Life in the Balance: Emergency Medicine and the Quest to Reverse Sudden Death

Today, many people take for granted the idea that a stopped heart can be restarted, that a person who appears dead isn't really dead until all life-saving techniques have been attempted. But just a few centuries ago, dead was dead. The Amsterdam Rescue Society, formed in 1767, was the first dedicated to the idea that someone who appeared dead--drowning victims, in this case--could and should be revived. Life in the Balance looks at the colorful history of resuscitation from biblical times to the present, and shows just how recent today's life-saving techniques, and the will to save lives at all, really are.