In this riveting memoir, Khassan Baiev relates his harrowing experiences as a surgeon in one of the worst war zones of the last decade. When the hospital where Baiev worked in Grozny, the Chechen capital, was destroyed by Russian shelling, he returned to his nearby hometown of Alkhan Kala and restored an abandoned clinic with help from villagers. Soon he was the only doctor for tens of thousands of residents and refugees in the surrounding area. During six years of war and intermittent ceasefire, he often worked without gas, electricity, or running water, with only local anesthetics and homemade medical supplies. Although he treated mainly civilians, Baiev upheld the Hippocratic Oath by also caring for Russian soldiers and Chechen fighters alike--a practice that branded him a traitor by both sides. Kidnapped and nearly killed on several occasions, Baiev finally fled Chechnya in 2000 and won political asylum in the United States. An important eyewitness account of the reality of the Chechen-Russian conflict, which has killed 20 percent of the Chechen population, made homeless another 350,000, and seen the deaths of thousands of Russian soldiers. Grief of My Heart is a searing memoir that is certain to become a classic in the literature of war.
A physician who grew up in war-ravaged Chechnya describes his experiences under fire as a surgeon caught up in the conflict, detailing his difficult work without gas, electricity, running water, or medical supplies.
As the Russian-Chechen conflict moved into its bloodiest phase, Khassan Baiev was practising as a cosmetic surgeon moulding Moscow's super-rich. But, shocked by news from his homeland, his conscience forced him back to Chechnya. Once there, despite accusations of treachery from Chechen terrorists and Russian oppressors alike, his allegiance to the Hippocratic Oath drove him to treat patients from both sides. He was shot at, imprisoned, bombed, tortured and beaten. Yet through it all he continued working, often under candlelight, without basic medical supplies, without anaesthesia and under fire. THE OATH is the haunting story of the courage one man found to value his principles above his own life.
Told with immediacy and heart,The Oathis the story of a brave physician's dedication to saving lives in the Russia-Chechnya conflict. In 1991, when the political conflict between Chechen insurgents and the Russian army began, Khassan Baiev was a wealthy plastic surgeon. But when Russia began to bomb his country, Baiev gave up safety and security and opened a small hospital in his hometown of Alkhan Kala. At times, the one-storey cement building was staffed by just six nurses and a handful of volunteers. Baiev was the sole physician. Over the next six years, Baiev treated thousands of people under the most brutal conditions, using outdated tools and dwindling medical supplies, and with a constant threat of missiles overhead. A witness to the unspeakable horrors of war, Baiev treated anyone, Chechen or Russian, soldier or civilian. He became a marked man, hated by both sides in one of the world’s ugliest and least understood conflicts. After he treated a widely feared Chechen rebel leader, his home was looted and burned. A Chechen warlord stood him up against a wall and threatened to execute him for saving Russian soldiers. Under threat from both sides, Baiev finally fled Chechnya early in 2000. Still tortured by the memories of his past, he has taken refuge in the USA. Throughout his whole ordeal, Khassan has maintained his commitment to medicine and medical ethics. When asked why he didn’t flee his country like so many others had done, he said, “I could have left before the war. But where would I have gone? Where was I more needed than Chechnya?” From the Hardcover edition.
A physician who grew up in war-ravaged Chechnya describes his experiences under fire as a surgeon caught up in the conflict, detailing his difficult work without gas, electricity, running water, or medical supplies.
In this riveting memoir, Khassan Baiev relates his harrowing experiences as a surgeon in one of the worst war zones of the last decade. When the hospital where Baiev worked in Grozny, the Chechen capital, was destroyed by Russian shelling, he returned to his nearby hometown of Alkhan Kala and restored an abandoned clinic with help from villagers. Soon he was the only doctor for tens of thousands of residents and refugees in the surrounding area. During six years of war and intermittent ceasefire, he often worked without gas, electricity, or running water, with only local anesthetics and homemade medical supplies. Although he treated mainly civilians, Baiev upheld the Hippocratic Oath by also caring for Russian soldiers and Chechen fighters alike--a practice that branded him a traitor by both sides. Kidnapped and nearly killed on several occasions, Baiev finally fled Chechnya in 2000 and won political asylum in the United States. An important eyewitness account of the reality of the Chechen-Russian conflict, which has killed 20 percent of the Chechen population, made homeless another 350,000, and seen the deaths of thousands of Russian soldiers. Grief of My Heart is a searing memoir that is certain to become a classic in the literature of war.
One approach to the study of language has been to describe people whose ability to communicate is impaired. Some researchers have argued that it is possible to identify the component mental processes that contribute to the ability to communicate by describing the ways in which language can break down. Other researchers have expressed doubts about the extent to which data from impairment reflects normal language function. This volume reflects the problems of constructing theory of how the normal brain deals with language from data from impaired individuals from the perspective of a range of disciplines: psycholinguistics, linguistics, neurophysiology and speech-language pathology. The chapters include critiques of methodology; application of new technology; the study of bilingual people; and cross-linguistic studies. A range of language skills is discussed (phonology, prosody, syntax, semantics, reading and spelling) in the context of both developmental and acquired impairments (hearing loss, cerebellar dysarthria, sub-cortical aphasia, cortical aphasia, phonological disorder, and dyslexia). This book icludes contributions from researchers and clinicians on both sides of the Atlantic as well as from Australia and Hong Kong.
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