4 Victoria Terrace: Memoirs of a Surgeon covers tumultuous times in recent history, beginning from the later years of British Rule. Rarely does one come across a doctor''s account of what it meant to experience and handle human tragedies of the magnitude of the Bengal Famine or the Partition of the country.
Apart from being a doctor''s travelogue, there is hardly any major city in the world that Dr Chatterjee has not visited, this book also unfolds an extremely perceptive description of one of our most important social institutions: medical colleges and hospitals. We also get an inside view of the medical profession itself, one of the most politicized at every level, but not without enduring friendships and knowledge sharing.
These pages contain some tragic stories of dedicated brilliant doctors, who become the victims of their own profession. There are also accounts of almost miraculous surgery that saves patients, all but dead, and often just a few hours old.
The book ends with a reflection on the ethical dilemmas inherent in the medical profession in general and pediatric surgery in particular.