Reviews with content warning for Ableism - Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital

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Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink

9 reviews

tjdewald's review against another edition

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3.75

The story is good but the story is not one of the author’s. She is simply retelling what happened. It’s a fascinating story of ethics and disaster but it is so slow. I felt the ending in the epilogue could have been better. It didn’t feel “done”. I’m glad I read the book, learned about medical procedures in relation to disasters, and was able to ponder the ethical battle of medical assisted euthanasia. I would recommend this book to people who are genuinely interested in ethics, disaster research/response, and tough medical dilemmas.

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abby_can_read's review against another edition

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3.0

🎧
What happened was harrowing and heartbreaking. This book was well written. I did struggle to keep track of everyone -- patients, nurses, doctors, their families before police, lawyers and politicians who. I think this shows Fink did a lot of research. I think book afforded a good look at medical ethics and disaster preparedness.

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effortlesslybookishbre_'s review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A

Five Days at Memorial attempts to tell the story of doctors and nurses who had to survive in a storm ailed hospital after Hurricane Katrina, and the levees breaking soon after.

While this books premise is intriging and at times was captivating due to the nature of the story, this book unfortunately fails to deliver on the captivating nature of its subnopsis, Sheri Fink tells the stories of doctors and nurses who made life and death decisions for their patients while also baddling the elements of one of the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Trying to follow the events of this book was difficult due to the author quickly flipping points of views to past, present, and between quotes or alleged quotes from individuals who were there as events unfolded. While usually this would be an interesting literary choice especially when you are trying to give an oral history about events, but in this context it made this book feel very jumbled and not concise once one topic is discussed it quickly shifted to a different piece of the story, or to a doctor or nurse who gives alleged facts about the event.

This books focus is said to be on the events that had taken place before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina and how euthanasia was allegedly unethically used, but this book majorly focuses on the outside events and how the public reacted to doctors and nurses who participated in euthanasia it especially tries to in some ways rehabilitate the images of the accused doctors and nurses by quoting the public, their colleagues, and family members. Yet that same effort was not given to the deceased families, another major downfall of this book was the inability to staunchly say the failings of the response to the disaster around New Orleans but especially at Charity Hospital was due to Classism, Racism, and Ableist practices.

While mentioned briefly it was not covered nearly enough how the failings of government agencies failed the people of New Orleans due to faulty infrastructure and Systematic Racism, politicians labeled its own citizens as looters and rioters when they were simply just trying to survive, especially in a situation where they were seemingly given up on. The book spends more time trying to paint lawyers as just money hungry vultures, who just saw an opportunity for a pay day by defending those who were seeking answers to their loved one’s death.

The authors focus seemed to be more on the euthanizing of doctors and nurses animals versus the families emotions of learning their loved ones had died, there was also little mention and historical context behind the ableist history of and behind merciful death. The families were not nearly as much of a focus as they should have been their stories felt as if they were an afterthought. I would also have liked for the author to go into detail about how in times of crisis the most venerable are not considered and how even in times were there is a dire situation disabled/ and or individuals who need more care are not considered and their lives are seen as disposable.

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crabbytaco's review against another edition

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4.5

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sarahweyand's review

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3.5

I was alive when Katrina hit but too young to understand its impact. This book is well-researched, very detailed, and unflinching when it comes to the accounts of the five days spent at Memorial and the fallout after the fact. The first half of the book recounts the five days during the hurricane, and the second half gives details on the aftermath and ensuing legal battle that occurred.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book and it was exactly what I expected going in. A great piece of narrative nonfiction that I would recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about this disaster. And then it started to drag. I figured Fink would get into some details of what happened after Katrina, but not to the extent that she did. While I do think that she does a good job of talking about the medical malpractice issues and discussing both viewpoints, it became repetitive for me and I found myself zoning out more frequently.

If you want a very full picture of what happened, this may just be the book for you, but at 550 pages, I'd recommend stopping after the fifth day at Memorial if you aren't as interested in the aftermath.

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heatherilene's review

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4.0

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kelpreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.5

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hurricaneflora's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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amyalicejakob's review against another edition

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5.0

Really enjoyed this. I loved the way that the author managed to convey the intricacies of what was happening in the hospital as well as what was happening culturally and what the world was saying and thinking about everything. It read as a thriller, and I couldn't put it down!

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