Throughout, Huyler succeeds in becoming emotionally wrapped up in these people’s stories of disease, injury, mental illness, and addiction — their fights to survive and, sometimes, to die. The essay “Mercy,” in particular, demonstrates how complicated a physician’s role as healer can be. In “The Sleeper,” Huyler and his team are faced with a patient having a heart attack. They act swiftly and save the man’s life.“Glory, like failure, like so many of the black stories, is private and small in medicine. This is an excellent read and not for the faint or person who is aversive to gore. Read.