The Greek physician Hippocrates believed the human body contained blood, phlegm, and bile-and that health depended on keeping them in balance.
After nearly five decades on the NHS frontline, senior cardiologist Liam Hughes knows a thing or two about bodily fluids. Expanding Hippocrates' list to include sweat, tears, urine, solid waste, and "spunk" (fortitude), he uses this framework to tell the story of a lifetime in medicine-its triumphs, frustrations, absurdities, and moments of profound humanity.
From a terminal patient pleading for a "Brompton cocktail" to end his suffering, to the on-call surgeon who impales himself on a shooting stick, to the consultant who rams a police car to save a life, Hughes captures the grit, humor, and moral challenges of hospital life.
By turns moving, irreverent, and outrageously funny, Bodily Fluids is both a love letter to medicine and a sharp critique of the system that sustains it-a doctor's unflinching, deeply human look at what it means to heal, hurt, and hope.
| ISBN: | 9781785634314 |
| Publication date: | 5th February 2026 |
| Author: | Liam Hughes |
| Publisher: | Lettuce Publishing an imprint of Eye Books |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 300 pages |
| Genres: |
Memoirs True stories: general Medical profession Health systems and services |
The Greek physician Hippocrates believed the human body contained blood, phlegm, and bile-and that health depended on keeping them in balance.
After nearly five decades on the NHS frontline, senior cardiologist Liam Hughes knows a thing or two about bodily fluids. Expanding Hippocrates' list to include sweat, tears, urine, solid waste, and "spunk" (fortitude), he uses this framework to tell the story of a lifetime in medicine-its triumphs, frustrations, absurdities, and moments of profound humanity.
From a terminal patient pleading for a "Brompton cocktail" to end his suffering, to the on-call surgeon who impales himself on a shooting stick, to the consultant who rams a police car to save a life, Hughes captures the grit, humor, and moral challenges of hospital life.
By turns moving, irreverent, and outrageously funny, Bodily Fluids is both a love letter to medicine and a sharp critique of the system that sustains it-a doctor's unflinching, deeply human look at what it means to heal, hurt, and hope.
Bodily Fluids features in the following genres: Memoirs, True stories: general, Medical profession, Health systems and services
Bodily Fluids is available in Paperback
Bodily Fluids was written by Liam Hughes and published by Lettuce Publishing an imprint of Eye Books
Bodily Fluids has 300 pages
£9.89