Every Deep-Drawn Breath: A Critical Care Doctor on Healing, Recovery and Transforming Medicine in the ICU

Over the next ten years, 40 to 60 million people in the US will be admitted to an intensive care unit. Most of these hospitalisations will be sudden, unexpected and harrowing experiences that can alter patients and their families physically and emotionally, with effects that endure for years.

Dr. Wes Ely’s mission is to prevent patients from being inadvertently harmed by the technology that is keeping them alive. Every Deep-Drawn Breath is a rich blend of science, medical history, profoundly humane patient stories and personal reflection.

For decades, millions of ICU survivors left the hospital with disabling symptoms all now recognised as post-intensive care syndrome, or PICS. Many COVID survivors also suffer from PICS. Dr. Ely’s ground-breaking investigations advanced the understanding of PICS and introduced crucial changes that reshaped intensive care. Dr. Ely shows that this new way - technology plus touch - is the future of health care and is a proven path toward reclaiming vitality. Full of wisdom and heart, Every Deep-Drawn Breath is an essential resource for all those affected by critical illness.