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February 2008: Dr. Christopher Johnson's book, Your Critically Ill Child has made the Library Journal List of Top Consumer Health Books of 2007. From the Library Journal of May 1, 2007:       " . . . the narratives draw in the reader with relatively jargon-free descriptions intertwined with information on how "ordinary people perform in extraordinary ways," from initial crises to outcomes ranging from "miracles" to death. . . . as the only book of its kind, this is heartily recommended for public, hospital, and consumer health libraries. (Janice Flahiff, University of Toledo Health Science Library)

Welcome to this site. It is about seriously ill and injured children - what their needs are, how we care for them, and what happens to them. The site's purpose is to give you information about serious illness in children and how to talk about it with your child's doctor.

You will find some of this information in my book, Your Critically Ill Child: Life and Death Choices Parents Must Face. It tells you the personal stories of children and their families and how they and their doctors together learned the best way to understand and take care of each other. As I did the research for my book, I found reliable information of this sort is hard to find without guidance - this site will give you that guidance. You can also read the first chapter of the book if you like here.

Getting the best care for your child demands good communication between parents and doctors. Too often this doesn't happen. A common reason is parents just don't understand how doctors think and solve problems. You can learn how to prevent this from happening to your child in my new book from Prometheus Books, How to Talk to Your Child's Doctor: A Handbook for Parents. You can read its first chapter here.

This site has another purpose. Pediatric intensive care, as well as all of children's health care, stands at the center of the ever-growing crisis in America about how we can be fair to all our citizens and still pay for all of our modern medical marvels. Here I give you my perspective on that crisis. My opinions do not come from health care policy think tanks or government committees; my view is grounded in three decades of experience with what is actually happening at sick children's bedsides. I also provide links to authoritative sites where you can find more about children's health care policy issues. No matter your politics, this information will help you to make up your own mind about what we should do to solve this complicated, contentious set of problems.

Finally, I invite you to read and comment about these issues on my blog. You can also ask me other questions, if you like.