18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful, February 8, 2001
This review is from: Emergency!: True Stories From The Nation's ERs (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.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Non-fiction that reads like a page-turner thriller, May 17, 2000
This review is from: Emergency!: True Stories From The Nation's ERs (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
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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
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.
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