Five days at Memorial: life and death in a storm-ravaged hospital

Book Cover
Average Rating
Publisher
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Publication Date
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Language
English

Description

Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink’s landmark investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina – and her suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and justice.In the tradition of the best investigative journalism, physician and reporter Sheri Fink reconstructs 5 days at Memorial Medical Center and draws the reader into the lives of those who struggled mightily to survive and maintain life amid chaos.After Katrina struck and the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers chose to designate certain patients last for rescue. Months later, several of those caregivers faced criminal allegations that they deliberately injected numerous patients with drugs to hasten their deaths. Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting, unspools the mystery of what happened in those days, bringing the reader into a hospital fighting for its life and into a conversation about the most terrifying form of health care rationing.In a voice at once involving and fair, masterful and intimate, Fink exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals just how ill-prepared we are for the impact of large-scale disasters—and how we can do better. A remarkable book, engrossing from start to finish, Five Days at Memorial radically transforms your understanding of human nature in crisis.One of The New York Times' Best Ten Books of the Year

More Details

Contributors
Fink, Sheri Author
Potter, Kirsten Narrator
ISBN
9780307718969
9780307718983
9780804128124
9780307718976
9781410466228

Table of Contents

From the Book - First edition.

Deadly choices
Reckoning.

Discover More

Author Notes

Loading Author Notes...

Similar Titles From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These books have the genres "history writing -- natural disasters and tragedies" and "nature writing -- natural disaster"; and the subjects "survival (after hurricanes)," "hurricanes," and "disaster relief."
These disturbing works of long-form investigative reporting examine how the effects of natural disasters are compounded by human error. Fukushima describes the failure of a Japanese nuclear power plant; Five Days at Memorial recounts a hospital evacuation during Hurricane Katrina. -- NoveList Contributor
Breach of faith: Hurricane Katrina and the near death of a great American city - Horne, Jed
Both books relate how bureaucratic failures plus social, political, and economic biases magnified Hurricane Katrina's horrors for Louisiana's most vulnerable citizens, from the poor and marginalized (in Breach of Faith) to the ill and injured (in Five Days at Memorial). -- Kim Burton
These in-depth portraits of two hospitals challenged by very different circumstances expose flaws in the American hospital system and offer perspectives on the challenges faced by hospital staff. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina makes Five Days a more unsettling read. -- Shauna Griffin
These accessible and thought-provoking accounts explore systemic inequities in healthcare, chronicling the first year of COVID-19 in a Chicago hospital (The Emergency) and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina at a New Orleans hospital (Five Days at Memorial). -- Kaitlin Conner
These books have the appeal factors well-researched, and they have the genres "history writing -- natural disasters and tragedies" and "nature writing -- natural disaster"; and the subjects "survival (after hurricanes)," "hurricanes," and "disaster relief."
No ordinary heroes: 8 doctors, 30 nurses, 7,000 prisoners, and a category 5 hurricane - Inglese, Demaree
Both works are harrowing, journalistic accounts of how Hurricane Katrina turned two very different medical facilities into war zones, rife with extremes of both heroism and vicious brutality -- horrors magnified and prolonged by woefully inadequate federal disaster response efforts. -- Kim Burton
These gripping, often disturbing chronicles of natural disasters highlight the human tragedies that occurred in their wake: Superstorm presents a blow-by-blow account of Hurricane Sandy; Five Days at Memorial reconstructs events at a New Orleans hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. -- NoveList Contributor
Featuring interviews and detailed reportage, these urgent journalistic accounts explore the chaos and aftermath of natural disasters -- Louisiana's Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (Five Days at Memorial) and Paradise, CA's 2018 wildfire (Paradise). -- Kaitlin Conner
Detailed accounts offer a compelling glimpse of hospital life after catastrophic events. Five Days at Memorial chronicles the goings-on at a New Orleans hospital post-Hurricane Katrina; Life on the Line takes place in New York City during the early days of COVID-19. -- Kaitlin Conner
Readers interested in true crime stories with Hurricane Katrina as a backdrop will appreciate these well-researched (Five Days) and thought-provoking (Fire) books. Fire on the Levee investigates police misconduct, while Five Days at Memorial investigates possible medical malpractice. -- Malia Jackson
Each book vividly details real-life triumphs and devastating losses in post-Katrina New Orleans. While A.D. is a boldly illustrated graphic novel about seven very different survivors' experiences, Five Days at Memorial presents a shocking journalistic account of events at a hospital. -- Kim Burton

