Our main rule is do no harm. And yet we break it all the time because that's the only way we can help.

In this deeply personal book, James Maskalic, a physician and humanitarian activist, shares his reflections on his extensive experience in the field of emergency medicine. Combining work at a trauma center in Toronto with work at Addis Ababa's largest university hospital, he discovers that while these hospitals differ in many ways - cultural backgrounds, resource availability, medical issues - they also have one thing in common: this is the ground floor, where the reception area is located. It is here, on the ground floor, that Maskalik comes face to face with his fears and doubts, with sorrow and joy, the tragedies and hopes of patients, the fragility of life and the inflexibility of the human spirit.

And yet, to get to know history most closely He has a "human life" not as a doctor, but as a grandson caring for his ninety-year-old grandfather.

This masterfully written and elegantly structured book is more than a memoir of an emergency doctor. It's a reflection on health and sickness, and when to hold on tight to life and when it's time to let it go.

The book's publisher's layout has been preserved in PDF A4.