Author(s): Ineke Meredith

NZ Biography & Memoir

Frank, sharp-witted and heart-rending, On Call is a stunning memoir by a female Samoan-New Zealand general surgeon about life, death, and the human limits of care
As soon as she could, Ineke Meredith left her family home in Samoa for New Zealand, filled with determination not to be like her mother: loving but loyal to a violent husband, trapped in a country that limited her. Achieving a scholarship to study medicine, she became a general surgeon at age 33 and worked extreme hours by the motto that what didn't kill her made her stronger. But nothing could have prepared her for when her own parents fell ill - not even a career in medicine.
In this sharp-witted and heart-rending memoir, Ineke tells her story of burnout and finding compassion where she least expected. Racing between hospital patients and torn between her roles as a surgeon, a single working mother and a daughter to two sick parents, this is a book about the cost of care, when empathy comes easier with a patient than with family. When every day presents a life-or-death decision, how do you know when you need to stop?
'Do you take your work home with you?' my son's psychologist asked me once.
'Yes,' I answered honestly. 'Everything is compared to what I see every day. Sometimes I go home just grateful to be alive.'