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Journalists Sheri Fink and Laurence Gonzales write about dangerous situations, everything from being trapped in a hospital during a hurricane to being trapped in an uncontrollable airliner. Their atmospheric tales of terror and disaster analyze the role of fear, resilience, and luck in human survival. -- Mike Nilsson
Journalists Sheri Fink and William Langewiesche write about the unpredictability of human behavior and the power of nature, as manifested by war, crime, and natural disaster. Their carefully researched and documented narratives show the best and worst of humanity in the face of mortal and natural chaos. -- Mike Nilsson
These authors' works have the subjects "survival (after hurricanes)," "hurricanes," and "disaster relief."
These authors' works have the genre "history writing"; and the subjects "survival (after hurricanes)," "hurricanes," and "disaster relief."
These authors' works have the subjects "survival (after hurricanes)," "hurricanes," and "disaster relief."
These authors' works have the appeal factors well-researched, and they have the genres "true crime" and "impartial writing."
These authors' works have the genre "history writing"; and the subjects "survival (after hurricanes)," "hurricanes," and "disaster relief."
These authors' works have the subjects "survival (after hurricanes)," "hurricanes," and "disaster relief."
These authors' works have the subjects "survival (after hurricanes)," "hurricanes," and "disaster relief."
These authors' works have the subjects "survival (after hurricanes)," "hurricanes," and "disaster relief."
These authors' works have the genre "history writing"; and the subjects "survival (after hurricanes)," "hurricanes," and "disaster relief."
These authors' works have the appeal factors well-researched, accessible, and atmospheric, and they have the genre "history writing"; and the subjects "survival (after hurricanes)," "hurricanes," and "disaster relief."

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* As the floodwaters rose after Hurricane Katrina, patients, staff, and families who sheltered in New Orleans' Memorial Hospital faced a crisis far worse than the storm itself. Without power, an evacuation plan, or strong leadership, caregiving became chaotic, and exhausted doctors and nurses found it difficult to make even the simplest decisions. And, when it came to making the hardest decisions, some of them seem to have failed. A number of the patients deemed least likely to survive were injected with lethal combinations of drugs even as the evacuation finally began in earnest. Fink, a Pulitzer Prize winner for her reporting on Memorial in the New York Times Magazine, offers a stunning re-creation of the storm, its aftermath, and the investigation that followed (one doctor and two nurses were charged with second-degree murder but acquitted by a grand jury). She evenhandedly compels readers to consider larger questions, not just of ethics but race, resources, history, and what constitutes the greater good, while humanizing the countless smaller tragedies that make up the whole. And, crucially, she provides context, relating how other hospitals fared in similar situations. Both a breathtaking read and an essential book for understanding how people behave in times of crisis.--Graff, Keir Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Powered by Syndetics

Publisher's Weekly Review

"They were in a war zone," Fink (War Hospital: A True Story of Surgery and Survival) writes of those stranded inside New Orleans' Memorial Medical Center in the calamitous wake of Hurricane Katrina. In this astonishing blend of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism (Fink, who also has an M.D. and Ph.D., won the award for the investigative reporting on which this book is based) and breathtaking narration, she chronicles the chaotic evacuation of the hospital and the agonizing ethical, physical, and emotional quandaries facing Memorial nurses and doctors, including a nightmarish triage process that led to the controversial decision to inject critically ill patients with fatal doses of morphine in order to refocus attention on those with a chance of surviving. An alarming 45 bodies were recovered from the crippled hospital, nine of which were deemed suspected victims of euthanasia. Yet investigators realized that unraveling the tragedies was "as impossible as collecting fragments of a fractured mirror and then, somehow, inferring what image had once appeared there." Some members of the medical staff were charged with murder, but a grand jury acquitted them. Plenty of hard-earned lessons were learned from the stunningly mismanaged response to the disaster, yet Fink acknowledges that for the families of those who never made it out of Memorial, the "war against nature" could only be considered a loss. (Sept. 10) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Powered by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Fink's meticulous and extensive research is apparent in her first book, a detailed description of a large urban hospital in New Orleans in crisis during Hurricane Katrina. Memorial Hospital was seen as a place to shelter from the pending storm, and even had patients transferred there from other facilities. When the woefully unprepared hospital lost power and seemed under siege, the doctors made some difficult and controversial decisions about evacuation and triage, with the most physically able people leaving first. As a result of this policy, a doctor and two nurses were charged with injecting some patients with drugs to hasten their deaths. The first half of the book vividly describes the situation in the hospital and the equally engrossing second half describes the legal cases resulting from the storm's aftermath, a situation that took years to play out. Reader Kristin Potter narrates professionally and even handedly. Verdict Highly recommended for all listeners. ["Fink's six years of research and more than 500 interviews yield a rich narrative full of complex characters, wrenching ethical dilemmas, and mounting suspense," read the starred review of the Crown hc, LJ 9/1/13. See Best Books 2013: Top Ten, http://ow.ly/ruZ6p, LJ 12/13.-Ed.]-Mary Knapp, Madison P.L., WI (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Powered by Syndetics

