Steven L. Orebaugh is an anesthesiologist at an academic medical center, whose position requires that he handle or prescribe opioid medications every working day. He has witnessed a number of ruined careers related to addiction among his peers, and has worked with trainees whose lives have been irrevocably altered by indulgence in the controlled substances that anesthesiologists administer to their patients. ‘The Stairs On Billy Buck Hill’ illustrates just how compelling the allure of these drugs is, and how, once ingested, they create within the user a voracious appetite for greater indulgence, followed inevitably by ruinous consequences.

Most of his publications are related to his profession, with some 75 works in the medical literature, including peer-reviewed articles, textbook chapters and review articles. In addition, he is the author of two medical textbooks, and has served as an editor or section editor for several more. In 2006, the Johns Hopkins University Press published his non-fiction book entitled “Understanding Anesthesia.” This patient education manual, which explains the subtleties of operative anesthesia and pain management, empowers patients to ask appropriate questions about their perioperative care. Five years ago, his first fiction work, “A Night in the Life,” which describes the plight of a disenchanted emergency physician in a decaying urban hospital, was published by the Pocol Press.

Dr. Orebaugh practices anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and has a special interest in regional anesthesia, an important means of reducing opioid use for pain control. He is especially enthused to teach these methods to doctors in training.