Customer Reviews

Medical Error (Prescription for Trouble, Book 2)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

Medical Error is written in an action-packed, medical perspective that will keep readers thoroughly intrigued, as it all intertwines around identity theft .

Eric Hatley's last day started out normal for a UPS driver. However, he ended up in the crossfire of gang warfare and wound up in Parkland Hospital OR. Life for Dr. Anna McIntyre changed that day due to a medical records mix-up on the patient.

Shortly thereafter, the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) was knocking on her door for over-prescribing Vicodin through excessive prescriptions, with high numbers of pills and refills, which she states are forged prescriptions. A day later, the Dallas Police, Investigators Green and Dowling, show up to prove she was behind the excessive number of prescriptions floating throughout the neighborhood-a criminal trying to make a bust in the market.

Then Anna finds someone has maxed-out her credit cards and were getting into her banking account. On top all that off, she gets a medical report stating she is HIV positive, as her insurance information was being used by someone else, like Eric Hatley's case. Mix all these circumstances with romance, muggings, and attempted murders, and you are hooked!

My first thoughts about Medical Error had to do with identity theft that we hear so much about these days. How to be careful to secure our identity, and then what to do once it is breached. Anna found out the hard way that she was way more careless than she realized, and way too impulsive to solve the problem.

I'm not sure which was more intriguing though, the medical issues or the identity theft. Both kept me riveted as circumstances changed almost daily, as new information was forthcoming. Only problem was, they didn't know the source of the issues.

I love medical reads, and Dr. Mabry was definitely on top of the medical school/hospital issues at hand, from medial malpractice, lawsuits, suspensions, etc. Had me checking up some new terms so I knew what he was referring to, but that made it all that much more interesting for me-learned new information.

My only minor complaint is the continuous clichés, i.e, `like fish to water, air to a bird, like a dog with a bone,' etc., yet some of the clichés turned out to be some great word pictures!

If you love medicine and a great mystery, Dr. Mabry's book, Medical Error, is one you need to read! You won't be disappointed with the twists and turns in the plot up to the very last chapter. Was it a co-worker, prior patient, the DEA personnel, the police, or even possibly Nick that was perpetrating all this? You'll have to read it to find out! My lips are sealed.

This book was provided free from Susan at The Suspense Zone for my review.

I am so glad that Richard Mabry has hung up his stethoscope and picked up his pen, transitioning from physician to novelist. I thoroughly enjoyed his first book, Code Blue, and eagerly anticipated receiving this one. I was not disappointed. It grabbed me from the first few sentences and kept me reading as quickly as I could. In fact, I eventually stayed up waaaay too late to finish it! The story was a great combination of medical drama, mystery & suspense, struggling faith, and a shade of romance. The ending was completely unexpected; I had pegged someone completely different for the "bad guy." I can't wait until Diagnosis Death is released!

Thanks to Abingdon Press for providing a copy of this book for review.

As you know, if you read my review of Code Blue, I'm already a huge fan of Dr. Mabry's work. His stories have lots of elements that make a mystery/thriller a "keeper", IMO -- fast-paced action; intriguing twists that keep me guessing 'til almost the very end; just enough romance to make me happy; characters I can relate to, even though we may not have lots in common; plus, I would love to see Dr. Mabry's books become a movie, or even a TV series. In fact, while reading Medical Error, one of my new favorite TV shows came to mind -- Rizzoli and Isles -- they both have medical and criminal elements that keep me entranced to the very end. I've already made room for his newest release on my "keeper" shelf!

Dr. Anna McIntyre's life takes a devastating turn when she gets suspended from her job at Parkland Hospital, pending an investigation into why she has been prescribing outlandish doses of very potent painkillers to some of her patients. Anna knows she is innocent, and sets out to prove just that, instead of sitting home doing nothing while waiting to return to work.

Anna found out the same day, when trying to pay for her groceries, that her identity had been stolen! Now she's trying to figure out what it's gonna take to straighten out the annoying issues caused by this, on top of everything else.

And if that's not enough, she's also juggling the attention of two very different men. One is a co-worker, Dr. Nick Valentine, who is currently working as a Pathologist, performing autopsies on postmortem patients. The other is, Ross Donovan, Anna's lawyer, who is working on both of her cases -- identity theft and proving that she didn't write the bogus prescriptions. Mr. Donovan is a recovering alcoholic who is trying to get his business back up and running. Needless to say, Nick is not too happy about Anna spending time with Ross, even though it's in a purely professional capacity.........right? Well, you'll just have to get your own copy of Dr. Mabry's book to find out which one Anna chooses. :)

Just to whet your appetite -- book 3, Diagnosis Death, releases in April 2011 and it sounds like another excellent story. Only 7 months to go!

