Customer Reviews

Standard of Care: A Novel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

Set on the stage of what seems to be a fairly typical large medical establishment, and against the backdrop of our country's deeply troubled and flawed healthcare system, David Kerns shares with us the story of Dan Fazen, a man who is caught between the world of corporate greed and doing what is right and honorable.

This is an inspiring story of one man's ethical crisis and ultimately his transformation.

It's about how one person, with ordinary concerns that many of us can relate to - navigates between what he believes in and the intense pressures he feels from a singled minded for-profit-over-all-else corporation.

It is my hope that people will buy and read this great book.

Whether real or fiction, stories about people having the courage to live lives of real integrity are always worthy of our attention.

I also hope that this book draws more attention to our country's broken system of healthcare. Clearly we need to raise our standards dramatically. The way our so-called healing institutions are run these days is as big a problem, as any threat of terrorism.

David Kerns' novel rips the cover of respectability off of the medical-industrial complex and reveals its sordid underbelly in this cautionary tale. Standard of Care is disturbing and inspiring; horrifying and compelling; and ultimately a riviting and informative story. It will forever change your view of the American health care system and remind you that true heroes still exist.

If you are concerned about the state of the U.S. healthcare system, this book is for you. We are the richest country in the world, but one third of us are uninsured or under-insured, leading to denial of care and many preventable deaths. That's just not right. Standard of Care is a fast read with engaging characters involved in a medical quagmire--painfully familiar to many of us--which sucks you right in. Written by an acclaimed doctor, it helped me understand the myriad conflicts of interest between patients, their primary care physicians, the health insurance companies, and hospital corporations. I felt like I was in the shoes of the hospital executive who must choose between profit and optimal patient care. This "inside look" at our broken healthcare system left me more committed than ever to vote for presidential and state candidates who advocate fundamental health care reform. Surprisingly, after reading Standard of Care, I felt like one person really can make a difference to help solve this crisis. A book for our times.

From mourning the tragedy of little Kerry Jameson, a child whose life as we know it was cut short by medical error/understaffing, to identifying with the ethical dilemma of finances versus care faced by Dr. Dan Fazen, "Standard of Care" brings to life in fiction, the real-life circumstances faced daily in todays hospitals. This book would be enough as a can't-put-it-down read that reaches to the core of human values, and reminds us that right can prevail through the compassion of a single individual, but it goes much further.

Reading this book, one can envision a country where the medical system works! "Standard of Care" should be read and re-read by anyone who hopes to make a difference in the health care of Americans. Though I longed for a sequel the moment I finished the book, Dr. Kerns has a gift to put forth the solutions that could repair our ailing health care system. I hope he pens it!

I enjoyed this book tremendously and had to ration myself so I didn't gobble it up in one sitting! As I completed it last evening, I had two distinct experiences: As a critical event began to unfold, I had an adrenaline rush as though it were happening to me! And when a disclosure comes that explains one thread of the story, I got a lump in my throat. It was one of those situations where I had to remind myself it was a fictional story yet my physical reactions were quite real. David, thank you for a lovely reading experience.

I thought the premise of this story was wonderful! A doctor who has grown tired of being a practitioner decides to try to try out the administrative part of the hospital and make a difference in a different way than he's used to. Well He learns it is difficult enough to hold onto to his personal morals let alone rub some of his morality off on others. And rather than making some great change (or any change) he is pushed around by the corporate titans he is working for. He never finds a clever way to make a difference, he just kind of gets walked on throughout the book. I don't want to reveal too much for those who are interested in reading this book but my title of this review says my opinion "Anticlimactic much?"

Excellent, fast-paced, thought-provoking novel. Dr. Kerns provides an insider's look into the state of our healthcare via a very personable set of characters and a story that kept me entertained cover to cover.