LAUSR

The central characters in this book are cardiac electrophysiologists (EPs), a special brand of cardiologists who seek to regulate the heart and repair abnormal rhythms by implanting defibrillators and pacemakers, and by using ablation catheters to burn or cool parts of the heart. Among EPs there are some who enjoy authority as standard-setters, and others who are merely clinicians. Both participate in a common occupational project that itself needs to secure the authority of electrophysiology among other medicine specialties. Hence the book’s title. Menchik’s question is how do they—both individuals and the specialty as a whole—manage to secure this authority given the essential indeterminacy of what they do—they feed a tiny catheter two feet through a vein in order to reach the heart and there deliver a burst of heat that they hope will burn just the right amount of tissue to restore the heart to its normal rhythm. Menchik’s answer is complex and somewhat hard to piece together, but this is what I came up with: