Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Ballantine Publishing Group (1989), Paperback
Description
"Crichton has an extraordinary capacity to seize upon, then make real and personal, the new and the complex, the intriguing and the frighening." THE NATION In this incisive, detailed survey of five patients, famous thriller author and doctor Michael Crichton explores the dramatic workings of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston's oldest and most prestigious. This readable account covers not only the history of the hospital's place in society, but also the actual minute-to-minute functions of Mass General, where health professionals wage their daily battle against disease and death. Crichton's insightful look at the changes in medicine and surgery caused by technological strides of recent years makes for amazing reading.
User reviews
LibraryThing member MichaelRWolf
An interesting read, especially with the knowledge that he went on to create the TV series ER. Great detail. Good medical knowledge. Nice insight into the health care business at the dawn of computers.
LibraryThing member wendymb
While the story was broken up across the patients as described, I rated this a little higher because it was thought provoking. It gave me pause to sit down and think about how the examples are still true today.
LibraryThing member detailmuse
A forerunner to Atul Gawande-type essays, this is a collection of case studies on five patients, where each case provides a jumping-off point for Crichton to examine aspects of healthcare: its history and the general operation of hospitals and emergency rooms; healthcare costs and financing; the
Definitely dated, yet forward-thinking too (especially about technology and the expansion of patient knowledge and involvement in care), and with issues contemporary enough to recommend it for readers interested in medical history, economics and sociology.
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history of surgery; medical technology and medical research; and the hospital-based training of doctors.Definitely dated, yet forward-thinking too (especially about technology and the expansion of patient knowledge and involvement in care), and with issues contemporary enough to recommend it for readers interested in medical history, economics and sociology.
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LibraryThing member BookConcierge
From the back cover: A construction worker in his fifties is seriously injured in the collapse of a scaffold. A middle-aged railroad dispatcher develops a high fever that makes him wildly delirious. A young worker nearly severs his hand from his arm in an accident. A woman traveling alone has
My reactions
These five patients’ cases are used to illustrate the workings of a large academic medical center: Massachusetts General Hospital. Crichton, best known for thrillers and the TV show E.R., wrote this nonfiction explanation of how a hospital works when he was barely out of medical school himself – November 1969. I happened to get a 25th anniversary edition, which includes a “new” Author’s Note dated 1994. In that forward he writes: “When I reread the book recently, I was struck by how much in medicine has changed – and also, by how much has not changed. Eventually I decided not to revise the text, but to let it stand as a statement of what medical practice was like in the late 1960s, and how issues in health care were perceived at that time.”
Another twenty years have gone by and Crichton’s comments still ring true. Much has changed, and much remains the same. The system of training new physicians has changed little, though residents no longer have the gruelingly long hours that were the norm when Crichton was writing. Technological advances have certainly changed the way in certain services are delivered, but third-party payers (i.e. insurance companies, including government programs such as Medicare) have much more to say about what services the patient receives and how. (A friend recently had a mastectomy as an outpatient procedure!)
So, while this work is obviously dated, I still found it interesting.
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persistent chest pain and is treated by a doctor on a TV screen. A mother of three is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease.My reactions
These five patients’ cases are used to illustrate the workings of a large academic medical center: Massachusetts General Hospital. Crichton, best known for thrillers and the TV show E.R., wrote this nonfiction explanation of how a hospital works when he was barely out of medical school himself – November 1969. I happened to get a 25th anniversary edition, which includes a “new” Author’s Note dated 1994. In that forward he writes: “When I reread the book recently, I was struck by how much in medicine has changed – and also, by how much has not changed. Eventually I decided not to revise the text, but to let it stand as a statement of what medical practice was like in the late 1960s, and how issues in health care were perceived at that time.”
Another twenty years have gone by and Crichton’s comments still ring true. Much has changed, and much remains the same. The system of training new physicians has changed little, though residents no longer have the gruelingly long hours that were the norm when Crichton was writing. Technological advances have certainly changed the way in certain services are delivered, but third-party payers (i.e. insurance companies, including government programs such as Medicare) have much more to say about what services the patient receives and how. (A friend recently had a mastectomy as an outpatient procedure!)
So, while this work is obviously dated, I still found it interesting.
Show Less
Original publication date
1970
Physical description
6.8 inches
ISBN
0345354648 / 9780345354648