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A carregar... Coronary: A True Story of Medicine Gone Awry (edição 2007)por Stephen Klaidman (Autor)
Informação Sobre a ObraCoronary: A True Story of Medicine Gone Awry por Stephen Klaidman
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A chilling real-life medical thriller, Coronary chronicles the story of two highly respected heart doctors who violated the most sacred principle of their profession: First, do no harm. In the summer of 2002, fifty-five-year-old John Corapi, a Catholic priest with a colorful background, visited Dr. Chae Hyun Moon, a celebrated cardiologist in Redding, California. Corapi had been suffering from exhaustion and shortness of breath, and although a physical examination and a conventional stress test revealed nothing abnormal, Moon insisted that the calcium level in Corapi's coronary arteries called for a highly invasive diagnostic test: an angiogram. A chain-smoking Korean immigrant known for his gruff bedside manner, Moon performed the procedure briskly and immediately handed down a devastating diagnosis: "I'm sorry; there is nothing I can do for you. You need a triple bypass tomorrow morning." He then abruptly left the room. Several hours later, however, Moon inexplicably decided the surgery could wait until Corapi returned from a previously scheduled cross-country trip. Unnerved by the dire diagnosis and also by Moon's inconsistent statements, Corapi sought other opinions. To his amazement, a second, third, and fourth doctor found that his heart was perfectly healthy. In fact, for a man his age, Corapi's arteries were remarkably free of disease. Sensing a cause more disturbing than human error, Corapi took his story to the FBI. As local agent Mike Skeen soon discovered, Corapi was one of a number of people who had suspicions about Moon and Moon's go-to cardiac surgeon, Dr. Fidel Realyvasquez, an equally respected member of the close-knit northern California community. Working at a hospital owned by Tenet Healthcare, Moon would make the diagnoses and Realyvasquez would perform the surgeries. Together, these leaders of the Redding medical establishment put hundreds of healthy people at risk, some of whom never recovered. Soon Skeen launched a major investigation, interviewing numerous doctors and patients, and forty federal agents raided the hospital where the doctors worked. A timely and provocative dissection of America's medical-industrial complex, Coronary lays bare the financial structures that drive the American healthcare system, and which precipitated Moon's and Realyvasquez's actions. In a scheme that placed the demands of Wall Street above the lives of its patients, Tenet Healthcare rewarded doctors based on how much revenue they generated for the corporation. A meticulous three-year FBI investigation and hundreds of civil suits culminated in no criminal charges but a series of settlements with Tenet Healthcare and the doctors that totaled more than $450 million and likely put an end to Moon's and Realyvasquez's medical careers. The case's every twist and turn is documented here. A riveting, character-rich narrative and a masterpiece of long-form journalism, Coronary is as powerful as it is alarming. This is a hair-raising story of the hundreds of men and women who went under the knife, not in the name of medicine, but of profit and prestige. Brilliantly told, Stephen Klaidman's Coronary is a cautionary tale in the age of miracle medicine, and a shocking reminder to always get a second opinion. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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The story is about a large corporation (Tenet Healthcare), two egotistical doctors (Dr. Chae Hyun Moon - a celebrated cardiologist, and Dr. Fidel Realyvasquez - a respected cardiac surgeon), a state of the art hospital, a tight-knit, rural community and the hundreds of patients who were operated on unnecessarily. When all the numbers were in, an astounding 769 patients over a period of a few short years had undergone completely unnecessary, invasive cardiac procedures including by-pass surgeries. Almost half were under the age of 65 years old. And the doctors involved as well as Redding Medical Center, owned by Tenet, had profited to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Many patients died from complications of their unneeded medical care, still others are living lives of chronic disability and pain. A three year Federal investigation led to a huge (more than 450 million dollar) settlement, but no criminal charges. Astonishing? Yes. I couldn't put this book down.
Klaidman walks the reader through the unfolding scandal piece by piece, introducing the key players and demonstrating how something this obscene could actually happen in our medical system. The book is compulsively readable and almost unbelievable. The reader will never view the medical system in the same way again.
As someone who has worked as a licensed physical therapist for eighteen years, I found myself dismayed and angry after reading Klaidman's novel. This shouldn't happen - ever.
This is a book that everyone should read.
Highly recommended. ( )