Death Care Books

This is an outstanding personal memoir of the experiences of a combat surgeon during World War II. It was originally published in 1989 under the title "The Other Side of Time." I hope that this rereleased version achieves even greater recognition and acclaim than the original edition.

Brendan Phibbs has not compiled an amusing series of ribald war stories. If you are looking for something on the order of "M*A*S*H," you will be disappointed. Phibbs writes well and earnestly about what he witnessed as the American army pressed its way across occupied Europe. Given the poorly designed equipment, including inferior tanks, supplied to the American forces, it seems a minor miracle that the Allies succeeded in beating back the Nazis.

The memoir clearly chronicles the barbarism and cruelty that the author saw. It was a bloody, brutal and poorly managed affair. Whatever acts of heroism took place were a credit to the infantry soldiers doing a difficult job under impossible circumstances.

This book should be on the reading list of any college student fulfilling a liberal arts area requirement for history. Some wars are necessary despite what the peace activists chant and nothing brought this home to me more directly than when Phibbs describes conditions at a liberated concentration camp.

The survivors were emaciated skeletons, many of whom were dying of typhus, a medieval disease long thought to be eradicated in environments where basic sanitation prevailed. Lacking proper food to nourish the weakened prisoners who needed to regain their strength before eating solid nourishment, Phibbs improvises by using units of plasma to make a blood soup which the inmates could digest before succumbing to starvation.

Phibbs, who became a heart specialist when he returned to the States, writes concisely and without undue sentiment. He must have a received a superb education because he possesses a keen sense of history dating back to antiquity. While the book has some philosophical observations made by the doctor some forty plus years after the Battle of the Ardennes, but I do not find his contemporary musings to be a distraction.

I am grateful that a friend saw fit to lend his copy of the book to me when it was first published in a limited edition. It deserves a wide audience.

I have known Dr Phibbs for decades; he was one of my mentors in medical school and in my residency. He continues to practice cardiovascular diseases full-time, despite being 85 years old.

Many years ago, when Brendan first told me he was publishing a war memoir, I rolled my eyes: I had heard so many veterans make similar claims that I didn't believe it. I was quite amazed when I found a copy of his (then new) book in a local bookstore. Reading it, I knew immediately that this was Brendan; word for unvarnished word and clearly not the product of ghostwriting or extensive editorial reworking.

Several years later, after I left the University of Arizona and was faculty at the University of Washington Medical School, I invited Brendan to give a lecture to the housestaff about electrocardiograms, that being a favorite topic of his and one on which he is an expert. To my surprise, Brendan closed the lecture with a short talk on the responsibility of physicians to humanity in general and their own patients, in particular. He showed some slides he took during the war, including those from Dachau, the liberation of which he describes in his book. The gasps were audible and the silence was palpable. It was an unforgetable moment.

Later, Brendan gave a lecture at a restaurant sponsored by a drug company. Brendan has a long and consistent record of refusing funds from these companies and did so this time, too. In contradistinction to every other such lecture I've attended, the luminaries of the UW cardiology faculty turned out for this talk en masse: a fitting tribute to a great man.

Anyhow, this is a fine book by a fine human being. It's worth reading and remembering.

If James Joyce had lived in a different time, and been a young soldier in WWII, this is the memoir he might have written.

The style takes some getting used to, but it is worth it. Dr. Phibbs reaches out with the style to grab your mind and show you some of the absurdity and horror and insanity that he saw. And yet, there is humor, irreverance, and even some reminders of the democracy of the men on the line. We, who were not there, cannot fully "get it", but Phibbs lays a bass line down that picks us in our soul-strings and makes us think that maybe we do understand. Perhapse on a genetic level, given our species old love of violence, but there none the less.

This is one of the best war memoirs I have ever read. Of any war. No matter what you think about war and volunteer vs. reluctant soldier, you should read this.

