A review by rwcarter
Trauma Room Two by Philip Allen Green

5.0

This book is a collection of fictionalized vignettes that all take place in a rural emergency department. For me, collections of short stories can sometimes blur together and become tedious, but this is not at all what happened here. Maybe it is because of my prior interest in medicine, but each of these stories was impactful and emotional in its own way. Often having Shyamalanian twists which only add to the intrigue, these stories touch not on the medical side of the ER, but the human side. This is a quick read that I devoured over the course of 60 minutes -- the writing is concise and to the point but still able to deliver big bunches of emotion. Touching on issues like physician assisted suicide and what it would be like to code your own child, this collection should be on everyone's bookshelf, healthcare worker or not.