Dr Jim Down – Life In The Balance

Dr Jim Down reports from the heart of the intensive care unit, the place that cares for only the sickest people.

With honesty, humility and a streak of dark humour, Dr Down describes the quietly heroic work of doctors and nurses on the ICU, a place which sits at the cutting edge of medical technology and where a split-second decision can make the difference between life and death.  

Down tells us of everything from headline-grabbing cases like that of Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned by Russian agents and admitted to Down’s ward, to the appalling aftermath of a train crash. Life in the Balance offers an inside glimpse of intensive care medicine, its immense challenges including the mundane daily struggle simply to find enough beds for his patients.

Its profundity will make you reconsider the fragility of life and reframe your understanding of what it means to care.

Chaired by Chris Mullin

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‘A remarkably honest memoir of a life spent pulling people back from death’ – Adam Kay

Booking Information

• Priority Booking for Festival Friends opens at 08.00 on Thursday 2nd of March. Tickets go on general sale from Saturday 4th March.
• Please note that a handling charge of 50p per ticket applies to bookings made in person or over the phone. No handling charges apply to online bookings.
• Hearing loops are available.  Carers qualify for free ‘essential companion’ tickets. Wheelchair spaces are limited. In all cases, please call the Box Office on 01434 652477 to book (booking fees will not apply).
• Tickets cannot be refunded but can be exchanged for other Book Festival events.