The beginning of the book is compelling. It starts with a large German woman spitting on the body of a dead American soldier. One of the medics chases after her with a rolled up stretcher. Germans peering out from windows laugh when he hits her in the bottom. I roared as I read that.

The author hates authority, though he is a major in the Medical Corps. He loathes the rear echelon brass. He heaps scorn upon General Patton in particular. He writes that General Truscott made Patton back down in meetings. How does the author know that? Was he a witness?

That is the weakness of the book. It is half memoir, half philosophy. Nevertheless, it is compelling reading.

It certainly seems like I'm in the minority on this one, but I did not like this book at all. In fact, I still have not finished it, and may not. Its called a "Memoir of Life...", but I'd call it "My Philosophical Meanderings".

I've read a number of personal accounts of the war from a rifleman's perspective and really looked forward to hearing how a doctor performed under the rigors of combat, making life and death decisions and treating the wounded. There was almost none of this, probably less than 5% of the book.

So if you are looking for a first hand account of the combat experiences of a front line doctor and how he performed his duties, this is not the book for you.

Christine Longackers book was the first bbok on deatha nd dying I read when I was looking for help to better care for my patients. It was clear, that she spoke from personal experience and the way she offered her means comes from compassion and love for those who dealt with death on both sides of the bed.
I am deeply thankful to her

A book on how one can deal with death, for all kinds of people

My sister just died of cancer and spent her last 2 months in hospice care. This book served as my guidebook through the process, taught me how to let my sister go with peace and love and left me in a better state of mind afterwards. It seemed that each time I picked it up, I was at the exact chapter I needed at the time. The chapter where she writes from the viewpoint of the dying person is worth the cost of the book alone! It gave me so much insight into what my sister must be going through and helped to frame all of the rest of my time with her. Longaker's Tibetan Buddhist writing can be heavy going, but she makes her concepts applicable to many different faiths and uses many examples from these faiths throughout the book. The chapter on bereavement is also excellent, offering practical suggestsions based on her own experience (interesting that she uses that term, based on its genesis from the word "bereft," instead of "mourning"). For anyone who has to deal with someone who has faced a long-term disease which erodes the body, her touching poem "You Can Grow Less Beautiful" is so meaningful. In addition to helping readers to deal with the practical aspects of dealing with a loved one's death, she also focuses on how each of us can prepare every day for our own deaths (through meditation and letting go); it will probably take another reading for me to be able to focus on this area, but I look forward to doing so.

Who are the people suffering the most? The dying. And you and I will die. Our loved ones will die. And as Christine so brillantly points out, we still have a connection after our loved one's death. My cousin Pat is a virtual saint. She works with people who are dying. She is both a research scientist and a nurse. She has learned to put up with what we pour out when we are dying. Remember a time when you lost something that you very much wanted? The anger? Well, imagine the atomic bomb of rage that goes off when someone is apparently losing everything? I know! The body just drops off and the soul lives on. But the delusion of dying IS the same as death. Do you see what I mean? Unless we obtain a very advanced degree of spiritual understanding, you and I will feel that we are dying. We could also define death as the dropping off of the body. But since we so incredibly identify with our bodies, to us, when the body is dying - we are dying.

So let's take an agnostic's viewpoint on death. I think that is fair. As an agnostic, we can ask, "Is there life after death?" And the answer for an agnostic must be "I don't know". If you have read or studied "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" by Sogyal Rinpoch (Longaker's teacher) you will have covered your bases, so to speak. And that and this book will help you with the dying, the dead, and the people who have died a long time ago. So it's a very pragmatic thing to do. Study what we know about death before it springs on us. Let us cover the book briefly.

PART 1: THE EXPERIENCE OF LIVING AND DYING

This is a basic run-down about death. Don't worry. It's easy reading and gives us our first glmpse of what is essential. First, a good life (that leaves out me!) Secondly, that the thought at death is very important.

