The Liver Doctor : Stories of Love, Loss and Regeneration

I did not become a doctor to help people cheat death, but to help them understand it.

In The Liver Doctor, Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, expert hepatologist and one of India’s most vocal advocates of science-led medicine, tells us the fascinating story of the least understood, most indispensable and only self-regenerating organ in the human body—the liver.

With the searing precision of a scientist, the empathy of a doctor who witnesses the fragility of the human body every day and the dogged curiosity of a detective, Dr Philips dives into ancient myths and legends through various cultures, the annals of history as well as his own deeply personal encounters from his life as a doctor, taking his readers on a wondrous journey where belief collides with data and hope is tested against prognosis.

Along the way, he asks the uncomfortable questions that modern physicians often avoid: How much certainty should medicine promise? When does treatment become harm? And how do doctors and caregivers live with decisions that cannot be undone?

In the end, The Liver Doctor becomes a treatise on the history and evolution of medical science itself—one that will leave you informed and poignantly unsettled, long after the last page is turned.

CYRIAC ABBY PHILIPS is a clinician-scientist and consultant in hepatology at the Department of Clinical and Translational Hepatology, the Liver Institute, Center of Excellence in Gastrointestinal Sciences, Rajagiri Hospital, Chunangamvely, Aluva, Kerala, India.