Customer Reviews

Wall of Silence: The Untold Story of the Medical Mistakes That Kill and Injure Millions of Americans

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The Wall of Silence by Rosemary Gibson, is a MUST READ for all comsumers. I say all comsumers because all of us are subject to being the receipent of health care in our life time. As a retired Registered Nurse and also twice a victim of medical negligence, I encourage everyone to read this book of great information about how the medical system functions and how you can protect yourself and your family. Ms. Gibson cites enough examples of the horrendous things which can happen to any of us for the reader to understand how we must all change our "looking to the Gods in White" to being our own advocate for ourselves and our families. With 100,000 people dying every year from medical negligence, it is time we all scream at the top of our lungs to our legislators to make safe health care a number one prioity. Buy your own copy and one for a friend and don't re-sell them. Keep your copy for frequent reference.

High time a book like this was written putting a human face on the crisis of medical error running rampant in this country. It's time the public realizes what is happening and vocalizes a well-deserved and long-overdue sense of outrage!
Were any other industry guilty of killing the same amount of people per year -- conservative estimates put it at 98,000 per annum; which is the equivalent of one jumbo jet airliner crashing each day, every day throughout the year, year after year, unchecked -- we'd have Congressional inquiries and public demands for accountability and safety, in the same way we demand it of the aviation and chemical process industries.
The healthcare delivery industry touches every person's life and demands no less scutiny and accountability. We need national standards for safety, recognized protocols for handling accidents and 'near misses,' root cause analysis of medical-induced deaths and disabilities and plans for continuous improvement by providers. Most importantly, as this book reveals, we need the system to weed out bad doctors and recognize those who are providing excellent, commited service to the public.
This book puts a face on this pervasive epidemic -- takes the deaths and injuries out of front page, "it will never happen to me" sensationalism and puts it squarely in our own doctors' offices and community hospitals where a broken system continues to harm us and our loved ones without any clamor for improvement.
This book is a wake-up call for reform. I hope it has the same impact on the quality of medical care in this country as "Silent Spring" had on improving the health of our planet. Buy this book and read it today! Then get your Congressman/woman on the phone and demand full disclosure and accountability!

If you want to know the truth about the medical system and the enormous number of errors and cover-ups within that system, read this book. Well-researched with many shocking and heart-breaking case studies, the book provides answers as well as showing the problems. Thank goodness someone had the courage to buck the system and break down the Wall of Silence for all of us.

Despite the enormous costs of healthcare in the US, the system is percieved by many as being unresponsive to the needs of patients. Rather than being at the center of peoples concerns, patients wait in line at the whim of insurance companies, doctors, HMOs etc. Mistakes occur more frequently than one would expect, and all too frequently denial is the only remedy offered. The authors of this book by taking a number of case studies and speaking to patients and health care providers provide a very compelling analysis of the problem. No one party is singled out for undue criticism. Rather, the book explains how weaknesses in the design of the system result in poor performance across the spectrum. This book is definitely recommended for anyone who feels let down by the healthcare system.

This is truly an enlightening book. I was amazed to find how frequently errors occur. Many, if not most, could easily be avoided if simple precautions were taken. It is really sad that we don't demand more from our medical facilities and government in this area. We as consumers/patients are denied information that would perhaps change our decisions regarding the doctors we choose and the facilities we use. No one is held accountable when mistakes happen. This kind of policy makes it almost impossible for real change to happen in healthcare. I hope this book inspires people to take issue with the problems and lobby for change.

This book also gives great advice on what to do to prevent medical errors from happening to you or a loved one.

This book opens your eyes to the importance of being your own advocate for your health care. Do not consider Doctors as the GODS they like to think they are. They make mistakes that take lives or leave permanent damage. This does not mean all doctors. But if insurance companies were not run by doctors the bad doctors would have been run off a long time ago and the good doctors insurance rates would not be high. This book tells it all and should be read by everyone who might someday need the the care of the medical profession.

This book is a well researched, well written must read for all Americans. The authors share their personal story as well as the stories of others who have suffered at the hands of a careless physician. While the stories will break your heart, they may also save your life, or the life of someone you love. While none of us want to believe that those we trust with our bodies and our lives would neglect a sacred trust, the fact is it is happening all too often. This book delivers the message without hype, fear or hysteria. Read it, share it and take it with you.

If even one person dies, that is one too many. But it is not just one, not even 10 or 100 patients who are maimed and dying from health care mistakes. As Gibson and Singh reveal, the numbers are much much higher than that. And anyone of them could be you or your loved ones. Medical errors do not discriminate. Everyone is vulnerable even doctors themselves as patients.

Yes, to error is human but that really doesn't appear to be the problem here. A great deal of the problem appears to be that a percentage of health care providers make multiple errors because no one stops them. According to Grayson and Singh many nurses do not recommend their place of employment to their family and friends.

When people are not held accountable for their actions and the consequences of those actions everyone is endangered. Taking or being forced to take personal responsiblity for your actions and their consequences plays a large part in how many mistakes you make.

I would think it would be every irresponsible health care provider's nightmare to literally have to personally experience everything that they inflict on their patients.

Since health care providers are safe from the magic wishing wand, the next best thing is to guard against such mistakes and be public with the information. It is a matter of ethics. When you are ten and don't want to "rat out" a buddy it is rarely life or death. But health care providers are not ten anymore and it is their ethical obligation to put the safety their patients or potential patients first. Please read this book and tell others about it. All of our lives depend on it.

If you can only choose one book, WALL OF SILENCE must be it. Gibson and Singh put a human face on the desperate and too often deadly state of medical care in America. This book truly lets the cat out of the medical bag. A wall of silence has protected a lucrative system, while killing more Americans than all wars and most diseases. The authors expose the enormous extent of the problem, yet they offer real solutions and praise those who couragously take responsibility for change. It's time to talk openly about medical mistakes. Thanks to Gisbon and Singh, the conversation has begun.

What separates Wall of Silence by Gibson and Singh from other books on this topic is the refreshing and bold truth telling contained within it's human stories of pain, injustice and frustration. Not only did the authors shoulder the risks and courage requisite for listening to and then writing about the human face, consequences and devastation of needless medical error tragedies, but they also ferreted out and exposed the ugly truths, told by medical providers themselves, about how the pervasive greed, secrecy and code of silence in the healthcare industry works to bury medical mistakes through a host of means; including blackballing and burying the careers of the competent and ethical medical providers who dare to tell the truth and who place patients above profits. As a medical provider, I can find no better way to encapsulate the meaning and hope of this treatise than through those words offered by the Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. This book is, as she states, 'A call to arms for families who have had loved ones disabled or die in the pursuit of medical treatment.' And, I can only hope that it could also catalyze a 'Call to Arms' for medical providers who wish to return medicine and healthcare to the patient oriented, compassionate, ethical and hippocratic way of practice.