Grasp First, Do No Harm: The Dramatic Story Of Real Doctors And Patients Making Impossible Choices At A Big-City Hospital Penned By Lisa Belkin Classified In Brochure

Lisa Belkin did her research, in this riveting book, Many who enter the field of medicine do care about helping people doctors do care about their patients and are frustrated by health insurance, legal concerns and concerns for the patient and their families.


Based in a hospital in Houston, where Belkin did her research, you will not put down this book.


You will feel new empathy for doctors who agonize over the end of life issues with patients and their families.
I am a big fan of medical books, with all their stories about doctors and patients, My shelves are replete with them, including books by Frank Huyler and Jerome Groopman, Jerald Winakur and Atul Gawande, just to name a few.
I love stories that humanize hospitals and their staff, and make us empathize and educate us on what goes on inside those walls.


This book gets an A in that regard, Lisa Belkin divides her book up by months, and within those months we revisit certain patients to see their progress.
We come to know and care about all of them from the tiniest of premature babies, to those with devastating injuries and illnesses that foretell the bleakest of futures.


But this book is than just our empathizing with these patients and learning about their treatments, it's also about finding out how the medical staff deals with all this on a regular basis.
It's not only the patients we come to know and care about in this book,

In addition, there are fascinating chapters that take us inside the ethics committees that determine the future course of action for these patients, and let us know how the doctors determine when to proceed with procedures that may or may not help, and when the very real problems of hospital finances becomes intertwined with these complicated decisions.


I read this book in one sitting and it both moved me and educated me, Highly recommended. Haven't read it yet but am told it is an humbling and uplifting read I highly recommend this book, It is a difficult book to put down, Written with amazing and factual insight into the decisions made every day at hospitals, It is an intellectual must read for people who believe there are "cut and dried" answers for patients, Lisa skillfully cut from one patient to the next, keeping you on the edge of your seat as she masterfully tells the story of each patient for whom ethical decisions had to be made.
It may be eyeopening for some people to realize that when you or

your loved one is hospitalized, all bets are off as to life and death decisions.
You may find yourself at the mercy of the hospital ethics commitee, Welcome to the world of modern medical science, I could hardly put this book down until I was finished with it, It was not just eye opening about how some of the ethical choices in medicine must be made, including the all too necessary financial considerations.
It showed how human doctors are and how difficult it can be for them to have to make heart wrenching decisions in which there is no right answer, especially when it is clear that, no matter which choice they make, there is not going to be a good outcome for the patient.
In spite of their training and attempt to insulate themselves emotionally from their cases in order to remain objective and professional, it's not always possible.
Ms. Belkin's descriptions of doctors in tears was very moving, and proved to me that those people chose the right profession, because they really do care about their patients.

I found, by searching for them on the AMA web site, that a lot of the doctors in this book are still in practice in Houston one is in Albuquerque.
This search gave absolute credence to the fact that these stories are not fiction but about real people, As a nurse these are issues we deal with all the time and then ask if we helped patients and their family's make the right decision.
This certainly showed the ramifications of those decisions, WOW very thought provoking. Should be required reading for all med students and nurses, Highly recommend it Great reading, I was glued to this book, For those of with some medical knowledge the book was easy reading, Some may find the medical terms a bit too much but that does not detract from the interesting stories here.
Sure there is plenty of powerful content to praise, but first I want to celebrate author Lisa Belkin's fabulous writing style.
She sure knows how to tell a gripping and compelling story, In the tradition of nonfiction writers who write like novelists such as Jon Krakauer Into Thin Air and Mark Bowden Black Hawk Down Belkin fuses top notch reporting with authentic protagonist voices, brilliant insights, and the ability to surface root causes, map out trends, and distill the core philosophical issues at stake.


Belkin applies these gifts to telling the story of the most wrenching life and death ethical dilemmas staff, doctors, nurses, and family members face at Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas.
Amazing advances in medical technology have forced all of us to confront questions never before encountered: when do we stop trying to keep someone alive what is the definition of quality of life who gets to decide the doctors or the family members what is the difference between the law, ethics, and morals how to best live with the decision once it's made

It takes courage to delve into these questions and to bear the responsibility for them as the ethics committee does at Hermann.
It also took a great amount of bravery to offer journalist Belkin unrestricted access to the inner workings of the hospital and the committee.
The result is a significantly important book that contributes in vital ways to the ongoing conversations we need to be having in society and among our families as technology puts us in the position of having to make god like decisions.
Interesting. A powerful, true story of life and death in a major metropolitan hospitalHarrowing An important book,
THE NEW YORK TIMES
What is life worth And what is a life worth living At a time when America faces vital choices about the future of its health care, former NEW YORK TIMES correspondent Lisa Belkin takes a powerful and poignant look at the inner workings of Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, telling the remarkable, real life stories of the doctors, patients, families, and hospital administrators who must ask and ultimately answer the most profound and heart rendng questions about life and death.
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