction
‘Dr. Shaw’s memoir is a uniquely human journey of a man who performed superhuman feats. His written candor made me (a surgeon as well) cry, laugh, recoil, cheer, and ponder life’s true meaning. I could not put this book down.'Paul A. Ruggieri, MD, author ofConfessions of a Surgeon
'A bracing, unusual personal narrative that should appeal to aspiring physicians as well as to those considering the 'big questions’ around high-risk surgery.‘ Kirkus Reviews
'This darkly fascinating and ruthlessly honest memoir charts the highs and lows of a transplant surgeon’s life from bright-eyed junior to wise veteran with humor, intelligence and compassion.'Wendy Moore, author of The Knife Man
'Beautiful and true, an astonishing yet utterly human admission.'Mark Vonnegut, author ofThe Eden ExpressandJust Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So