Customer Reviews

Medical Treason

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a great read for lay people and nurses alike! I couldn't put it down...both times that I read it. I am a licensed practical nurse and shared this book with many of my co-workers and they had the same response as I did. This would make a great movie! You can't go wrong with this book!

This book should NOT be out of print. It is by far the most intriguing,inspiring,frightening story of one woman's act of courage. This new RN could have walked away from a terrifying, life-threatening situation; but with perserverence and raw guts, she risks her life - for her integrity will allow her no other option. Absolutely the best Medical Nonfiction work I have read, and I have read them all. God bless this woman.

This is possibly the worst book ever written, on so many levels.

I have worked as an RN for over 10 years in critical care and open heart surgery units at 3 large urban hospitals. Never once have I seen any of the behavior such as the author describes - diverting narcotics and other drugs, organized illegal drug trafficking (with the Mafia, no less), working while under the influence of alcohol and other drugs...the absurdities mounted up page after page. And here's our plucky heroine, who's going to singlehandedly undo this entire criminal enterprise.

Had the book been well-written or showed any signs of having been proofread, it may have been slightly more credible. However, the prose and narrative were reminiscent of Perils of Pauline colliding with Nancy Drew; spelling, grammar, and typographical errors abounded; obviously unrealistic, predictable, and cliched dialogue and situations occurred on just about every page; and the disjointed and inaccurate descriptions of medical situations she encounters, along with the way names of equipment and drugs used in typical ICUs are misspelled and used in the wrong context make me wonder whether she ever set foot in an ICU.

As an example, she describes an incident in which her "boyfriend", a surgeon, deliberately prescribes a certain drug to a patient with a history of illegal drug use. The patient has just undergone surgery, and the surgeon intentionally uses the particular medicine named because he knows it will cause severe pain and withdrawal symptoms. She doesn't confront him about his behavior, and waits several hours before contacting a different surgeon to get an order for effective pain medicine. She then witnesses another RN substituting salt water for the second medicine so the other RN could steal the narcotic. This is written in an offhand, cavalier way which was horrifying. Thank goodness it was unbelievable, because if the author actually witnessed these occurrences and took no action, she should be prosecuted as well. Her "boyfriend" also used illegal drugs including cocaine openly and frequently, and encouraged her to do the same. It turns out at the end (don't read the rest if you want to keep up the "suspense")that he is actually an undercover cop. Please.

If this book were not described by the author in sanctimonious terms as being a factual account of real occurrences, it would not be such a serious matter. I know there are impaired physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, but the blatant criminal actions the author describes are ridiculous exaggerations and fabrications used to sell books. (I paid $0.01 for mine, but shouldn't have wasted money on the shipping and handling.)

This woman should be ashamed of herself for eroding the public's trust and creating even more fear in hospitalized people. She owes the entire nursing profession an apology. Those of us who have stuck it out in hospitals work very hard to relieve pain and care for our patients. The real treason is this so-called nurse trying to make money by grossly exaggerating and/or fabricating this book.

Joyce, I wonder if we're related. I'm in Hamilton Canada.

Larry larrypaikin@nas.net