Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

First, Do No Harm: The Dramatic Story of Real Doctors and Patients Making Impossible Choices at a Big-City Hospital [Mass Market Paperback]

Lisa Belkin (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 10.99
Price: CDN$ 9.89 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details
You Save: CDN$ 1.10 (10%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Usually ships within 7 to 12 days.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --   -- --
Paperback --   -- --
Mass Market Paperback CDN $9.89   -- --

Book Description

Release Date: Mar 2 1994
"A powerful, true story of life and death in a major metropolitan hospital...Harrowing... 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.

Frequently Bought Together

First, Do No Harm: The Dramatic Story of Real Doctors and Patients Making Impossible Choices at a Big-City Hospital + Doing Right: A Practical Guide to Ethics for Medical Trainees and Physicians + So, You Want to Be a Doctor, Eh? a Guidebook to Canadian Medical School
Price For All Three: CDN$ 95.08

Some of these items ship sooner than the others. Show details

  • Usually ships within 7 to 12 days.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details

  • Doing Right: A Practical Guide to Ethics for Medical Trainees and Physicians by Philip C. Hebert Paperback CDN$ 68.93

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details

  • So, You Want to Be a Doctor, Eh? a Guidebook to Canadian Medical School by Anne Berndl Paperback CDN$ 16.26

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Product Details

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

In novelistic detail, Belkin examines the cases of several patients in a Houston hospital and the ethical considerations of their doctors.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- A look at medical ethics and the critical-care decisions made by the ethics committee, doctors, and four sets of patients/parents at Hermann Hospital in Texas between May-October 1988. Quality of life is measured against longevity and consideration is given to expenditure of limited resources. As most of these patients were children or young adults, the book has immediacy for high school students. The epilogue, written four years later, brings closure to decisions made. Young people interested in medicine or the health-care crisis are sure to find this involving.
- Barbara Hawkins, Oakton High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Product Description

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

5 star
8
4 star
0
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
5.0 out of 5 stars
8 reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you Lisa, for being fair Nov 30 2000
By Claire Sparks
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Having a child featured in this book, I have read it several times. Lisa did a fantastic job when she wrote this book. You will find it to be a very insightful book. Having lived through this ordeal myself, I know that Lisa tried very hard to make sure that her facts are real and accurate. If you enjoy stories about the medical field I trully believe that you will find this one hard to put down until you have finished it.
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Once started you won't put this book down Nov 29 2006
By Peter Davies
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Despite the major advances in knowledge, skills, and technology in the field of medicine, this book shows that ultimately life and death fall back on the human touch. Following the workings of an Ethics Committee in a major urban hospital over several months, Belkin clearly shows that medicine continues to be as much an art as a science and in many cases there are no "right" answers, even when decisions can affect whether a patient lives or dies.

This is not a dry, mechanical review of how ethical decisions are made. Quite the opposite, the book captures your full attention from the very first page. You become fully involved in the heart-wrenching lives of actual hospital patients, as well as the no-win situations health care professionals and family members find themselves in when struggling with decisions that literally have life or death consequences.

For example, when she describes the process in which the life support devices are withdrawn from a young patient you feel you are there in the room witnessing the tragedy. Some readers might scream within their minds not to do it - perhaps there is something else can be done? Others may feel a sense of loving compassion over the ending of someone's suffering. Both types will feel incredible compassion for those who had to make the actual decision and hopefully will never have to make such a choice in their own lives.
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Humanity of Doctors Mar 11 2004
By D. Phillips
Format:Mass Market Paperback
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
Want to see more reviews on this item?

    Your Shopping Cart is empty.

    Give it purpose—fill it with books, DVDs, clothes, electronics, and more.

    If you already have an account, sign in.

    View Cart (0 items)

      Listmania!

      Create a Listmania! list

      Look for similar items by category

      Feedback

      Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

      Amazon.ca Privacy Statement Amazon.ca Shipping Information Amazon.ca Returns & Exchanges