An imperative analysis that begs for discussion by industry watchdogs and consumers alike.
A succinct, disturbing report on the prevalence of malpractice in modern medicine.
Pittsburgh-based employment attorney Lieber (Rats in the Grain: The Dirty Tricks of the “Supermarket to the World,” Archer Daniels Midland, 2000, etc.) assesses medical error with a straightforward approach and provides chilling results. A victim of misdiagnosis himself, he believes “medical errors always have been with us.” The author examines a number of cases, including college freshman Libby Zion’s untimely death in 1984, Floridian Willie King’s grievous amputation error, and Jesica Santillan’s death due to the mismatched blood type of an organ transplant. Fortunately, Lieber doesn’t decorate his study with scare tactics or confusing jargon; his perspective is clearly that of an informed consumer concerned with the welfare of those seeking American medical care. He cites a downward attitudinal shift in perception of professional clinical care which began in the 1990s, when a bloom of malpractice cases—which Lieber lists in chilling succession—initiated disclosure clauses and fostered quality improvement and monitoring initiatives. The media firestorm became fueled by further exposure from celebrities like Dana Carvey, Dennis Quaid, and the late Andy Warhol (and more recently, Joan Rivers), who all were on the receiving end of lethal or potentially lethal medical negligence. The malpractice statistical data borne from the ensuing scrutiny of medical centers became a startling wake-up call for the industry at large. The book’s second half is perhaps more user-friendly from a consumer standpoint, as the author provides illuminating, cautionary chapters focusing on avoiding prescription medication blunders, the rampant politicization of the health care spectrum, and the inherent dangers lurking within the “maze-like, chaotically organized acute and long-term care institutions.” While not a medical professional, Lieber does offer proactive patient advice for those seeking to reduce the risk of infection or injury while hospitalized. He concludes with a hopeful appeal to medical environments to be more vigilant about performance standards.
An imperative analysis that begs for discussion by industry watchdogs and consumers alike.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-682190-10-4
Page Count: 282
Publisher: OR Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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