cover image Learning How the Heart Beats

Learning How the Heart Beats

Claire McCarthy. Viking Books, $21.95 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-670-83874-5

When McCarthy describes cradling the body of a premature baby who has just died, few readers will be unaffected. Her preference for working with children (McCarthy has two of her own), combined with the ``optimistic'' nature of pediatrics, with its greater rate of patient recovery, determined her specialty. She writes of her training, of the intense interest, apprehension and satisfaction at each new procedure she learned at Harvard Medical School and during her internship and residency. As a care-giver, McCarthy relates her successes and failures with AIDS babies, abused or neglected children and other youngsters she treats at an inner-city Boston clinic. This moving look into the heart and work of a dedicated physician is based on a series of articles McCarthy wrote for the Boston Globe. (Feb.)