I started this book because it's the basis for the show, er. I definitely saw some of the scenes from the show within the book. Each patient story is the intro to some issue hospitals faced in 1974. Some of those issues remain to this day, however, the patient stories were way more interesting and way too short. The majority of the book is basically a discussion of problems faced by hospitals. Maybe a third of the book is patient stories, with the remaining 2/3 the history of medical procedures and jargon. I had usually lost interest by the end of each chapter. This book would be more engaging had the majority been patient stories with the problems and history sprinkled throughout as it applied.

This non-fiction is based on Crichton's experiences as a medical student at the Harvard Medical School (MGH). It pinpoints five cases that he believes are indicative of some ways of change in the field of medicine.

Ralph Orlando (Now and Then) - I couldn't understand Crichton's rationale behind picking this case in particular out of the tens of patients he describes alongside, especially because of the skimpy spotlight given to this patient, save the impersonal deliverance of the news of his death to his family members. Immediately after, the topic shifts to growth in statistical metrics in health care and how prevention is not seen as important as cure.

John O'Connor (Cost of Cure) - Crichton picks the case of John who has a fever of unknown origin that causes his enzymes and other parameters to go haywire. He walks you through the consultation of various specialists, the administration of various medicines, the excessive number of tests John had to go through for about 30 days when the fever disappears as mystically as it made its appearance. For a guy like John, with no vices and no history of illnesses, it is shocking how he has a random attack and so is the expense accrued for treatment, or in this case, diagnosis. He elucidates how and why admission into hospitals are becoming increasingly expensive and explores the legitimacy of all parts of the expenditure.

Peter Luchesi (Surgical Tradition) - After the meticulous rendition of a meticulous surgery, Crichton talks about the factors of anesthetics, antiseptics, and advancement in knowledge in the field of surgery. He also talks about how physicians and surgeons who have been disparate, and even indulge in badmouthing one another, are merging. He ends this chapter with very interesting examples related to Central Supply and Blood Bank.

Sylvia Thompson (Medical Transition) - Crichton explores automated diagnosis and looks at the prospects of automated therapy. Although the pros are bountiful, the imitation of the instinctive and experiential functions of a doctor is a challenge, which can be overcome only by capturing the way a physician thinks leaving no knowledge, intelligence and sensory parameters amiss. With increased automation, he says what will be left to the doctors in future would be the paths of research and behavioural orientations.

Edith Murphy (Patient and Doctor) - This chapter draws the relationship between doctors and patients, and most importantly between who the patients think are doctors - med students, house officers, interns, and residents. In increasing difficulty in educating medical students is discussed and methods like Socratic tradition of questioning is exemplified.

I enjoyed the book and found it very enlightening. However, I wish he had structured it better. Crichton essentially talks about multiple things like surgery, cleanliness, reordering of hospitals, etc. These could've been separated by topics to maintain the integrity of each one, as opposed to the lousy bobbing from one topic to another in a single chapter.

This is an enlightening view of the inner workings of a teaching hospital, even though it is now several decades old. I is easy to see how methods, technology, and improved knowledge have changed the problems but some do still exist. I would be interested in hearing what this author thinks of today's hospitals.

This gives you an interesting insight into his medical years. It was interesting.

This non-fiction book about medical care and hospitals was written by Michael Crichton in 1970, but in many ways could have been written today (ya know, if Crichton was still alive). Crichton explores medical costs and the need for insurance (Affordable Care Act precognition?), medical education, the history of medicine, and the changing roles of hospitals.
Probably the most surprising thing to me was how little had changed in medicine in the last 46 years since this book was written. All in all, an interesting read though I would be curious if I am right about how little has changed.

I had no idea Michael Chrichton had written non-fiction (or had a medical background), but I'd definitely read more of it. This book couldn't quite decide how accessible it wanted to be (the untranslated Latin was a particular high low point) and - as ever - I could have done with some footnotes/sources. All in all, though, a thoroughly interesting look at where medicine was in the late 1960s (and thus what has and hasn't changed).

I remember getting this from my library since a friend recommended it to me. I have always found medicine a very interesting field (only to read about, though), and my first surprise was how easy this book was to read. And the second surprise was how the statistics have been presented, to represent healthcare as an industry. It reminds the reader that although intentions may be noble, no profession exists for the sole cause of charity. It also reminds you that a hospital is not a non-profit place, and why its in the patient's best interest that it remain that way.

This book made me feel a whole lot smarter, and gave me more insight to an industry I knew nothing about but will be involved with for as long as I am alive.

Another item in my nostalgic Crichton streak that got one more star than I was expecting.

Note well that this book is seriously mismarketed: this is not a collection of thrilling stories about five patients (I bet it was often purchased under the misconception that this was going to be the print version of "ER.") In reality, it's a collection of essays on the history, present, and potential future of the American hospital system from the vantagepoint of a medical student in 1969. It's written in the form of five meditations on specific issues, each one prefaced with a brief narrative about a specific event in Massachusetts General Hospital, as observed by Crichton. It's journalism and history, not an anthology of real-life narratives.

If you don't mind the lack of narrative, and if the topic is interesting to you - hospital administration, economics, technology, and its relationship with the medical education system - this is an enjoyable read. And, as is often the case with Crichton, impressively relevant, despite a lot of the details being obsolete.

One thing this book solidifies for me is how Crichton's strength as a prognosticator has a lot to do with his deep reading and understanding of history. I think he has a reputation of being a techie who writes thrilling stories to bring scientific ideas to the uneducated masses, but I think that's too reductive. He was someone who, among all the other things he did, studied human nature very thoughtfully and made relatively insightful judgements about its habits, strengths, limitations, and tendencies. He was therefore able to grasp what the core conflicts are, removed from the wrapper of contemporary culture, and what challenges would persist going forward.

The book's a little sparse and immature, but I think there's enough of value here, and it's readable enough, to make it worth your time if the topic appeals to you.

It starts as an interesting read that shows some interesting facts about the development of medicine through time. The author uses five different cases to further illustrate this.

Unfortunately the last quarter of the book becomes a rant about studying medicine and becomes a bit... long-winded and boring.

"Ralph Orlando, un lavoratore ferito dal crollo di un'impalcatura; John O'Connor, un uomo di mezza età che delira in preda a una febbre dall'origine sconosciuta; Peter Luchesi, un ragazzo che dopo un incidente rischia di perdere un braccio; Sylvia Thompson, che nel corso di un viaggio aereo inizia a provare un lancinante dolore al petto; Edith Murphy, madre di tre bambini, con le caviglie e le ginocchia che si gonfiano misteriosamente. "
Attraverso cinque casi, rielabporazioni fedeli di pazineti davverp osservati da Chricton nella sua cariera medica, il defunto romanziere ci mostra le vie che la medicina avrebbe potuto prendere, e gli sviluppi della stessa nell'arco dei secoli.

A fascinating look into the world of a hospital. It is not so much a look at 5 interesting cases as much as it is a look at the way though cases effect the surrounding environment of the hospital itself. This is all accompanied by interesting looks into the history of how this all came to be.

My first non-fiction work of Mister Crichton. I plowed through his fiction works in my (very) early twenties, originally borrowing them from a co-worker. After I ran through his collection, I went on to buying my own used Crichton books until I was pretty much out of options.

I picked up Five Patients at Goodwill for fifty cents on half price Saturday. Moving through it pretty quickly, I was swept away by the stories included in it, and even more so, I was taken in by just how much WORSE our health care system in America has become since Five Patients was published.

It's an eye opening read, certainly.