Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Monday Mornings; Sanjay Gupta



Author:  Sanjay Gupta, MD
Publication Year: 2012
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Edition: audiobook 
Reader: Christian Rummel (very good)
Source: Library 
Date Completed: 6/2012
Rating: 4/5
Recommend: yes
 
Monday Mornings, is a fictionalized account of the personal and professional lives of five surgeons working at Chelsea General Hospital in Michigan.   Every Monday Morning at 6:00 the surgeons hold a weekly meeting (M&M - Morality and Morbidity) to discuss their professional mistakes and cases which lead to a patient's death.  No one else is allowed in their meeting, and no surgeon is excused from attending. At one time or another everyone gets their turn being center-stage among their peers. While some of the medical mistakes experienced by the surgeons are much less serious than others, the purpose of the open discussion among peers is to avoid similar issues in the future, by learning from each others mistakes.
 
I enjoyed this book, but I must say that the individual stories for the most part were not memorable.  The only story that lingered for me was one that involved the death of a young boy, a death that haunted the surgeon and nearly ended his career as well.  The book is a reminder that even the best of surgeons are not perfect and that medical mistakes can and do happen. Surgeons are not Gods, they are very real everyday people with personal issues and other things on their minds besides medicine.

The audio book reader, Christian Rummel, did a great job keeping the story lively enough to hold my interest, but this book might not be one that works for everyone. 

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is the chief medical correspondent for CNN. Gupta, is Chief of Neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital, and a member of the staff and faculty at the Emory University School of Medicine.

14 comments:

  1. I'm just not sure this one's for me. My mom's an RN - I wonder if she'd like it.

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  2. Great review Diane. I don't think it would be for me either, still hooked into those detective novels of mine ;)

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  3. I was surprised to see that this is a fiction book. When I saw Sanjay Gupta I figured it was going to be something "cnn"ish. :)

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  4. There's something appealing about it, but I think I prefer to not know all the possibilities of mistakes that happen or could happen.

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  5. I'm sure this had to be fiction (patient confidentiality, etc.), but sounds like part of a day at work to me... M&M conferences were very interesting.

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  6. I've seen this one around but I don't think it's for me especially right now with my papa going in for surgery in a few weeks. Maybe at another time it might be an ok listen for me.

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  7. I wondered about that one since we watch him on television!

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  8. I don't think I could read this or I would never see a doctor again! It's just too scary for me to imagine...I know...I'm a wimp!

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  9. I'd probably like it. I've always enjoyed novels with a medical setting. I'll have to look for the audio.

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  10. I'm not sure this one would be for me, but thanks for the thorough review!

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  11. I remember you recommended this to me. I'm very curious … and now I know why that name sounds so familiar.

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  12. I think a lot of people tend to forget that they're only human and make mistakes like everyone else. I wish the practice of suing over every little thing would end so that medicine can once again go back to being about healing and not making money. This book sounds tremendous!

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  13. I've been hunting for this one for some time over here. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

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  14. I bought this when it first came out because I love Sanjay but it got misplaced and I just rediscovered it a few days ago. I'm looking forward to it.

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