Kirkus Book Review

Pulitzer Prizewinning medical journalist/investigator Fink (War Hospital, 2003) submits a sophisticated, detailed recounting of what happened at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina. Under calamitous, lethal circumstances, the staff at Memorial did a remarkable job of saving many lives in the wake of Hurricane Katrina--though others would point out they didn't have the street smarts of the staff at Charity Hospital, whose creativeness resulted in far fewer deaths. Fink draws those few days in the hospital's life with a fine, lively pen, providing stunningly framed vignettes of activities in the hospital and sharp pocket profiles of many of the characters. She gives measured consideration to such explosive issues as class and race discrimination in medicine, end-of-life care, medical rationing and euthanasia, and she presents the injection of some patients with a cocktail of drugs to reduce their breathing in such a manner that readers will be able to fully fashion their own opinions. The book is an artful blend of drama and philosophy: When do normal standards no longer apply? what if doing something seems right but doesn't feel right? In the ensuing investigation of one doctor, who is clearly the fall guy (or woman, as it were), Fink circles all the players, successfully giving much-needed perspective to their views. The obvious villains are the usual suspects: nature, for sending Katrina forth; big business, in the guise of Memorial owner Tenet Healthcare, for its failure to act and subsequent guilty posturing; and government, feds to local, for the bungling incompetence that led to dozens of deaths. The street thugs and looters didn't help much, either. With apparent effortlessness, Fink tells the Memorial story with cogency and atmosphere.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Powered by Syndetics

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* As the floodwaters rose after Hurricane Katrina, patients, staff, and families who sheltered in New Orleans' Memorial Hospital faced a crisis far worse than the storm itself. Without power, an evacuation plan, or strong leadership, caregiving became chaotic, and exhausted doctors and nurses found it difficult to make even the simplest decisions. And, when it came to making the hardest decisions, some of them seem to have failed. A number of the patients deemed least likely to survive were injected with lethal combinations of drugs—even as the evacuation finally began in earnest. Fink, a Pulitzer Prize winner for her reporting on Memorial in the New York Times Magazine, offers a stunning re-creation of the storm, its aftermath, and the investigation that followed (one doctor and two nurses were charged with second-degree murder but acquitted by a grand jury). She evenhandedly compels readers to consider larger questions, not just of ethics but race, resources, history, and what constitutes the greater good, while humanizing the countless smaller tragedies that make up the whole. And, crucially, she provides context, relating how other hospitals fared in similar situations. Both a breathtaking read and an essential book for understanding how people behave in times of crisis. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.
Powered by Content Cafe

Library Journal Reviews

Journalist Fink (War Hospital: A True Story of Surgery and Survival) won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for her work on the harrowing events at New Orleans's Memorial Hospital during and after Hurricane Katrina, reporting that became the basis for this book. Two thousand patients, staff members, and their family and friends sought safety at Memorial as Katrina approached on Monday, August 28, 2005. Without power, running water, air-conditioning, or standard high-tech medical equipment, conditions quickly deteriorated, particularly for the oldest and most critically ill patients. It wasn't until Friday, September 1, that everyone was finally rescued, and, by that time, there had been 45 patient deaths—18 of them deemed suspicious by the New Orleans coroner. A legal hurricane followed, and one doctor and three nurses were accused of second-degree murder. Fink devotes half of her book to the criminal investigations and ensuing grand jury inquiry, guiding readers through the concepts of triage, euthanasia, and end-of-life care that made the cases so controversial. VERDICT Fink's six years of research and more than 500 interviews yield a rich narrative full of complex characters, wrenching ethical dilemmas, and mounting suspense. General readers and medical professionals alike will finish the book haunted by the question, "What would I have done?" [See Prepub Alert, 6/24/13.]—Kathleen Arsenault, St. Petersburg, FL

[Page 132]. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Powered by Content Cafe

Library Journal Reviews

Fans of nonfiction that's backed by extensive, meticulous research—think The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks—will savor this examination of events at a New Orleans hospital before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. Fink's work mainly concerns a doctor accused of euthanizing patients at the hospital during the disaster, but the journalist's portrayal includes many other staffers, too, and their activities and backstories form a compelling picture of the city and social injustices that persist. (LJ 9/1/13)—HT-V (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Powered by Content Cafe

Publishers Weekly Reviews

"They were in a war zone," Fink (War Hospital: A True Story of Surgery and Survival) writes of those stranded inside New Orleans' Memorial Medical Center in the calamitous wake of Hurricane Katrina. In this astonishing blend of Pulitzer Prize–winning journalism (Fink, who also has an M.D. and Ph.D., won the award for the investigative reporting on which this book is based) and breathtaking narration, she chronicles the chaotic evacuation of the hospital and the agonizing ethical, physical, and emotional quandaries facing Memorial nurses and doctors, including a nightmarish triage process that led to the controversial decision to inject critically ill patients with fatal doses of morphine in order to refocus attention on those with a chance of surviving. An alarming 45 bodies were recovered from the crippled hospital, nine of which were deemed suspected victims of euthanasia. Yet investigators realized that unraveling the tragedies was "as impossible as collecting fragments of a fractured mirror and then, somehow, inferring what image had once appeared there." Some members of the medical staff were charged with murder, but a grand jury acquitted them. Plenty of hard-earned lessons were learned from the stunningly mismanaged response to the disaster, yet Fink acknowledges that for the families of those who never made it out of Memorial, the "war against nature" could only be considered a loss. (Sept. 10)

[Page ]. Copyright 2013 PWxyz LLC

Copyright 2013 PWxyz LLC
Powered by Content Cafe

Reviews from GoodReads

Loading GoodReads Reviews.

Staff View

Loading Staff View.