“The Cost of Caring is a compelling and timely book about the pressures, purpose, and human cost of healthcare today. Dr. Frantz offers an authentic and important perspective on what it takes to care for patients while sustaining the people who provide that care.”

—Scott Becker, founder, Becker’s Healthcare and Becker Business Media

“As goes the well-being of the professionals (doctors, nurses, first responders, police, and so many others) who take care of us, so goes our well-being. Unfortunately, they—to a greater degree than nearly any others in our society—are constantly bombarded by events and circumstances that attack their physical, emotional, and mental health. Every person should read this book.”

—Lynn Massingale, MD, chairman of TeamHealth and one of Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders

“In The Cost of Caring, Dr. Frantz gives voice to a crisis too many in medicine and public service endure in silence. Drawing on decades on the front lines, he delivers a powerful and deeply human examination of the emotional wounds carried by those who dedicate their lives to caring for others. This book is both a wake-up call and an essential guide to healing.”

—Richard Jadick, DO, surgeon and bestselling author of On Call in Hell: A Doctor’s Iraq War Story

“As someone who works in the mental health field with high-achieving professionals, I’ve seen firsthand how sustained exposure to stress and responsibility can quietly erode even the strongest individuals. The Cost of Caring captures this phenomenon with rare clarity and compassion. Dr. Frantz’s concept of ‘emotional radiation’ is both illuminating and validating—and his guidance offers real hope. This book is a powerful reminder that those who care for us need care too.”

—Adam Dorsay, PsyD, licensed psychologist and author of Super Psyched: Unleash the Power of the 4 Types of Connection and Live the Life You Love

“There has never been a book that more effectively addresses the difficult issue of burnout and moral injury in high-risk human service professions than The Cost of Caring. This is not a book written by a curious academic or reporter but rather an emotional—and at times uncomfortably raw—personal account from a leader who has been there, done that, lived it, and above all . . . felt it. If you work in a healthcare, human services, or public safety field—or lead others who do—reading this book will forever change your perspective on a growing crisis that threatens the well-being not only of those who serve but also of those of us who depend on them to be there when we need them most.”

—Michael Wiechart, DSc, healthcare executive and author of A Crisis of Care: Evaluating the Costs and Consequences of Burnout Among Emergency Physicians

“In The Cost of Caring, Dr. Robert Frantz provides the ultimate ‘dosimeter’ for the human soul. By reframing the psychological toll of caregiving as ‘emotional radiation,’ he moves us away from the stigma of burnout and toward a necessary understanding of environmental injury. This is a vital blueprint for building the emotional ‘decompression chambers’ our healers desperately need to survive and thrive.”

—Shai Efrati, MD, author of Beyond Normal: How the New Science of Enhanced Medicine Elevates Peak Performance and Repairs Brain Injuries

“In this vivid and deeply human book, The Cost of Caring takes on one of medicine’s most urgent and underquantified crises: the emotional injury inflicted on the workers who hold our healthcare system together. Dr. Frantz illuminates the cumulative harm of frontline caregiving—a toll borne not just by individual providers, but by patients, the quality of care, and the system at large. In the process, he charts a practical path for caregivers to protect and heal themselves, while issuing an unambiguous call for the system that creates this toll to finally reckon with it.”

—Parsa Shahinpoor, MD, author of Blood Poison: The Untold Story of Sepsis

“Someone needed to tell this story—and Dr. Frantz’s experience across fire, police, EMS, and emergency medicine makes him uniquely qualified to do it. He brings readers inside a world shaped by constant exposure to trauma, where the cost of caring often goes unseen and unspoken. The stories are deeply personal, vulnerable, and unflinchingly honest. For those in Safety Net professions, this book offers something rare: the feeling of being truly seen, understood, and supported, along with a clearer path toward caring for yourself while caring for others. And for anyone who isn’t, it provides an insider’s perspective into a world that’s often misunderstood. This is the kind of book that will stay with you long after you turn the final page—and one that will be a safety net for many who need it.”

—Michael Corvini, MD, author of Leadership Alchemy: Essential Truths for Driving Transformational Change