Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-ravaged Hospital

(Paperback, Main)

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In the tradition of the best writing on human behaviour and moral choices in the face of disaster, physician and reporter Sheri Fink reconstructs five days at New Orleans' Memorial Medical Center during Hurricane Katrina and draws the reader into the lives of those who struggled mightily to survive and to maintain life amidst 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 health professionals 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 our understanding of human nature in crisis.

Reviews

Extraordinary... A profound and unforgettable piece of journalism * Sunday Times *
The gripping and complex account of what happened in a New Orleans hospital in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. -- Geoff Dyer * New Statesman, Books of the Year *
Gripping... an illuminating investigation into the chaos that consumed a hospital during Hurricane Katrina... It reminds an international audience that literature can soar to artistic and intellectual heights undreamed of in other realms of media. * Independent *
[A] superb and remarkable book... Gripping * Mail on Sunday *
Riveting * Financial Times *
Masterfully and compassionately reported and as gripping as a thriller, the book poses reverberating questions about end-of-life care, race discrimination in medicine and how individuals and institutions break down during disasters. * New York Times *
In this astonishing blend of Pulitzer-Prize winning journalism and breathtaking narration, [Fink] chronicles the chaotic evacuation of the hospital and the agonizing ethical, physical and emotional quandaries facing Memorial nurses and doctors * Publishers Weekly, Starred Review *
Fink offers a stunning re-creation of the storm, its aftermath, and the investigation that followed... Both a breathtaking read and an essential book for understanding how people behave in times of crisis * Booklist, Starred Review *
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 * Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review *

Author Bio

Sheri Fink's reporting has won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Magazine Award, and the Overseas Press Club Lowell Thomas Award, among other journalism prizes. Fink, a former relief worker in disaster and conflict zones, received her MD and PhD from Stanford University. Her first book, War Hospital, is about medical professionals under siege during the genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina.