The People's Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine

by M.D. Ricardo Nuila Narrated by M.D. Ricardo Nuila

Overview

“Nuila's storytelling gifts place him alongside colleagues like Atul Gawande.” -Los Angeles Times

This “compelling mixture of health care policy and gripping stories from the frontlines of medicine” (The Guardian) explores the question: where does an uninsured person go when turned away by hospitals, clinics, and doctors?

Here, we follow the lives of five uninsured Houstonians as their struggle for survival leads them to a hospital that prioritizes people over profit. First, we meet Stephen, the restaurant franchise manager who signed up for his company's lowest priced plan, only to find himself facing insurmountable costs after a cancer diagnosis. Then Christian-a young college student and retail worker who can't seem to get an accurate diagnosis, let alone treatment, for his debilitating knee pain. Geronimo, thirty-six years old, has liver failure, but his meager disability check disqualifies him for Medicaid-and puts a life-saving transplant just out of reach. Roxana, who's lived in the community without a visa for more than two decades, suffers from complications related to her cancer treatment. And finally, there's Ebonie, a young mother whose high-risk pregnancy endangers her life. Whether due to immigration status, income, or the vagaries of state Medicaid law, all five are denied access to care. For all five, this exclusion could prove life-threatening.

Each patient eventually lands at Ben Taub, the county hospital where Dr. Nuila has worked for over a decade. Nuila delves with empathy into the experiences of his patients, braiding their dramas into a singular narrative that contradicts the established idea that the only way to receive good health care is with good insurance. As readers follow the moving twists and turns in each patient's story, it's impossible to deny that our system is broken-and that Ben Taub's innovative model, where patient care is more important than insurance payments, could help light the path forward.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal - Audio

06/10/2024

Physician Nuila explores what happens when someone in America cannot afford health care. Narrating his own work, he shares the stories of five uninsured patients—Stephen, Christian, Geronimo, Roxana, and Ebonie—at Houston's Ben Taub hospital, a "safety-net" hospital where access to insurance is not required for care. Though their medical needs differ greatly, they each struggle to access and afford lifesaving care. Nuila empathetically interweaves the patients' stories with information on the history, politics, and beliefs that built, sustained, and gutted the American health care system. Nuila provides a human-centric view of U.S. health care and urgently communicates the crisis faced by millions of people in the country. Although the book is rich with data and statistics, he employs layperson's terms to make the information more accessible. VERDICT Through these stories, listeners will learn not only about the monetary cost of medical care but the human cost as well. With facts and heart, this is a timely book that showcases the realities of a system in crisis.—Elyssa Everling

APRIL 2023 - AudioFile

Physician Ricardo Nuila brings the full extent of his passion for people to his narration of his experiences with American healthcare. A doctor on staff at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston, Nuila saw firsthand the destructive aspects of for-profit healthcare and how often those who were truly suffering would end up in his public hospital when it was almost too late. Examining the history and current issues of the American healthcare system, this audiobook is a tough listen. Nuila embraces his emotions as he tells personal stories of real-life cases. What results is a powerful audiobook that leaves the listener both fascinated and horrified by what is happening to those who cannot access healthcare in our first-world nation. V.B. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2023 - AudioFile

Physician Ricardo Nuila brings the full extent of his passion for people to his narration of his experiences with American healthcare. A doctor on staff at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston, Nuila saw firsthand the destructive aspects of for-profit healthcare and how often those who were truly suffering would end up in his public hospital when it was almost too late. Examining the history and current issues of the American healthcare system, this audiobook is a tough listen. Nuila embraces his emotions as he tells personal stories of real-life cases. What results is a powerful audiobook that leaves the listener both fascinated and horrified by what is happening to those who cannot access healthcare in our first-world nation. V.B. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940174913448
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	03/14/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	1,152,175

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