Stephen Klaidman is a former editor and reporter for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The International Herald Tribune. He was a senior research fellow at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and a senior research associate at the Institute for Health Policy Analysis, Georgetown University. He is also the author of Saving the Heart: The Battle to Conquer Coronary Disease, Health in the Headlines, and The Virtuous Journalist (with Tom Beauchamp). He lives in Bethesda, Marylan
Formerly a Washington Post editor and a research fellow at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Klaidman (Saving the Heart: The Battle To Conquer Coronary Disease) has a long-standing interest in examining problems with the American medical system. In his latest work, he uses medical records, depositions, and interviews to follow the investigation of two doctors who allegedly performed unnecessary cardiac surgery on a large number of patients at a small California hospital. Klaidman's description of events is highly personalized-he shows the case through the eyes of the victims, the FBI, healthcare administrators, doctors, and lawyers-and raises many questions. Was this simple malpractice or actual medical fraud? Did the healthcare administration know what was going on? Was the settlement fair to the victims and to the doctors under attack? Klaidman hopes this look at a single case specifically illustrating some of the flaws in our medical system and their consequences will generate interest and discussion. Exceptionally readable and enlightening; recommended for all public libraries.-Tina Neville, Univ. of South Florida at St. Petersburg Lib. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Father John Corapi, a former accountant, was urged in 2002 to have immediate triple bypass surgery at Redding Medical Center. In fact, his coronary arteries were normal, and he and a former colleague persuaded the FBI to launch a criminal fraud investigation against the for-profit hospital, a renowned Northern California medical institution, and its two rainmakers, cardiologist Chae Hyun Moon and chief of cardiac surgery Fidel Realyvasquez. It soon became clear that the egotistical, abrasive, chain-smoking Moon and the highly ambitious, self-promoting Realyvasquez were performing numerous unnecessary procedures on gullible patients, with devastating consequences. Among the egregious examples of medical misconduct were unnecessary bypasses performed on Paul Alexandre, who became an invalid at age 36 after his sternum was permanently damaged during surgery, and on Shirley Wooten, a lively golden-ager whose surgery led to a fall that caused a fatal cerebral hemorrhage. Although it suffers from veteran newsman Klaidman's (Saving the Heart) lack of access to Moon and Realyvasquez, this well-researched and ably written account offers solid proof that American medicine is indeed "a mess." Readers may think the same about the legal system after learning that Alexandre and Wooten received only six-figure settlements while the Corapi walked away with millions, and neither doctor was prosecuted for a crime. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