PART 2: THE FOUR TASKS OF LIVING AND DYING This is the main part of the book. This is the deep existentential part of the book. As ET said, "Be Good." But it's better for ET to have said, "Be good, especially when you are dying." Longaker gives you a tour through the process (see "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" which goes through this more extensively).

PART 3: Advice for Caregivers, Parents, and Survivors

This part is especially good for the person who has just had a loved one pass away.

EPILOGUE

Just that.

Now someone may have a loved one who just died or who is dying. The question may arise, "What can I do?" Order this book and the one I referred to just recently. But I'll give you something now until your books arrive. Be natural. Be you. Don't playact. You might even tell the person (calmly) that you're pissed off because they are dying! Isn't that what you would want me to do? Just don't start yelling. Okay? After the person has left their body, pray for them. For most of us, the Bible is the best. Longaker might disagree with me. Whatever they were brought up with. Torah, Koran, whatever. If they are a firm athiest, read them Bertrand Russel. No. Still do the Bible because they will see some action soon. THE HEARING GOES THE LAST. So don't be an idiot and start blabbing how gooey they look. I do know that the most important thing is for them to pray after they get out of the body. Be a chum. But not because the are DYING. But imagine your friend going down a deep dark tunnel alone? Read the books. Or at least this one. It's not really not my cup of tea. BUY THE BOOK. I like whiskey and women. Good Luck.

This book both inspired me and annoyed me. Some of its contents brought tears to my eyes, partly due to realising that my input into a dear friend's final year was more valuable than I had believed at the time.

The best thing about this book is Christine Longaker's ability to tell her own and others' stories about the highs and lows of the journey toward death. It is very honest about the pitfalls of having unrealistic expectations of ourselves and others when faced with mortality. The book is a useful guide for people of any cultural or religious background, despite the author's Buddhist beliefs.

The aspect of the book that frustrated me was the too-frequent repetition of some of the concepts set out in the book. This may be a reflection of the author's Buddhist background, as repetition is often used in Buddhist teachings to reinforce important points. This is only a minor gripe, as I too have Buddhist beliefs and have bought the book anyway, after having read a library copy.

Overall this is a compassionate and realistic overview of a spiritual approach to death and dying that is well worth the outlay. May we all have the determination to live well so that we can create the conditions to die well, which is so important both for us and for those who love us!

I found and purchased this book for my daughter in desperation, and to help myself, and I purchased more for everyone around us so that we could refer to it to help ourselves understand what we were experiencing in the loss of her daughter, my granddaughter. How could she and I understand all the horrendous emotions we were enduring, what was happening to us, in the face of overwhelming grief that we were suffering, and this book was of great help to us, it guided us through our emotions, so that we could identify what we were feeling. How could anyone be negative about this book I will never understand! This book was our guide and companion in our desperation. We knew where we were in the journey of grief and what to expect for all the months to follow. This book was our friend and it made us feel that we were not alone. I am a forever brokenhearted grandmother who will forever mourn the loss of my cherished granddaughter and who mourns for my bereaved daughter who will truly never recover from the loss of her beautiful 10 year old daughter.

I lost my 19 year old son in a motorcycle accident eight months ago. Since then I have read many books on bereavement and this book continues to be one of my favorites. Catherine M. Sanders is a psychologist specializing in bereavement. She has also lost a son of her own. This book is very well written, easy to understand. It not only addresses the phases of grief, it talks about emotions such as guilt and anger and how to deal with and understand it. it also discusses many other aspects of grief such as how families grieve, the affect on marriage, different child losses and how it affects grief. Towards the end she introduces tips on beginning to live once more, and makes many references to a Higher Power and spirituality. I read the first part of this book soon after losing my son, then waited and read the last few chapters recently. I wasn't ready to read about living again right away, and the ending will probably help me more later on. I will read the entire book again and again, it has been very helpful. It's positive and very compassionate. And to repeat what another reader accurately wrote: An excellent source for giving hope that you can rebuild your life. Highly recommended.

