This gripping collection of stories about the experiences of intensive care patients, their families and carers, is about ordinary people facing terrible tragedies and the ways they cope with them. The author, an experienced intensive care clinician, takes the reader on a journey inside an intensive care unit and reveals to the public, for the first time, what really happens inside ICU. The book traces the personal experiences of ICU patients and their families and the struggles of staff providing care in this critical environment. It also offers a searing critique of the way modern healthcare can fail those in greatest need.