Emergency!: True Stories From The Nation's ERs [Mass Market Paperback]

Mark Brown (Author), Marc Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1997 | Series: Emergency! (Book 1)

* A suicide attempt by an "explosive" young man...
* The "hidden secrets" of a grotesquely obese patient...
* A couple whose amorous acrobatics get out of hand...
* A child brought back from the dead...

Bristling with the raw power of reality, this riveting book recounts true tales of life and death from the emergency rooms of America. Dr. Mark Brown asked over 15,000 fellow ER staffers to share their most unforgettable moments. Now, in their own voices, these real ER personnel bring us their most poignant, heartbreaking, laugh-out-loud hilarious, or shocking moments from the war zone of medicine. Discover the manic antics and incredible skills of ER doctors when a girlfriend's smooch nearly becomes a kiss of death...a farmer's severed foot hitches a ride to the hospital...a premature baby fights valiantly for life...and all of the unforgettable cases that come through the swinging doors of the emergency room.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

California emergency-room physician Brown here supplements tales of his own experiences with contributions from almost 100 other doctors and nurses in a volume that is by turn tense, poignant and amusing. ER personnel confront the entire range of human life from its beginning to its end, but hardest to bear, they find, are crib deaths and futile attempts to resuscitate child and teenage accident victims, not so much because the ERs are traumatized by mortality but because they must deal with the survivors. Among their least favorite patients are unwashed derelicts and near-psychotics high on drugs or liquor. Regarded as a minor annoyance are malingerers and hypochondriacs, who waste the resources of the ERs. There are funny stories here as well, like the one about the doctor who was misunderstood when he requested a stool from a patient, meaning a chair.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Emergency! presents life and death vignettes culled from emergency rooms across the country, as told by doctors and nurses in their own words. Alternately heartbreaking and hilarious, it reflects the full range of human behavior in both patients and staff, often under extreme duress. The editor, himself an ER physician, offers the reader brief glimpses into the controlled chaos that is the modern emergency room, in no particular order since, as he says, that's the way the patients come in. You never know what's coming through the door. As the popular TV series ER and Chicago Hope demonstrate, there is an appetite for the drama inherent in emergency rooms. Moving, satisfying, and sometimes disturbing, this book is highly recommended.
-?Anne C. Tomlin, Auburn Memorial Hosp. Lib., N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (September 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312962657
• ISBN-13: 978-0312962654
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.9 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #40 in Books > Medical Books > Allied Health Professions > Emergency Medical Services
  • #41 in Books > Medical Books > Medicine > Internal Medicine > Emergency

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful February 8, 2001

By J. Michael Stevenson

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This little orange book has a lot to recommend it: The stories are powerful, sometimes for the hope they give, sometimes for the horror they reveal, sometimes for both. The writing is clear and easy to read, and goes by quickly. Perhaps most impressively, the pace and rhythm are such that in spite of the peaks of emotion achieved, burnout is avoided, with humor and hope slipping in to defuse the horror just when as it becomes too great to contain, and horror making its appearance just when we are so uplifted that we should burst. These are the best of the stories collected from over 15,000 ER staff members, so if you want to know the extremes of life at your local Emergency Room, don't bother with TV's ER, read this book instead.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Non-fiction that reads like a page-turner thriller May 17, 2000

By Kimberly Borrowdale VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

EMERGENCY! is nonfiction that reads like a page-turner novel. This book contains over 100 vignettes written by emergency room doctors and nurses all over the country. Some are dark and sad, some are hopeful and uplifting, most are gruesome, and all are so compelling that you can't help but go on to the next. I don't think I have a particular penchant for morbidity, but I read this book in one afternoon.

There are stories of GOMERs (Get Out of My Emergency Room), elderly people barely hanging on to life who must be resusitated; patients with DSB (Drug-Seeking Behavior), who come in with an imagined complaint in hopes of getting narcotics; SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) babies; mothers having babies in cars; severed body parts; Code Blues; people with, er, complaints of a personal nature.

We meet a young man who needs a blood transfusion thanks to a stab wound, but won't get one because he carries a card in his wallet that states he's a Jehovah's Witness. Gastroenterologists try out their new toy; interns try to intubate patients; lab techs faint in patients' laps; everyone works long hours.

EMERGENCY! brings us straight into the ER, where we know the stress of trying to keep patients alive, and the anguish of family, friends, and staff left behind when it can't be done. You will cry, you will laugh, you will wonder why you are reading this book--but once you've started it, read it you will.

Kimberly Borrowdale, Under the Covers Book Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly moving slice of life from a medical perspective. April 23, 1998

By Jean McKenzie

Format:Hardcover

I love a book that brings home the drama of daily life in a way that makes you laugh and makes you cry. This book of short stories from the nations's emergency rooms covers everything from everyday mishaps to monumental tragedies; from the guy next door, to human monsters. Perhaps before the advent of the TV show, it may have seemed a bit graphic. But now that we all know how to perform our own kidney transplants, these anecdotes seem fairly tame. Some readers may not appreciate the author's familiarity with various bodily orifices and the unusual things that some people have used them for, so the book may not be OK for kids. My own kids who are in their early teens, and undisturbed by the fact that there's more to us than our fingers and toes, really enjoyed the book and were quite moved by some of the stories. So were many friends. A perfect "people-read." A great gift.