I lost my 20 year old son my only child in June 2004. This book has been very helpful to me in starting this journey that no parent should have to make. The book has helped to calm me and comfort me. This book has helped me to feel I am not alone at this tragic time.

This book was most unhelpful in dealing with my grief over the loss of my precious four-year-old daughter--my only child. The author states repeatedly that the only way to heal is to let go of your child completely, as well as all the dreams, hopes and anything else connected to your child. Wrong! This is just plain wrong. What a terrible thing to say to a bereaved parent. Our children's spirits live on and there is no reason to discard everything about them. Also, the book spends way too much time discussing the phases of grief. Why? So we can all be cookie-cuttered into nice little niches? And it spends way too much time telling us of all the things we gain when our child dies, things such as more compassion, greater flexibility and a better appreciation of life. This section of the book is just plain insulting to parents who have just lost the best thing in their lives. A bereaved parent gains NOTHING with the death of their child. I do not recommend this book to anyone.

Six weeks ago My three year old daughter died unexpectedly.I am having feelings I've never experienced before. This book helped me see that I am not alone in what I am going through. The real life stories of average people who shared their loses to make this book helped me to see that I am one of a group of many who share this common bond. We know a heartache what we would hope no-one else ever as to endure. We know what it is like to have our dreams wiped out in a single moment. This book is helping me to determine what to do next.

I am pleased to admit that Jay Vick is actually my doctor, and the way he writes in the book is very much like the way he talks in person. He's a great doctor. I think his book could have used a better editor, but it is certainly heartfelt and I encourage you to buy it - you will be helping an extremely nice guy. If you use the hospital in Honolulu that he works in, you will recognise this as a very thinly disguised roman à clef, and it will be even funnier to you. If you work in health care elsewhere, you will love his rants about topics like JCAHO and Medicare.

Poisoned Medicine: Love, Chaos, And The Death Of Health Care is a novel by Jay Vick about the slow but serious internal disintegration of America's health care system, and with it, the impending death knell of the world's economy. Vick draws upon his own real world experiences a practitioner of Internal Medicine in Honolulu for 23 years as well as his involvement on a board of directions for a large clinic and hospital to craft his dark, gripping account of a downward spiral of catastrophe and fear. Poisoned Medicine is one of those exceptional novels which are so easy to pick up and so difficult to put down.

If you've ever been confused,irritated,or just plain angry about the condition of today's medical system, you must read this book. Vick's witty prose lays bare the medical industry's laws, regulations, and profit-oriented structure to reveal how today's physicians must bob and weave in order to provide patients with the care they need. But even the best of those docs are becoming increasingly flogged by the system, and, as a result, many feel they have no choice but to leave their chosen profession.

Vick's observations about "alternative medicine" scams and the overbearing influence of insurance companies is especially insightful.

All this serious fodder is woven into an entertaining story that will keep you riveted. And what could be bad about a book set in Hawaii? It's paradise, after all. Oh - except for those pesky problems with the medical system.

This is well worth the read.

Poisoned Medicine is an enjoyable, breathtaking, hair-raising, globe-trotting adventure that hooks you from page 1. I read 100 pages in the first sitting. You'll love the characters and this novel will leave you wanting more of the same. I average reading two or three books per month and this one is the best I've seen in a long time. Buy the book, fasten your seat belt and enjoy the ride!

In "Poisoned Medicine, Love, Chaos, and the Death of Health Care," Jay Vick, pseudonym for a well known Honolulu physician, has written a delightfully entertaining and intelligent satirical novel about the parlous state of 21st Century medical practice, medical delivery systems, and shocking insurance excesses.

Like 18th Century satirist Jonathan Swift, author of "Gulliver's Travels" and "A Modest Proposal", Vick manages to keep his readers chuckling with heavy doses of gifted prose, sarcasm, and witty satire, all set in gorgeous locations including Hawaii's Na Pili Coast, southeast Asia, and a man-made Shangri-La featuring on-demand scenery from Star Trek.

