Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God, and Diversity on Steroids

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143115367 ISBN 13: 9780143115366

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2009

Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God, and Diversity on Steroids

A warts-and-all exploration of the struggles suffered and triumphs achieved by America's health-care professionals, Hospital follows a year in the life of Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, which serves a diverse multicultural demographic. Unraveling the financial, ethical, technological, sociological, and cultural challenges encountered every day, bestselling author Julie Salamon tracks the individuals who make this complex hospital run-from doctors, patients, and administrators to nurses, ambulance drivers, cooks, and cleaners. Drawing on her skills as an award-winning interviewer, observer, and social critic, Salamon reveals the dynamic universe of small and large concerns and personalities that, taken together, determine the nature of care in America.

About the Author:

Julie Salamon is the author of several award-winning books for adults, including Wendy and the Lost Boys, as well as her debut novel for children, Cat in the City. Her writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and more.  She lives in Manhattan with her family.

From AudioFile:

HOSPITAL is dispiriting. This portrait of Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn reminds us that hospital administrators spend an awful lot of time worrying about money, insurance, and paperwork. It also reminds us of America's diversity--an estimated 67 languages are spoken at the hospital; new residents in obstetrics learn to count to 10 in multiple languages. Karen White isn't quite equal to the task of delivering a book with little narrative thread that jumps around from drama to drama and doctor to staff person. Slightly longer pauses between the endless profiles of doctors and nurses and administrators (only a few patients) could help the listener keep up. Inauthentic accents are distracting--Irish nurses that don't sound Irish and South African doctors that don't sound South African. A.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine