Sheri Fink (1)

It's hard to encapsulate what a book is about in one short sentence, i.e., title; Hence, the adage, "You can't judge a book by it's cover." I didn't read this because the title intrigued me. I was in a hurry to select a book and get it downloaded before going out the door--and this one came up as available, so I took a stab at it. I didn't get that far before it was time to return it and wasn't in a hurry to check it back out, because there's so dog-gone many books still beckoning to be read. In fact, I'd forgotten about it until I passed it on the shelf at Barnes and Noble--"oh yeah, I should finish that", thinks I.
The title, and even the subject headings only speak to it's being about a Hospital that was in that part of Louisiana that was struck by Hurricane Katrina--(so one thinks "high winds, water surges, the huge potential of drowning, or maybe electrocution, or having something heavy slammed into you, or vise-versa, and then high sewage-like standing water). And, of course, it IS a lot of that, no doubt about it; until you get about half way through, to the aftermath--which I hadn't the first time, and then you realize it hasn't become just a story about a hurricane and the levels of unpreparedness resulting from either lack of funds (as in the cost to fortify a helipad, or investing in enough generators), or from an inability to foresee the minutia of potential issues that could arise, or even, avoidably, from lack of communication or cohesiveness in meeting those issues, combined with the skills (or lack there of) and ingenuity (likewise) of medical staff to improvise; it's also about patients, families, local residents, pets, the need to evacuate competing with other citizens and institutions for external assistance--the confusion of what external assistance exists, the good (heroes) the bad (looters, criminals) and the ugly (snipers), survival, hubris, panic, politics (that one's worth saying more than once; politics, politics), loyalties, psychology, martial law, triage, different mind sets of medical professionals, the Tenet Healthcare organization (for whom I once worked), and whether that entire 'from soup to nuts' mix spells, e-u-t-h-a-n-a-s-i-a, or m-u-r-d-e-r.
It's an interesting, thought provoking read.… (more)

Five Days In Memorial was one of the most troubling and disturbing books I've ever read. It is broken into two parts. The first half tells of the deplorable conditions the doctors and nurses had to work under after their hospital was crippled by Hurricane Katrina. In 21st century America it simply should not have taken 5 whole days to evacuate a hospital filled with critically ill patients. This inexcusable delay led to the doctors doing what they felt was best for the patients. In some cases this meant administrating overdoses of morphine to end the suffering and gently lead the patients into their inevitable passing So what to the politicians who completely let down the doctors do after the hurricane is over ? The decide to charge the doctors and nurses of Memorial with murder.
The second half of the book covers this process and was more disturbing than the first half. The way the lawyers and politicians vehemently went after the health care professionals who did the best they could in a terrible situation absolutely sickened me. In many cases it really seemed they were doing it merely to further their own careers. Since I strongly recommend reading the book,I wont reveal how things eventually turned out.… (more)