Included are sex, surfing, and international intrigues of epic scales, "...nudeness in the first degree," (p. 10) and startling revelations, such as, a "super conducting super collider in Texas," (p. 18) and a diabolical scheme that "has turned patients into agents of the government...agents who have a financial incentive to trigger an investigation of their doc," (p.226).

Vick undoubtedly took note of the Irish satirist's 1745 last will and testament in which Swift provided funding and to establish "somewhere around Dublin a hospital for ideots & lunaticks because No Nation wanted it so much."

This is satire at its best by an erudite, wickedly skillful writer. Don't miss "Poisoned Medicine."

This book is a series of stories and insights into how dying people remind us who we are. It is an indespensible tool for those touched by grief. This book reminds us who we are and allows the reader to experience the expression of the soul through the written word.

From an experienced hospice minister comes a revelation of the heart of the Hospice mission. This book conveys the inner experience of hospice care, death and dying and questions about the meaning of life, death and the Spirit. Read along and get back in touch with what is really going on during the most intimate moments of the dying process as well as life itself.

At the time I discovered Sam Olivers Book, I was enrolled in a chaplaincy program at a local hospital. I believed the content would be most helpful in my own ministry. Little did I realize that this book would be my own source of comfort, strength and guidance only a few short months later when I was thrown into an unwanted, unexpected divorce.

I have discovered that the pain of a divorce can be almost as devastating as the death of a loved one. This book served as a guide through that darkness. The comfort and spiritual direction I derived has contributed greatly in my healing process and the continuation of my ministry.

Thank you Sam Oliver for your contribution to my life.

i am interested in insight into life and the experience of dying. partly because i have a heart condition and had open-heart surgery two years ago. i was intrigued by the title of this book and wanted to learn from the experiences of others in the hospice experience. i think i will just volunteer instead. i don't mean to offend anyone with this review, but i wish the Reverend had gone into more detail of the interactions with those in hospice. for me the book offers too much of himself and not enough of their experiences beyond what seem to be brief visits that he has with them. i would be more interested i think in the stories of full-time hospice caregivers. for me i had a problem with the spiritual messages that the Reverend saw in everything. i find those experiences highly subjective and would have preferred merely human stories to the inferences of the eternal and spiritual that the Reverend saw in everything. i guess i should have read the reviews more clearly and exercised more caution before picking this up to read. dying isn't necessarily a religious experience, although i'm sure that this statement will not compute for many who are religious. dying is however a very human experience that we will all share and it is important for us to be in the moments that we have with each other, especially in these necessarily final moments. peace be with you.

Sam knows how to write a great book. Not just about what it sounds like, death and dying. He has lots of great stories and personal experiences that lift you up and definitely get you thinking in a good way! Get it, you won't be disappointed! And if you do know someone who has family that are approaching the hospice stage, buy them a copy or share your own.
I plan to read it again slower this time, a definite keeper!!!

This book is great and very informative. There is so much in here and anyone with children should read this book even if you do not believe in it.

i don't know what i expected, but it wasn't to be bored to death. maybe to be inspired, or to learn something i didn't know. it was far to clinical for inspiration. it reminded me of a college textbook, and it was just as tedious as one. it is definitly not a book to keep next to the commode. yes, i learned some things, and that's why i gave it 2 stars. the book wasn't bad, it was just not what i expected, or wanted.

Very important information for all who have anything to do with children in hospitals, schools, therapy, at play or at home both in peace time and particularly in war.

This is a "must read" for anyone whose: had an NDE, knows of someone whose had an NDE, &/or anyone whose children seem to be smart beyond their years, as well as those who are just plain interested in this phenomenon and what it might mean...I also think that this book is essential for teachers - as it outlines how children change, in regards to education, after a NDE - and how you, the teacher, can help them.

I fit into the category of "just REALLY interested in this subject", and I was so caught up in this book that I couldn't put it down!

