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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
3.5 stars. I appreciate the real time sharing of experiences and think it’s so important to hear these views especially from someone witnessing and experiences the effects of rage and poverty in the area he serves which is also his community.
The letters, however, seemed clunky and a carrier for the author to review social issues about race and low income. Completely valid topics and I’m glad he speaks about this. But the letters seemed like a self important way to talk about his roles in admin and business. I started kind of zoning out towards the end due to them as they also seemed repetitive?
The letters, however, seemed clunky and a carrier for the author to review social issues about race and low income. Completely valid topics and I’m glad he speaks about this. But the letters seemed like a self important way to talk about his roles in admin and business. I started kind of zoning out towards the end due to them as they also seemed repetitive?
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
This book is a revolution
Though he told his friend Ta-Nehisi Coates that he was "a doctor, not a writer," this book proves he's both. More than this, though, he's a revolutionary.
This book is both a chronicle of a year in the life of an emergency department physician during the COVID pandemic as well as an examination of the social forces that make his patients particularly vulnerable. As Dr. Fisher relays the stories of his patients in quick bursts, he'll occasionally devote a whole chapter to them, written as a letter to say everything he wished he could tell them in the three minutes he had to spend with them.
He calls attention to the redlining and segregation policies that trap black people in poverty, the political and economic forces that vacuum up black people's tax dollars and reward them with violence in return, and a healthcare system that prioritizes maximizing profits over saving lives. Among the most jarring examples was the University of Chicago's plan to section off part of the emergency room to service only wealthy (white) patients, forcing the poor (black) majority to wait even longer for fewer beds.
This book is a masterpiece and belongs on the bookshelves of every patient and healthcare provider, every politician and police officer, every business executive and insurance adjustor, really, every American.
P.S. As a personal anecdote, two of my cousins work at the same hospital (but in different departments) and a third works at the same department (but in a different, nearby hospital). I wrote them all a note thanking them for their work as nurses and for devoting their lives to helping others while reading this book. It's neither the first nor the last time I've done this, but I figure our healthcare heroes can never hear "thank you" enough.
Though he told his friend Ta-Nehisi Coates that he was "a doctor, not a writer," this book proves he's both. More than this, though, he's a revolutionary.
This book is both a chronicle of a year in the life of an emergency department physician during the COVID pandemic as well as an examination of the social forces that make his patients particularly vulnerable. As Dr. Fisher relays the stories of his patients in quick bursts, he'll occasionally devote a whole chapter to them, written as a letter to say everything he wished he could tell them in the three minutes he had to spend with them.
He calls attention to the redlining and segregation policies that trap black people in poverty, the political and economic forces that vacuum up black people's tax dollars and reward them with violence in return, and a healthcare system that prioritizes maximizing profits over saving lives. Among the most jarring examples was the University of Chicago's plan to section off part of the emergency room to service only wealthy (white) patients, forcing the poor (black) majority to wait even longer for fewer beds.
This book is a masterpiece and belongs on the bookshelves of every patient and healthcare provider, every politician and police officer, every business executive and insurance adjustor, really, every American.
P.S. As a personal anecdote, two of my cousins work at the same hospital (but in different departments) and a third works at the same department (but in a different, nearby hospital). I wrote them all a note thanking them for their work as nurses and for devoting their lives to helping others while reading this book. It's neither the first nor the last time I've done this, but I figure our healthcare heroes can never hear "thank you" enough.
This book is a revolution
Though he told his friend Ta-Nehisi Coates that he was "a doctor, not a writer," this book proves he's both. More than this, though, he's a revolutionary.
This book is both a chronicle of a year in the life of an emergency department physician during the COVID pandemic as well as an examination of the social forces that make his patients particularly vulnerable. As Dr. Fisher relays the stories of his patients in quick bursts, he'll occasionally devote a whole chapter to them, written as a letter to say everything he wished he could tell them in the three minutes he had to spend with them.
He calls attention to the redlining and segregation policies that trap black people in poverty, the political and economic forces that vacuum up black people's tax dollars and reward them with violence in return, and a healthcare system that prioritizes maximizing profits over saving lives. Among the most jarring examples was the University of Chicago's plan to section off part of the emergency room to service only wealthy (white) patients, forcing the poor (black) majority to wait even longer for fewer beds.
This book is a masterpiece and belongs on the bookshelves of every patient and healthcare provider, every politician and police officer, every business executive and insurance adjustor, really, every American.
P.S. As a personal anecdote, two of my cousins work at the same hospital (but in different departments) and a third works at the same department (but in a different, nearby hospital). I wrote them all a note thanking them for their work as nurses and for devoting their lives to helping others while reading this book. It's neither the first nor the last time I've done this, but I figure our healthcare heroes can never hear "thank you" enough.
Though he told his friend Ta-Nehisi Coates that he was "a doctor, not a writer," this book proves he's both. More than this, though, he's a revolutionary.
This book is both a chronicle of a year in the life of an emergency department physician during the COVID pandemic as well as an examination of the social forces that make his patients particularly vulnerable. As Dr. Fisher relays the stories of his patients in quick bursts, he'll occasionally devote a whole chapter to them, written as a letter to say everything he wished he could tell them in the three minutes he had to spend with them.
He calls attention to the redlining and segregation policies that trap black people in poverty, the political and economic forces that vacuum up black people's tax dollars and reward them with violence in return, and a healthcare system that prioritizes maximizing profits over saving lives. Among the most jarring examples was the University of Chicago's plan to section off part of the emergency room to service only wealthy (white) patients, forcing the poor (black) majority to wait even longer for fewer beds.
This book is a masterpiece and belongs on the bookshelves of every patient and healthcare provider, every politician and police officer, every business executive and insurance adjustor, really, every American.
P.S. As a personal anecdote, two of my cousins work at the same hospital (but in different departments) and a third works at the same department (but in a different, nearby hospital). I wrote them all a note thanking them for their work as nurses and for devoting their lives to helping others while reading this book. It's neither the first nor the last time I've done this, but I figure our healthcare heroes can never hear "thank you" enough.
This worthy read is memories in a year in the life of author's experience in a Chicago Emergency Department, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chapters that tell stories of the ED are interspersed with letters to patients answering questions Dr. Fisher didn't have time to answer in the moment. The book explores the role of capitalism, racism, and classism in the healthcare outcomes of people in the Southside Chicago hospital's community catchment area and, by extension, throughout the country. Dr. Fisher's painfully honest reflections of the system and his struggle to not be complicit are moving, and the reader will be shocked, numbed, and finally resolved that we must do all we can to break and re-make the systems that keep so many of us sick.
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
It grew on me as I read. A diatribe of stories about the failings of the business of health care
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Beautifully written account of the pervasive inequalities within our healthcare system.
I’ve known our healthcare’s system is broken. This first person account both in what as an Emergency Doctor he experiences every day AND an examination of the larger forces that distort and undermine the health of all of our bodies.