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

Ricardo Nuila served as the interviewer when Abraham Verghese recently visited Houston, and I was reminded, again, of this book. So I got a copy and I just finished it today.

The People's Hospital is Ben Taub, and the stories Nuila tells are those of five uninsured sick people in Houston who find their way to Ben Taub. The stories are deeply moving and disturbing. That people would be allowed to suffer extreme pain, some for many years, without relief, and all because the people did not have health insurance...it's shocking to find this is the case for people in our very, very affluent America.

Nuila is a doctor but he is also a writer, and the result is that he writes and cares for his patients both knowledgeably and compassionately. He takes on the whole healthcare system itself and offers thoughtful ideas for improving the entire system.