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Twelve patients [electronic resource] : Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital. Eric Manheimer.
The inspiration for the NBC drama New Amsterdam and in the spirit of Oliver Sacks, this intensely involving memoir from a former medical director of a major NYC hospital looks poignantly at patients' lives and reveals the author's own battle with cancer. Using the plights of twelve very different patients—from dignitaries at the nearby UN, to supermax prisoners at Riker's Island, to illegal immigrants, and Wall Street tycoons—Dr. Eric Manheimer "offers far more than remarkable medical dramas: he blends each patient's personal experiences with their social implications" (Publishers Weekly).Manheimer was not only the medical director of the country's oldest public hospital for over 13 years, but he was also a patient. As the book unfolds, the narrator is diagnosed with cancer, and he is forced to wrestle with the end of his own life even as he struggles to save the lives of others.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781455509973 (electronic bk)
- Physical Description: 1 online resource
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| Reproduction Note: | Electronic reproduction. New York : Grand Central Publishing, 2012. Requires OverDrive Read (file size: N/A KB) or Adobe Digital Editions (file size: 780 KB) or Kobo app or compatible Kobo device (file size: N/A KB) or Amazon Kindle (file size: N/A KB). |
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Electronic resources
- Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews Newsletter
Eric Manheimer, medical director at Bellevue Hospital, has been "in the business" so long that he has become concerned with more than just the medical end of thingsâhe sees a larger picture in which social welfare meets medicine. The overall "healing" needs of patients encompass much more than the physical and the titular 12 provide a platform for the good doctor's ponderings and conclusions. Consider J.G., a cancer-stricken prisoner convicted of minor drug possession. Sure, Manheimer discusses J.G.'s treatment, but he also considers the man in terms of his candidacy for compassionate release. And as an example of a massively expensive, taxpayer-funded medical case. And as a pawn in a justice system that equates him with violent criminals. Each case has facets beyond the strictly medical that necessitate a larger, perhaps more holistic, consideration. And Dr. Eric has seen it all. "If there is a laboratory experiment in how to create people at the margin of functionality by eliminating all resources and social supports, education, medical care, and community involvement," he writes, "these are the guinea pigs who have been dumped out of their cages and turned loose on the streets." Dr. Eric makes effective points, but in the end his opinions are just that: opinions, albeit absurdly well-informed ones. Whether or not readers agree with Dr. M is immaterial. Rather the import of this book is in acknowledging the big, fat, systemic issues that need tending, not disregarding. â Douglas Lord, "Books for Dudes" LJ Reviews 10/4/12 (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.