Book Analysis

First , Do No Harm by Lisa Belkin

Writer Introduction

Lisa Belkin , a writer and reporter for nearly a decade in the New York Times covering news from television , business , health care and different hospitals . This book talks about the families , doctors and other staff members of hospitals who are faced with questions about the life and death of different patients . This book also talks about the emotions that these people have

Book Analysis

In this book there are four real life cases discussed which happened at the Hermann Hospital in

Houston Texas . This book continuously asks the question what is the worth of life ? And is life worth living ? Has a medicine come to a point where it has no affect on the patients and the patients die ? This moral dilemma is discussed in this book and the main idea of the book is to find an answer to it and if there is an answer What is it

In the first case Patrick Dismuke a teenage boy has stomach problems soon after his birth in 1973 . Later it is learnt that the child has a Hirchsprung disease which is the dis of the digestive organs . The case turns out to be on one of the most severe cases but somehow the young boy manages to live till he 's fifteen . The boy broke the record on how long was he suppose to live . This book also discusses the ethics committee of the hospital meeting to end his long suffering which would only lead to this death

The next case is about a twenty five year old Illegal Mexican , Armando Dimas who was shot and the wound managed to paralyze him from his right side from the ears down . He cannot talk he is never get better . The man is given the choice to die and end his suffering

The third case is about a baby Taylor Poarch whose parents tell the hospital to take off the ventilator as the baby has very little chance of survival . The parents as the Ethics Committee as the doctor disagrees to the request they have

The most controversial and difficult case for the Ethics Committee is the fourth case in which a baby has a spinal dis . The parents are given too much information and decision is to be taken as to whether the child should live or not

The books talks from a third person perspective about the initial treatment , patient response and condition as well as the emotional side of the staff members , patients and families as well as the decision of giving life or death is also discussed in the book . It also talks about the history of Hermann Hospital , the history of medical practice today

Personal Opinion

The whole book is brilliantly written but I enjoyed reading about the case of Taylor and Patrick . These were the first two cases in the book and I found myself touched with these two cases although the other cases were just as...