Hospital, Julie Salamon
Hospital, Julie Salamon
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Hospital
Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God, and Diversity on Steroids

Author: Julie Salamon

Narrator: Karen White

Unabridged: 14 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/02/2008

Categories: Nonfiction, Medical


Synopsis

In 2005, Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, unveiled a new state-of-the-art, multimillion-dollar cancer center. Determined to understand the whole spectrum of factors that determine what kind of medical care people receive in this country, bestselling author Julie Salamon spent one year tracking the progess of the center and getting to know the characters who make the hospital run. Located in a community where sixty-seven different languages are spoken, Maimonides is a case study for the particular kinds of concerns that arise in institutions that serve an increasingly multicultural American demographic. Granted astonishing access by the hospital higher-ups, Salamon followed the doctors, patients, administrators, nurses, ambulance drivers, cooks, and cleaning staff. She explored not just the action on the ground but also the financial, ethical, technological, socioloical, and cultural matters that the hospital commuity encounters every day.

Drawing on her skills as interviewer, observer, and social critic, Salamon presents the story of modern medicine. She draws out the internal and external political machinations that exist between doctors and staff as well as between hospital and community. And she grounds the science and emotion of medical drama in the financial realities of operating a huge, private institution that must contend with such issues as adapting to the specific needs of immigrant groups that make up a large and growing portion of our society.

Salamon exposes struggles both profound and humdrum: bitter internal feuds, warm personal connections, comedy, egoism, greed, love, and loss; rabbinic edicts to contend with, as well as imams and herbalists and local politicians; system foul-ups, shortages of everything except forms to fill out, recalcitrant and greedy insurance reimbursement systems, and the surprising difficulty of getting doctors to wash their hands. This is the dynamic universe of small and large concerns and personalities that, taken together, determine the nature of our care.

About Julie Salamon

Julie Salamon was a film critic and reporter for the Wall Street Journal for sixteen years before becoming a television critic for the New York Times. She is the author of The Devil's Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood, White Lies, The Net of Dreams, and the New York Times bestseller The Christmas Tree.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Nette on September 12, 2008

This really isn't a two-star book -- it's well-written and, I'm sure, very valuable -- but it wasn't what I was expecting. Policy meetings, fund-raising efforts, and departmental politics are no more interesting (to me) just because they take place in a hospital and not at Nabisco or Walmart or any......more

Goodreads review by Ann on July 11, 2011

This is big picture hospital stuff--focusing on dozens of people in a major metropolitan area (Brooklyn) where 60 languages can be spoken in the ER. Founded as a Jewish hospital, the hospital still caters to the Orthodox who live in the neighborhood, but also a plethora of immigrants--some legal and......more

Goodreads review by Matt on March 06, 2014

I picked up this book hoping to get a better sense of how hospitals are run. This is not that book. There is a lot of talk about administrative politics at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, but the politics are so particular to this hospital that you can't really glean leanings about the indust......more

Goodreads review by Faheem on April 07, 2024

Typically the Hot debates Associated with Steroids for Sale: Trying typically the Negative aspects not to mention Honest Dilemmas Across the world from athletics, developing your muscles, perhaps even remedy, having steroids is definitely some contentious trouble. With the help of comments from much......more

Goodreads review by Anna on July 17, 2015

[2.75 stars] Some of "Hospital" is fascinating, but much of it drags. This was an in-depth look at one hospital, Maimonides, and the people who make it run, both on a day-to-day basis and in the big picture. The author goes into great detail into the personalities, work habits, and politics of hospit......more