I love how the author includes her research methodology at the end of the book, as well as a section on tips for the NDE'r and/or family members & teachers of the NDE'r in dealing with the after-effects of such a profound experience.

I was once a member of a reiki group that basically broke up because a woman there had taught her teenage daughter that she was some kind of spiritual giant. It played out a lot like the salem witch trials with this out-of-control twelve year old going around the room "reading" everyone's aura. If you voiced any doubts about her "gift" she would say, "I see your aura as being black--" The whole thing was a pretty disgusting display of goofiness and letting the ego of someone who didn't have any maturity at all get completely out of whack. Children are always amazing to me, but I think it's just as likely a product of the miracle of human dna than some kind of sudden leap into the future for the human race. I would like to believe the human race was taking a leap forward but when I look around I see the same signs of greed, selfishness and the rest of it that have always been there. Most of the world is still struggling with the squalor of crushing poverty and it's really only the tiny garden of the few industrialized countries that afford people the leisure and comfort to indulge in this kind of fanciful hope built on precious little real evidence. The bottom line is that if you want to really grow spiritually try to be of service to others and don't worry what color their aura is.

I borrowed this book from the public library last year while a close friend of mine was dying of cancer. She left behind a 7 year old son and 4 year old daughter; the anquish in the book and in my heart was too much and I had to send it back nearly unread.

I borrowed it again a few weeks later when I had to write a term paper on death and grieving. As I read the experiences of the varied ages of participants I began to see the patterns, thoughts, and stereotypes of each generation relating to death. This was of particular significance to me because my paternal grandmother died in 1967 of cancer, when my father was 18 years old, and his sisters 12 and 13. As I read what other adults my family's ages were and who lost parents in the '60s, I began to understand my father and his sisters from a different point of view. I never fully understood how devestating an impact loosing a parent so early can be to a child - for the rest of his/her life. This is a must read if you know anyone who is loosing or has lost a parent before the age of 20.

I first encountered these two authors on a KGO radio interview.
The interview focused on people who had lost a parent in childhood (before the age of 18). They were discussing how even though the grief process had taken place for most people in adulthood, the life choices that these adults had made were directly impacted by the early loss of a parent.
The book is well written, done in case study and anecdotal style. It is one that remains on the shelf, a keeper. One that I open from time to time to learn from and heal.

I bought this book for research for my English thesis on motherloss and girls/women in adolescent literature. For that reason, I found that "A Music I No Longer Heard" was lacking in substance. The authors did relay a tremendous amount of anecdotal evidence of the impact of early parent loss, but there just did not seem to be much scientific/psychological support, nor did the authors assert any new theories/ideas about early parent loss. I found Maxine Harris' book, "The Loss that is Forever" to be much more helpful and inclusive.

I have been looking for a book like this, literally all my life. I stumbled upon it in a very large library and immediately checked it out. I lost my father in a car accident at 10 days old. While many of the stories are from people who actually did have a chance to know their fathers, there were a few stories for me as well. It was such a revelation to realize that I'm not alone; that so many others have felt and gone through the same things that I have. I recommend this book highly to anyone who has lost a parent.

I know from personal experience that when a parent dies, people often feel like they are completely alone in this world. Reading the stories from people who had gone through similar experiences can sometimes help with the healing process. The authors of this book do a wonderful job of capturing the turmoil and emotions that accompany the death of a parent. The result made me cry, sometimes, but if also helped me along in the long process of healing. I have read some other books about the death of parents which focus more scientifically on the sociological effects of the event. For me, this book was more effective because it was more personal. If you are going through the pain of parent loss, or know someone who is going through the experience, I recommend this book. It won't solve all the problems, of course, but it may help just a little.

This is an excellent story on both Charles Drew and the power of myth in the African American community. I too grew up on the story of Charles Drew being refused treatment at a segregated hospital. Given the history of African Americans and the medical establishment, this was easy to believe, especially by those living under the oppressiveness of Jim Crow. For example, the sad story of WW II veteran Maltheus Avery being turned away by Duke University Hospital shows us why the Dr. Drew hospitalization refusal story took on a life of its own.

