Helpful Score: 1
Refreshing medical drama centering on an anesthesiologist who is sued for malpractice after a drug addict with Hepatitis C diverts controlled substances and substitutes contaminated saline that is administered to a patient in her OR.
I enjoyed this book for several reasons. First, the heroine is a believable and sympathetic 30-something female and the focus is on her personality, her life, and what happens to her career, not on her looks! Secondly, I loved that there was no ridiculous romance and that Jenna had a good relationship with her supportive husband and young daughter. Third - the character of Jenna was realistic and portrayed with some depth. Yes, this was a drama so there was lots of description about her mental state in reaction to the lawsuit, but that showed the roller coaster of emotions any person would have in the same situation. There are bonds forged with former strangers and betrayals by those she knew as Jenna tries to navigate the unfamiliar when the lawsuit is filed and as she deals with the relentless legal maneuvers and gamesmanship. Indeed, it is all about the money and nothing about the truth or justice.
The particulars about her work as an anesthesiologist and the medical details about the crime are very interesting and taken from the headlines. The plausibility of the plot is actually scary to anyone who does work in the health care field as there is such ambiguity in standard of care and reasonable precautions with regard to controlled substance security. This could happen in almost any OR despite safeguards!
Everyone affected by Jenna's case is changed. If you enjoy books in the medical fiction genre, skip the thrillers by authors who make their female characters one-dimensional stereotypes and enjoy a story rooted in reality with a likeable protagonist. I recommend it and can't wait for this author's next book.
I enjoyed this book for several reasons. First, the heroine is a believable and sympathetic 30-something female and the focus is on her personality, her life, and what happens to her career, not on her looks! Secondly, I loved that there was no ridiculous romance and that Jenna had a good relationship with her supportive husband and young daughter. Third - the character of Jenna was realistic and portrayed with some depth. Yes, this was a drama so there was lots of description about her mental state in reaction to the lawsuit, but that showed the roller coaster of emotions any person would have in the same situation. There are bonds forged with former strangers and betrayals by those she knew as Jenna tries to navigate the unfamiliar when the lawsuit is filed and as she deals with the relentless legal maneuvers and gamesmanship. Indeed, it is all about the money and nothing about the truth or justice.
The particulars about her work as an anesthesiologist and the medical details about the crime are very interesting and taken from the headlines. The plausibility of the plot is actually scary to anyone who does work in the health care field as there is such ambiguity in standard of care and reasonable precautions with regard to controlled substance security. This could happen in almost any OR despite safeguards!
Everyone affected by Jenna's case is changed. If you enjoy books in the medical fiction genre, skip the thrillers by authors who make their female characters one-dimensional stereotypes and enjoy a story rooted in reality with a likeable protagonist. I recommend it and can't wait for this author's next book.
I think the moral of the story here is CYA, which means Cover Your Ass. You should CYA whenever possible because you never know when you will be screwed over by someone you love, a friend, a colleague, or your work place. I know I sound jaded, but I learned very early on from one my earlier employers that when it comes down to their business or you, they will happily throw you under the bus and sit and watch as it not only goes over you, but as it backs up and hits you again. If someone else's job is on the line and they have that opportunity to throw someone else to the wolves, they will do so and not think twice about it. Not everyone is that way and there will be the occasional individual who will take personal responsibility for what they have done, but don't ever count on it or expect it.
We are supposed to be a civilized society right? How sad is it that people have trouble doing the right thing? How sad is it that some human beings have blatant disregard for other human beings? It blows my mind how someone with an infectious disease will knowingly infect others and not give a rats ass? It's sickening in ways you can't even imagine. There are only two individuals guilty and that would be the hospital who dropped the ball when hiring this scrub tech and the scrub tech herself. There is no one else who is guilty, well except the cut throat ambulance chasing lawyers for one of the victims. I understand her anger at being infected, but come on there is no other obvious people or establishments who are responsible for this incident. Why would you blame the anesthesiologist? I understand the short term reason which is to get more money, but is it worth it to try and get money out of another party who just happened to be there when it happened. That would be like suing Tyson chicken company because their frozen chicken fell out of the freezer and it broke your foot. It doesn't help when you have scuz ball lawyers whispering in your ear to do things that are seriously immoral.
This book seriously got my hackles up every time I read it. Stupid me chose to read this as I was laying in bed before I went to sleep. Needless to say I had trouble getting to sleep after reading this. I don't have a very high tolerance for injustice so this really had me agitated because I know that this story was based on a true incident and I also went through a similar kind of lawsuit where an individual tried to sue me for $1,000,000 about 10 years ago from a car accident where the woman involved walked away after we bumped stating she was perfectly fine, but came after me later on saying her life was ruined and she was unable to work. She was a snake in the mud too with a bunch of ambulance chasing lawyers who dreamed up fake scenarios to try and get more money. yes I went off on a tangent, but what I'm saying is I understand the situation and this made me as angry as I was when I went through something similar.
The book does not stink, but the whole situation surely does. I know this is a book based off a true incident. My heart goes out to those involved and were negatively affected by the heinous and malicious crime committed by a human being who not only should have known better, but working in the medical field should have felt a responsibility to keep the patients safe.
We are supposed to be a civilized society right? How sad is it that people have trouble doing the right thing? How sad is it that some human beings have blatant disregard for other human beings? It blows my mind how someone with an infectious disease will knowingly infect others and not give a rats ass? It's sickening in ways you can't even imagine. There are only two individuals guilty and that would be the hospital who dropped the ball when hiring this scrub tech and the scrub tech herself. There is no one else who is guilty, well except the cut throat ambulance chasing lawyers for one of the victims. I understand her anger at being infected, but come on there is no other obvious people or establishments who are responsible for this incident. Why would you blame the anesthesiologist? I understand the short term reason which is to get more money, but is it worth it to try and get money out of another party who just happened to be there when it happened. That would be like suing Tyson chicken company because their frozen chicken fell out of the freezer and it broke your foot. It doesn't help when you have scuz ball lawyers whispering in your ear to do things that are seriously immoral.
This book seriously got my hackles up every time I read it. Stupid me chose to read this as I was laying in bed before I went to sleep. Needless to say I had trouble getting to sleep after reading this. I don't have a very high tolerance for injustice so this really had me agitated because I know that this story was based on a true incident and I also went through a similar kind of lawsuit where an individual tried to sue me for $1,000,000 about 10 years ago from a car accident where the woman involved walked away after we bumped stating she was perfectly fine, but came after me later on saying her life was ruined and she was unable to work. She was a snake in the mud too with a bunch of ambulance chasing lawyers who dreamed up fake scenarios to try and get more money. yes I went off on a tangent, but what I'm saying is I understand the situation and this made me as angry as I was when I went through something similar.
The book does not stink, but the whole situation surely does. I know this is a book based off a true incident. My heart goes out to those involved and were negatively affected by the heinous and malicious crime committed by a human being who not only should have known better, but working in the medical field should have felt a responsibility to keep the patients safe.
