A Surgeon's Heart Series

A Surgeon's Heart: The Calling is an endearing medical theme romance, featuring Jack Roberts, a well-respected pediatric heart surgeon and leader of his profession. When his compassion and dedication to his young patients are challenged by an ever changing health care environment, Jack remains steadfast in following the calling of his heart. Inspired as a boy with the idea of being a surgeon, Jack struggles to overcome numerous obstacles along the way to becoming a well-respected physician leader. But, with the dawn of the twenty-first century, the world of medicine begins to change, threatening his traditional beliefs and commitments as outside forces attempt to gain control over his profession. These pages are filled with his passion and enthusiasm as a dedicated healer who is ultimately defined by critical situations, including his greatest challenge that arises unexpectedly during a foreign medical mission. The events that follow forever change his life. The Calling will make you laugh, and make you cry, often on the same page, as it provides a unique insight into the real world of health care from an experienced surgeon's perspective. While the future of medicine remains uncertain, there is reason for hope, as long as people like Jack continue to answer the call.

The Conflict is the second book in this series, and continues the story of Jack Roberts as he struggles with the devolving American health care system, where corporate profits and government controls threaten to seize the entire medical profession. Jack's son, David, is a brilliant young man who aspires to follow in his father's footsteps, despite the rapidly changing health care environment. Jack fears his son will be swept up in this system that treats physicians simply as interchangeable parts in a complex health care machine. Jack grows desperate to defend his traditional values and ethical principles embodied in the sacred Hippocratic Oath. He is convinced that it's the system that offers the greatest threat to his ability to provide life-saving care to children with critical cardiac ailments. The seasoned surgeon decides he must take action to combat this covert threat to the lives of those he is sworn to serve. He embarks on a personal crusade against the system, but as the story unfolds, he encounters powerful unseen forces determined to destroy him and the obstacle he poses to their sinister plan.

A Surgeon's Heart: The Crisis is the third novel in this series which tells the story of the systematic destruction of the American health care system. For those who have been called to the medical profession and have dedicated their lives to the Oath of Hippocrates, what has been happening and continues to happen is a tragedy of epic proportions. Theirs is a story that is not being told by the talking heads and political pundits who attempt to "enlighten" everyone regarding what health care is, and why they need someone else to be responsible for ensuring it. For such a story to have a lasting impact the characters must feel real, and the reader must relate to them on an emotional level. Jack Roberts is just such a character. Jack is a fictional pediatric heart surgeon who is just like many physicians we have all known. He is grounded in his core principles and traditional ethics. He is surrounded by forces which strive to change him into something much different. His heart is dedicated to those whom he serves, not to the growing forces of corporate greed and government controls, but his resolve is tested by personal crisis. While the story is about health care, it is more about the people who provide life-changing services to those in desperate need. It's about individuals who are engaged in intimate relationships surrounding all different matters of the heart. In this case, it's the tale of A Surgeon's Heart, and The Crisis.

The Choice is the story of the unrelenting effort of Dr. Jack Roberts to return to the pursuit of his life’s calling as a pediatric heart surgeon. To do so, he must first convince reluctant political powers and giant corporations to support his new, and innovative, patient-centered health care model. Meanwhile, his son, Dr. David Roberts, is embarking on his own journey, as he seeks to join his father in this noble profession. Along the way he finds that the core principles his father taught him are no longer embraced by many of his peers. As the world of health care remains in turmoil, Jack and David must each decide whether they can continue to follow... A Surgeon’s Heart.

After retiring to the Pacific shores of Nicaragua, Dr. Jack Roberts follows a new calling of his Surgeon's Heart. He is frustrated and angry with the growing restrictions, mandates, and penalties imposed on American physicians, so the accomplished pediatric heart surgeon vows to build a new and better health care system, far away from the forces of political power and corporate greed. He teams up with others who are likewise on the verge of quitting to build a unique network of ultramodern hospitals, where the focus is on the needs of the patients rather than the profits of payers and investors. Jack works tirelessly to pull all the element together with an unspoken promise to change the world of medicine forever. He seeks to create an island of medical freedom amid the jungles of Central America, where inspiration, excellence, cooperation, and innovation are the driving forces. As the story unfolds, Jack is challenged emotionally, physically, and spiritually, struggling to keep his dream alive, not just for himself, but also for his son. Dr. David Roberts, is a talented and ambitious surgical resident in a distinguished training program in Dallas, Texas, where he, too, experiences many of the same pressures and obstacles that drove his father from a successful practice in nearby Fort Worth a few years earlier. Having grown up watching his father openly display an unwavering devotion to his patients and the traditional code of medical ethics, David seeks to overcome his challenges as he follows his own Surgeon's Heart.