The book also gave me some additional insight into just who Dr. Drew was as a man and as a physician. He truly was an outstanding man who exemplified manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and uplift. If I'm not mistaken, there is no comprehensive biography of Dr. Drew that has been written outside of the dozens of children's books about him. That's very surprising to me, given his accomplishments and his legendary status in medical circles and in the African American community.

I applaud Ms. Love for writing a truly fascinating story that needed to be told, both of Dr. Drew and the stories that surrounded his death. This is non-fiction writing at its best.

Too often, what passes as "Black History" to the public on radio shows, the internet, etc. consists of myths and conspiracy theories as the "Willie Lynch Letter," The first president being Black, African-Americans being descended from Ancient Egyptians, ad nauseum. Spencie Love performs a well-needed service by debunking one of the most common (albeit one of the more plausible) of these myths-the idea that Black blood plasma pioneer Dr. Charles Drew bled to death because he was refused admission to a segregated hospital. Fact was, as she carefully demonstrates, this actually happened to another Black person named Maltheus Avery around the same time while Dr. Drew was treated responsibly at the time of this death.

As a Black scholar, I have long decried the use of fabrication in the telling of Black history as something a people starved for true knowledge could ill-afford. Thank you Miss Love for showing people that REAL history does matter.

Spencie Love has written one of the few genuinely biracial explorations of the history of black-white relations in the United States. She uses the story of Charles Drew to illustrate the ways in which white Americans have misunderstood and distorted the contributions of black Americans to their shared culture--whether science, politics, education, medicine, or daily life. THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW called this a "superb book" and their review was spot on.

This wonderful book not only includes accurate, scholarly historical research, it tells a gripping story of two fine black families and their experience with health care for African-Americans in our society. Very readable.

I decided to look up the Amazon site for Spencie Love's book "One Blood," because I recently wrote a review of Phillip Roth's "The Human Stain, where I point out the erroneous information provided by a character about the death of Dr. Charles Drew. The character claimed that Drew bled to death because he was refused admission to a Caucasian hospital due to his race. Lo and behold I look up this Amazon site and read the Ingram review of "One Blood," only to discover that it too, has erroneous information. The review claims that Drew was refused admission to one hospital, then treated in the emergency room of a segregated hospital, after which he bled to death. Apparently, the reviewer didn't read Love's book either. That's not what she describes as happening. Drew was IMMEDIATELY admitted to the emergency room of Allamance County Hospital in Allamance County, North Carolina, where doctors couldn't save him because he was entirely too injured to be saved. Love makes this VERY CLEAR in the book. The Ingram review implies that first Drew was taken to one hospital and refused admission, then taken to a "segregated" facility where he was treated, but couldn't be saved. No!!! This is not what Love says happened. In the book she describes how it was JUST ONE HOSPITAL ALL ALONG where Drew was taken and treated. Part of the point of her book is to correct the long held fallacy that Drew bled to death due to the refusal of a hospital to admit him. Please someone at Amazon, GET THE BOOK. Then read what she wrote. Then post my review of Roth's novel, where I express my dismay that Roth got away with furthering a myth that is still well entrenched among those who should research such matters before commenting about them (or having characters comment about them).

The Journey to Emmaus is an insightful and refreshing analysis of Jesus' journey on the road to Emmaus. The author carefully lays out how Jesus came along side the disciples, listened, joined in their struggle and went on his way. Jesus is neither distant nor unmoved by our suffering. It provides a model of compassion for those who journey with the terminally ill. This tool helps us reconsider what our attitudes are toward those who face death.

