Product Description "A powerful, true story of life and death in a major metropolitan hospital...Harrowing... An important book." THE NEW YORK TIMES What is life worth? And what is a life worth living? At a time when America faces vital choices about the future of its health care, former NEW YORK TIMES correspondent Lisa Belkin takes a powerful and poignant look at the inner workings of Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, telling the remarkable, real-life stories of the doctors, patients, families, and hospital administrators who must ask--and ultimately answer--the most profound and heart-rendng questions about life and death.
First, Do No HarmJune 14, 2010 Jackie Watkins(Des Moines, IA) Interesting book. Could be a little depressing with so much death. Written more in novel form than depressing facts.
Uncommon PerspectiveDecember 4, 2009 Amy Flynn(Crazy Town, USA) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book shed light on some ethical concerns that really got me thinking. Not every story was a happy ending but thats the definition of life. As a medical professional, I did enjoy it.
One of the better books about hospitals and patientsOctober 26, 2009 sb-lynn(Santa Barbara, California United States) 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am a big fan of medical books, with all their stories about doctors and patients. My shelves are replete with them, including books by Frank Huyler and Jerome Groopman, Jerald Winakur and Atul Gawande, just to name a few. I love stories that humanize hospitals and their staff, and make us empathize and educate us on what goes on inside those walls.
This book gets an A+ in that regard. Lisa Belkin divides her book up by months, and within those months we revisit certain patients to see their progress. We come to know and care about all of them - from the tiniest of premature babies, to those with devastating injuries and illnesses that foretell the bleakest of futures.
But this book is more than just our empathizing with these patients and learning about their treatments, it's also about finding out how the medical staff deals with all this on a regular basis. It's not only the patients we come to know and care about in this book.
In addition, there are fascinating chapters that take us inside the ethics committees that determine the future course of action for these patients, and let us know how the doctors determine when to proceed with procedures that may or may not help, and when the very real problems of hospital finances becomes intertwined with these complicated decisions.
I read this book in one sitting and it both moved me and educated me. Highly recommended.
First Do No HarmSeptember 12, 2009 Gayle J. Eade(Christchurch, New Zealand) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is not the sort of book I usually read. But from page one I was captivated enjoyed every page. The fact that all the patients were real people made it even more interesting. The behind the scenes accounts of ethics committees etc opens your eyes to what really goes on in hospitals, with life and death decisions. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone.
Read This PRIOR to Commenting on the Health Care Insurance DebateAugust 29, 2009 Yorkie Girl(USA) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
First, Do No Harm. Here we are, in August 2009, with a very heated battle going on in regards to the health insurance battle. People are worried about death panels, Nazi health care (we will be treating Nazis?), and a number of hysterical assumptions. Guess what! Death panels have existed under other names, or perhaps no names at all. Some hospitals call them Ethics Committees, when they are named. But if you are ever involved with the long-term care of someone who is critically ill, a birth defect, or a severe car accident, YOU become part of a death panel, like it or not. Through describing the life & death situations of a variety of patients, author Lisa Belkin educates us in an area a lot of what we don't want to admit to: we will all die, and someone other than ourselves could be making that decision as to when.
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