On Call

Stories of life, death and bravery by a Kiwi female general surgeon

‘Ruthlessly honest and viscerally beautiful. The book I wish I had read as a medical student.’ Emma Espiner

The world of surgery is strange, messy and intense. From a man presenting with fishhooks in his stomach to being punched in the face by a patient, it’s all in a mad day’s work for a female general surgeon. Even with emergency operations in the wee hours and constantly being mistaken for a nurse, there are still moments of laughter and tenderness amid the chaos.

When Ineke’s parents in Samoa fall ill, she becomes torn between her roles as a surgeon, a daughter and a single working mother, leading her to ask: are the sacrifices of a life in scrubs worth it?

This is an extraordinary memoir from inside the operating room about the heart it takes to survive.

Author Biography

Ineke Meredith was born in New Zealand to parents of mixed-Samoan heritage. She spent part of her childhood in Samoa but moved to New Zealand to study medicine.

She is a general surgeon with a subspecialty interest in breast cancer and breast reconstruction who has published research articles in international peer-reviewed medical journals on breast cancer and reconstruction, cancer rates among Pacific peoples in New Zealand, and has participated in international collaboratives on cancer rates in diaspora. She is the founder and director of Fur Love, a canine skincare company, and lives and works between New Zealand and Paris.