The book reveals a troubling situation, but unfortunately it’s a tedious read.
A dogged attempt to shed light on the troubling nexus between money and medicine through the story of two doctors in Redding, Calif., who generated enormous fees for themselves and for the Redding Medical Center by performing highly questionable procedures.
Journalist Klaidman, whose Saving the Heart (2000) looked at advances in fighting coronary disease, was not able to interview either cardiologist Chae Hyun Moon or cardiac surgeon Fidel Realyvasquez, the two doctors in question, but did talk to many of their patients, as well as nurses, technicians and other doctors, and he had access to extensive medical records and sworn depositions. These sources and his contacts with the lawyers involved provided a wealth of background information, but unfortunately the author gets so bogged down in it that what could be a gripping story of personal ambition, corporate greed and shattered lives is burdened by a morass of inconsequential details. Klaidman opens with an account of previous misdeeds by the corporation running the hospital, foreshadowing the iniquities to come, and he then plunges into the story of one patient who narrowly escapes unneeded heart surgery there. Others are not so lucky, and Klaidman has provided numerous chilling examples of the damage they suffered. Lawyers, FBI agents, federal prosecutors—all become involved, and the legal maneuverings go on for years, dividing the town of Redding into two camps. Groups one might expect to take action—Medicare, Medicaid, the state medical board and medical society—do not. The ending is rather a letdown: There are no criminal prosecutions, no trials that might have been revealing; however, the doctors and the hospital do agree to pay large settlements. Drs. Moon and Realyvasquez are no longer practicing medicine, but, as Klaidman points out, the policies this hospital and other for-profit hospitals may conjure up in the future bears watching.
The book reveals a troubling situation, but unfortunately it’s a tedious read.Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2007
ISBN: 0-7432-6754-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2006
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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