A former longtime obstetrician-gynecologist has found a new calling in life. Dr. David Shifrin, who worked at Baystate Ob-Gyn Group at Baystate Medical Center before his retirement to Boca Raton, Fla., has written a medical thriller focusing on infertility and abuses of medical technology called “The Hamlet Experiment. ”Shifrin’s novel delves into the sometimes controversial topic of using complex medical intervention in the science of conception. The novel centers around a desperate couple who turn to the dark side of reproductive technology in order to produce a biological heir. Shifrin said while taking a short story writing course at the University of Massachusetts several years ago, he remembered meeting Patrick Steptoe, a British medical researcher involved with the first “test tube”/in-vitro fertilization baby. He said they talked about the “abuse” of the IVF baby, and what could be done with the technology.

“Ob-Gyn Confessions” is a collection of short stories that is loosely based on experiences during my professional career. BecauseI have always valued the privacy of my patients, I would never jeopardize the sanctity of that relationship. Accordingly, the names, time frames, circumstances, and critical details have been carefully altered, so that any resemblance to a particular individual is completely unintentional and nothing more than random coincidence.