Standard of Care: A Novel [Paperback]

David Kerns (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2007

A tale of ethical crisis and redemption, Standard of Care is one doctor's tumultuous journey as a senior executive in America's largest and most predatory hospital corporation. Weary of the tedium and diminishing returns of twenty-five years of private practice, Dr. Daniel Fazen becomes the new senior medical executive, the guardian of quality patient care, at Walnut Creek Memorial, his long-cherished community hospital. Without warning, eleven months later, Memorial is acquired by the Olympia Healthcare Corporation, the largest and, he knows, the most ruthless for-profit hospital conglomerate in America. At age fifty-five, with a taste for the good life and years of tuition ahead for his kids, Dan ponders a six figure incentive. With reservations-and rationalizations-he stays with Olympia. And so begins a downhill debacle...

Editorial Reviews

Review

"David Kerns' chilling but ultimately redemptive first novel dramatizes our crisis in health care with empathy and aplomb." -- JAMES MCMANUS, author of Positively Fifth Street and Physical: An American Checkup

"No physician-as-gumshoe potboiler, this is a smart, powerful and entertaining novel about a front-page crisis in American society." -- OSCAR LONDON, M.D., author of From Voodoo To Viagra and Kill As Few Patient As Possible

"Standard of Care is a medical novel of conscience and consciousness." -- TOM CASEY, author of Human Error and Strangers' Gate

From the Author

Standard of Care is a medical drama of conscience, an exploration of the collision of the traditional healing values of doctors and nurses with the bottom-line demands of competition and survival in the era of corporate health care in America. As a pediatrician, medical professor, and long-time hospital administrator, I've applied my insider's knowledge and experience--along with a hefty helping of literary audacity--to write this story. Set in present-day Northern California, the novel traces the ethical journey of senior medical executive Dr. Daniel Fazen through his personal and professional struggle with the Olympia Healthcare Corporation, America's largest and most predatory for-profit hospital conglomerate. The specifics are fiction, but they are embedded in the clinical, legal, regulatory and business realities of American hospitals today. While the spine of the novel mainly inhabits hospital rooms, executive suites and Silicon Valley board rooms, there are also excursions to Paris, to Yosemite Valley, and to the protagonist's childhood in 1950's Chicago. There are many moments that are, I believe, thrilling, but Standard of Care is not a genre medical thriller, where doctor turns supersleuth to solve a murder or avert an epidemic. It is, rather, one man's journey of conscience in an expanding mega-industry pitting the health and lives of patients against profit. My highest hope is that the novel will do what fiction is supposed to do--immerse the reader in a compelling human story--and at the same time be provocative and educational about a growing crisis in our country.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 229 pages
• Publisher: Sentient Publications (March 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159181054X
• ISBN-13: 978-1591810544
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #582,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Kerns is Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine, the former Chairman of Pediatrics and Chief Medical Officer of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, CA, and an internationally recognized expert in the medical care of abused children. He is the author of numerous medical research articles, essays and book chapters, and co-author of a groundbreaking CD-ROM on the medical diagnosis of child sexual abuse.

His first novel, STANDARD OF CARE (Sentient Publications, 2007), is available now. His novel-in-progress, FORTNIGHT ON MAXWELL STREET, will be completed in 2012.

A native Chicagoan, Kerns counts among his accomplishments a happy family, a career-long commitment to the well-being of children, respectable mastery of the bluegrass banjo, and survival, so far, in the arena of narrative prose. He lives in Napa, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First Reader, April 3, 2007

By 

First Reader (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Standard of Care: A Novel (Paperback)

David Kerns has written a serious novel with complex characters, interesting plot twists and humor. Health care in America is an important contemporary issue . This book gives an inside look at the way corporations influence the bottom line "standard of care" for us all.

It is informative , riveting and entertaining, a difficult balance for a first time author to pull off. Kerns does it brilliantly. I can't wait for his next book!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Medical Mess!, June 10, 2007

By 

Philip A. Okun - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Standard of Care: A Novel (Paperback)

Dr. Kerns does an excellent job of merging the lives of two good people and the medical crisis this country faces today. Dr. Fazen (main character) is faced with tough temptations and tough choices. It is refreshing to read a book that deals with more than fictional psychotics, mass murderers and terrorists. The issues this book deals with are real and more frightening than any murder novel. I hope Dr. Kerns decides to write more and soon!! Before you spend $20.00 on the next Patterson rehash read this book. I think Dr. Kerns should give some insights as to how he feels we can fix the mess.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fictional account with real-world feel, August 5, 2007

By 

John Viviano - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Standard of Care: A Novel (Paperback)

Full disclosure: I have the good fortune of knowing Dr. Kerns both personally and professionally. He is an amazing, talented and inspiring character --- and he has written a remarkable first novel.

I recently finished reading Jerome Groopman's excellent non-fiction "How Doctors Think". Groopman discusses medical errors often referencing the effects of the medical establishment. In "Standard of Care" Kerns personalizes that discussion through the conflicts of Dr. Dan Fazen. Faced with the very real-world challenge of being the physician he wants to be and the physician he is expected to be, Fazen reaches deep into himself and deep into his own past to find answers.

From the artfully crafted prologue to the powerful conclusion, this book will grip you. With characters you can care about, dialog that flows naturally, and some of the most important ethical questions of our times in the balance, you will not want to put this book down.

I thoroughly enjoyed it (twice) and highly recommend it.