Coronary: A True Story of Medicine Gone Awry by Stephen Klaidman
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Book Reviews of Coronary: A True Story of Medicine Gone Awry
Book Review: wonderful read.... like a novel.
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book exclusivly for the information but found I enjoyed it like reading a novel. Klaidman's style is easy and pleasurable to read. He presents a story with no overt editorial influence. It really is a must read.Book Review: If You Don't Believe the Medical Profession Takes Care of It's Own...
Summary: 4 Stars
"Coronary" is a pretty quick and interesting read. The story is really scary, kind of like COMA (25th Anniversary Edition) in real life.
What will really interest lay readers but is not particularly news to those of us who are attorney who represent malpractice victims is this: the extent of "turning a blind eye" or outright cover up that some in the medical profession will choose to do rather than turn in a politically powerful doctor who is not just hurting, but in some cases, killing people.
It's not until the civil lawyers get involved, frankly, that this house of cards (the massive amount of unnecessary procedures being done which seemed to financially support not only the hospital where they were taking place but the local country club as well)falls apart.
Folks, this is simply not all that unusual in the real world. This book would also be a good gift for anyone who thinks that we ought to limit damages in malpractice cases. California's silly arbitrary limit on damages nearly kept all of the civil lawyers out of the case completely, because the financial risk to the lawyers was too great compared to California's measly recovery limits for malpractice victims.
Book Review: Review
Summary: 4 Stars
Coronary: A True Story of Medicine Gone Awry by Stephen Klaidman (2007) is the detailed account of medical happenings in a small California community. Two doctors teamed up to commit fraud, malpractice and barely escape conviction of criminal misconduct. A cardiologist knowingly begins the betrayal of his patients by doing unnecessary angioplasty and recommending cardio-thoracic surgery. He incorporates a surgeon who for all intents should know that his patients do not need graft bypasses, yet he performs hundreds of surgeries based upon the cardiologist's recommendation.
Klaidman tells the based on real events tale like a novel. It's a winding road as we follow the Catholic priest Corapi and others in their pursuit of justice. The final settlement questions whether or not our society really wants justice or will greedily accept the cash reward. An easy read, yet just as the reader settles into the novel format the author's tone changes and the reader is left with the daily newspaper. The story and format that the author attempts to present is fabulous yet Klaidman cannot leave his journalistic past. All the figures and reporting distract from the story, sway the reader to favor the victims, and regress from the author's neutral endeavor.
This story was enjoyable and as healthcare worker it was clinical enough to satisfy my need for medical facts. However the format of combining journalistic reporting and novelistic writing may work the movies but as the written word it was not as rewarding as it could have been.
Book Review: Lessons learned
Summary: 4 Stars
Coronary is written by Stephen Klaidman who is author of Saving the Heart and a former editor and reporter for the New York times, the Washington Post and the International Herald Tribune. He writes to enlighten the populous and the story evolves around two physicians Moon and Realyvasquez who are believed to be exceptionally talented. Redding Medical center the hospital they carried out their surgeries was considered one of the best in the country because of the incredible number of heart surgeries each year that brought generated a lot of revenue.
The author narrates stories of some patients who went through unfortunate experiences because of the unnecessary surgeries. Investigations about the surgeries later led to the FBI raid however, given what had been taking place and all the rumors about the practice at the hospital people were totally shocked by the raid. It is surprising that no one was courageous enough to challenge the two physicians after all those years. If such can happen over a period of over ten years, what are the chances that similar instances are occurring in many other hospitals and are being overlooked? How would such a renowned hospital not have ethical values to follow?
Though the book is well written an informative, I think it is unnecessarily long in some chapters. For example the author gives too much detail about the city in chapter 2 and about Father Corapi in chapter 5.
It would be interesting to know what moon's views about the whole incident were given most of the information was obtained from his clients and from people who knew him. The facts in the book are very recent and give the reader a sense of what is happening in the present day. It enlightens the people living in Redding about what actually happened because some of them still doubted the facts of the story.
I recommend the book to other readers because there are a number of lessons to be learned. One should seek for a second opinion. Also, one should try and read about a diagnosis they have been given and what procedures are necessary for a successful treatment. There are so many resources one can get including the internet and we should not fall prey to such incidences if we are knowledgeable about some procedure which also leads to patients asking their physicians the right questions.
Book Review: Horrifying story of medicine
Summary: 5 Stars
Book Report
By authoring the book Coronary, former New York Times reporter Stephen Klaidman is attempting to expose a major "systemic flaw" (Klaidman, 2007, p.284) in American medicine; one he inadvertently became aware of after reading of the FBI raid on Redding Medical Center. Criminal fraud by practioners and the various entities that house and facilitate medical practice became a subject that Klaidman knew he could pen a book about and "enlighten" the public. (Klaidman, p.285). By chronicling the medical and surgical practice of a cardiologist, surgeon, and their minions in performing hundreds of unnecessary cardiac caths and bypasses, Klaidman has exposed the soft underbelly of why the American medical system appears to produce so much dissatisfaction. The reason is defined in the succinct observation of Mike Skeen, the FBI agent in charge of the investigation, "At some point, Skeen was convinced, a transition was made from human beings to numbers." (Klaidman, p.257).
Klaidman painstakingly researched the medical scandal in Redding and wrote a book that is factual in its observation, presentation and conclusions. He attempts to be fair and balanced in presenting the doctors' motives and actions. he does not judge their motives accept to quote others regarding g their motives, and quotes the doctors themselves. He is however, scathing in his undeniable exposure of real physical harm done to patients by performing unnecessary surgeries and procedures, and the reluctance of the United States attorney to prosecute a criminal case against the defendants, the top executives of Tenet Healthcare Corporation, who were already embroiled in the civil cases. (Klaidman, 2007, p.281). Klaidman's ability to translate complicated legal maneuverings into a form that is both suspenseful and intelligible to laymen is particularly commendable.
This book should be recommended reading to all who work within the American medical system in any capacity, from the financial and other miscellaneous administrators of medical corporate entities to the caregivers in clinics, laboratories and hospitals. Furthermore, any individual who has an interest in medical care, whether for themselves or another should read this book. This book poses the question of whether the American capitalist system of profit and loss can be successfully applied to medical care without the patient being sacrificed to the end goal of the" bottom line." As Klaidman paraphrases Mike Skeen the FBI agent in charge, "To them these weren't patients, these weren't people; they were revenue generators."(Klaidman, 2007, p.257)