Often marked by the desperate need to save human lives, important developments in medicine have invariably started with patients—people whose ordeals fostered the advancement of medical knowledge. This book is a collection of such stories, each chapter an enthralling view into the history of medicine, revealing the extent of human inventiveness, resilience, and compassion.

· What compelled U.S. Army doctors to infect themselves with yellow fever virus in Cuba?
· How did an English farmer become the first smallpox vaccinator?
· What led to the first human-to-human blood transfusion in the eighteenth century?
· Who was the first boy to be revived by a defibrillator, and how did that lead to the launch of CPR?
· Could a woman force cautious doctors to implant a new, untested pacemaker in time to save her husband’s life?
· How did a fifteen-year-old boy become a victim of AIDS in 1968, decades before the virus even had a name?

Most readers will recognize these renowned health solutions. What makes this book so compelling is how the cases that prompted such groundbreaking innovations have considerably affected longevity and quality of human life for generations.