Official website of author
David Weill
All that really matters
Why i wrote this book
I know it’s not often that an organ transplant doctor of 25 years shifts into a writing career.
Here’s how it happened . . .
People that need organ transplants are in a VERY unique situation. They have to wait for months, wondering if they will live or die.
Can you imagine the thoughts that go through their minds?
Their lives are oddly, precariously tied to another person dying and donating a healthy organ. I’d always ask my patients the following question when first learning that they needed a transplant to survive: “What would you do if today was your last day?”
The answers they gave were revealing, to say the least. And that was the genesis for my novel, “All That Really Matters.”
I know it’s not often that an organ transplant doctor of 25 years shifts into a writing career.
Here’s how it happened . . .
People that need organ transplants are in a VERY unique situation. They have to wait for months, wondering if they will live or die.
Can you imagine the thoughts that go through their minds?
Their lives are oddly, precariously tied to another
person dying and donating a healthy organ. I’d always ask my patients the following question when first learning that they needed a transplant to survive: “What would you do if today was your last day?” The answers they gave were revealing, to say the least. And so after asking this question thousands of times, and getting thousands of answers, it started me thinking, “What DOES really matter, at the end of the day?” And that was the genesis for my new novel.
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*100% of author’s proceeds are being donated to The Youth Empowerment Project
Available for pre-order now!
Available for pre-order now!
Book Summary
Joe Bosco is an arrogant, hard-charging transplant surgeon whose ambition knows no bounds. He pursues his job with a take no prisoners approach and saving patients is not just his job, or even his passion—it’s his religion. After doing his surgical residency, he passes on a job offer from Stanford, instead taking a position at a private hospital in San Francisco which pays Joe an exorbitant salary and where the bottom line is… the bottom line. Joe leaves behind academic medicine, much to the chagrin of his father— a German Jewish Holocaust survivor who is a world-renowned neuroscientist and Nobel Prize winner—and his girlfriend, Kate, who sees Joe turning into a different man than the one she met at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Bosco makes it to the top as a star in the transplant world but soon realizes that the new world he inhabits is fraught with moral and ethical transgressions, some his partners commit and, eventually, some he commits. When the hospital administration sides against Joe in an operating room catastrophe, he is isolated, left with a career in shambles, a girlfriend who wants nothing to do with him, and a father who can’t hide his disappointment.
It is not until his life spins out of control that Joe must come to terms with his own failings and find his true purpose in life… in the most unlikely of places.
Watch the book trailer
I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy, and while I am not a medic, it was so interesting to be transported into the world of doctor that is responsible for literally saving so many lives. What that does your ego, your sense of reality, and what you need to do maintain perspective…. I couldn’t put it down!
~ Janelle Barnes, Atlanta, GA
The Story of
David Weill
David Weill is the former Director of the Center for Advanced Lung Disease and the Lung Transplant Program at Stanford. He is currently the Principal of Weill Consulting Group, which focuses on improving the delivery of transplant care.
Dr. Weill’s writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Salon, Newsweek, the Chicago Tribune, STAT, USA Today, and the Washington Post. He also has been interviewed on CNN and by the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Wall Street Journal.
He lives with his wife and two daughters in New Orleans.
In the press
There are around 65 lung transplant programs in the United States, but 85 percent of the surgeries are performed by only about 20 programs. Regardless, even the smaller programs
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Sensationalized news that didn’t happen: Stolen organs from dead bodies
According to reports from the Hamas-backed Gaza Government Media Office, 80 bodies that were returned by the Israel Defense Forces
David's Memoir
A brilliantly honest story about transplant, and the complexities of the healthcare arena.
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2021
A heartfelt story about the ups and downs of being a pulmonary transplant physician, and a pioneer at that. I purposely took my time reading this book because I savored every word. It was a wonderful lesson in empathy, courage, vulnerability, and doing what’s right for your patients and yourself. Dr. Weill, thank you for writing this life-giving book. It’s just what the doctor ordered for anyone that works in the pressure-packed world of healthcare.
~ Mountain Mama
My wife Jackie and I are passionate about the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) and will donate all profits from my book to this incredible organization. Founded in 2004, YEP is a New Orleans based nonprofit that provides comprehensive services to young people living in underserved communities. YEP’s core purpose is to empower young people to improve their lives and the lives of others.