Beyond Silence and Denial looks at the roles of death in the Christian Faith. The author lays out how the Protestant view of death and dying has shifted through out the ages. Sometimes this shift was in response to secularism or social problems. The model that the author proposes is how Jesus responded to death and dying. Jesus willingly yielded his spirit on the cross not as an act of defeat or victory, but out of trust in his Father. Death is seen as a part of God's plan and nothing, including dying, can separate us from communion with God.

All Our Losses, All our Griefs describes grief as a normal reaction to grief. It discusses different kinds of loss, not just loss as the result of death. It seeks to address three questions in one volume: Why do people grieve? What are the dynamics of grief? And what can ministers do to help those who grieve? Throughout the book, the authors provide a theological comment to the issues that are raised concerning loss and grief

The Journey to Emmaus is an insightful and refreshing analysis of Jesus' journey on the road to Emmaus. The author carefully lays out how Jesus came along side the disciples, listened, joined in their struggle and went on his way. Jesus is neither distant nor unmoved by our suffering. It provides a model of compassion for those who journey with the terminally ill. This tool helps us reconsider what our attitudes are toward those who face death.

This is not a work of fiction, it is horrifyingly real and it will keep you up at night unable to put the book down. Each chapter contains real-life situations that people across the country face as they struggle to survive without health insurance. These are facts you think can only happen to "other" people, but these others are looking more and more like us. Somehow, their lives still remain hidden from the general public, but this book deserves to be discussed on 60 minutes to make people aware of what is happening in our country. This book terrified me more than any horror novel ever could, because it could happen to any one of us at any time.

Lack of insurance is a verifiable problem, and one can obtain more information from the Institute of Medicine which published 6 reports. I'd recommend starting with the last: Insuring America's Health-Principles and Recommendations and an article by Leslie Weatherly from HR Magazine: "The rising cost of health care: strategic and societal considerations for employers."

The uninsured is a fliud group: 80 million lacked insurance for one month out of 24; 23 million lacked insurance for the entire 2 years. (I'm a physician who went without health insurance for 4 years.) 45 million is the average number of uninsured each month. The majority of uninsured are non-Hispanic whites, and most are from families in which one person works. Blacks are twice as likely to be uninsured; Hispanics-three times. Foreigners' rate of uninsurance declines with increasing time here.

Small business owners often can't afford to provide insurance. Individuals either find the premiums prohibitive or they can't buy insurance at any price. Medicaid does not cover single adults and childless couples. Families lose coverage when the member providing insurance loses employment, dies or through divorce. COBRA can be costly (the premiums for my wife and I went from $750/month to $937 before we regained employer-based coverage). A recent study found half of bankruptcies were because of medical expenses, even among people with insurance.

Sadly, sad stories of peoples' suffering isn't likely to convince policy makers bought by special interest groups.The traditional Republican belief is "I got mine; it's your fault if you don't have yours." Medicaid has been framed as being wasted on "crack-whores having babies" when in reality the majority is spent on the elderly and disabled.

Change will come only when the pain is great enough to produce a mass-movement demanding a solution, and those spearheading the drive have more political savvy than their opponents.

40,000,000 - 50,000,000 Americans have no health insurance and another group of Americans of equal size are underinsured. Americans have to choose between food and medicine. Americans live in a land of opportunity until they have a challenge to their health. If you have a challenge to your health and if you do not have the best private health insurance you will enter a death spiral as the change in your health will drain away your money and your hope. It is a sad day - only in America, the land of no national health insurance.

The authors strongly couch their presentation as attesting to the rise of a caste system in the United States. Where the caste consists of the chronically ill, infirm and marginally employed. Several members of this group are interviewed. In the MidWest, Mississipi and other regions.

A common symptom is a death spiral, whereby working class individuals, who might indeed have worked very hard, but then suffered injuries, fall into a feedback loop. Where they can barely afford health case. Except for emergency room admissions. A cruel paradox.

The book goes into how the stress of poverty and being ill can feed into and reinforce each other.

Another ironic aspect shown is how caregivers can often lack health insurance. A bitter scenario that is all too common.