If you're one of those people who can handle errors in their book and deal with grace, by all means give this book a chance. I am not one of those whom can handle spelling and typographical errors, it drives me insane. In this book I reported, just now, to Amazon Customer Support at least 51 unique typos and that wasn't all of them but the ones that specifically drove me up the wall. There's even an error in the Product Description: 'her name on it.Her allies'

Ok, enough about the typos. The book itself, well the beginning was drawn out too much and the ending it seemed like it was rushed. Like you're on a deadline and you have to have the book finished by the end of the week? I was lucky enough to have received the book for free, but honestly I would not have paid the current price for the book.

This book had me spending more time mentally editing than following the shaky plot. It wheezed along by gasps to an abrupt and ham-handed ending. There was a small amount of suspense in it, interposed between highly detailed medical procedures (except for the first one, entirely irrelevant to the plot), romance as sterile as any operating room, and gratuitous religious interludes which detracted from the story. From their undifferentiated personalities, the three main characters might all have been the same person, who seemed to be seriously strung out on coffee. The one identified as female, a competent surgeon, seemed to need constant rescuing by the males. At one point she has total amnesia, but on the next page it is completely gone, with no explanation for her recovery. Kurt Vonnegut said everything in a novel must move the story along; most of the stuff in this book is a complete digression. If the author had focused and built his story on the identity theft and stolen prescription pads, this could have been a great read. Unfortunately the real Medical Error is this book. Even though it's free, don't clutter up your Kindle.

One of Dr. Anna McIntyre's patients dies on the operating table. She's suspended and investigated for narcotics trafficking because prescriptions with her signature are turning up all over Dallas. Then Anna's credit cards are declined. Her professional and personal lives collide when she receives a lab report saying she tested positive for a deadly disease.

Dr. Nick Valentine has lost his faith in God, but not in himself, not in medicine, and not in beautiful Anna McIntyre. He helps Anna figure out what went wrong in the operating room and hopes to help her put her personal life back together as well.

Ross Donovan is a recovering alcoholic and the attorney who defends Anna against the charges of narcotics trafficking, negligence, and even murder. Ross is tempted by alcohol and Anna's green eyes. Can he resist them both?

Medical Error is the sophomore fiction novel from Dr. Richard Mabry, a retired physician and medical school professor. Dr. Mabry knows his setting with an intimacy that shines through on every page. Medical Error is a well-written and well-plotted medical suspense. The only error would be to not add it your Must Read list.

I got this book as a free download for my Kindle. Sometimes the free downloads are hit or miss. I think this one was pretty much a hit. I am a fan of medial thrillers such as Robin Cook and Michael Palmer. This was not quite as good as these authors, but overall very good. I would definitely read this author again. In my opinion, the Christian references were very subtle and I would not think it is enough to be a turn off or a distraction to those who don't like that sort of thing. I would not classify this as Christian fiction by any means. Overall, a good book.

This is no Robin Cook novel, but I liked the medical mystery, although the book ultimately deals more with the character's problems with identity theft and her interpersonal relationships. I would have enjoyed a greater portion of the book being devoted to the medical mystery.

There is a nice neat happy ending. The story is lightweight and the characters are just a bit transparent but if you need distraction and enjoy this particular genre it's a fast read. I finished the novel in one night.

This is a book in the Christian Fiction genre though and I think should be reclassified as such.

This could have been so much better... The plot is ok, although it is clumsily constructed in some parts and the finish is quite abrupt, especially when compared to the long ramblings at various stages of the book. It is one of those books that holds your attention, but only just - in part, I kept reading to see if it got any better. I also found the constant God references way too much and quite cheesy, such as ending a chapter with the old 'God moves in mysterious ways'... Puh-lease. I can see why some reviewers like it - especially if you have a medico background or interest, but for most of us, this book will see you finish it, but you'll probably be left feeling the same as me - it could have been...

It is often hard today to find a good mystery book that doesn't overwhelm with bad language, unsolicited sexual innuendo, and gore, so I am very choosy about what I read. I have found Dr. Mabry's books to be intriguing and entertaining, while still clean and pure. As in all his books of this series that I have read so far, he had me guessing who the culprit was right up to the end of the book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading these first 3 books of the Prescription for Trouble Series, and am looking forward to installment number 4 becoming available.