

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
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.