Five Days at Memorial
Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital
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Five Days at Memorial
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Narrated by:
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Kirsten Potter
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Written by:
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Sheri Fink
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The award-winning book that inspired an Apple Original series from Apple TV+ • A landmark investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina—and the suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and justice—from a Pulitzer Prize–winning physician and reporter
“An amazing tale, as inexorable as a Greek tragedy and as gripping as a whodunit.”—Dallas Morning News
After Hurricane Katrina struck and power failed, amid rising floodwaters and heat, exhausted staff at Memorial Medical Center designated certain patients last for rescue. Months later, a doctor and two nurses were arrested and accused of injecting some of those patients with life-ending drugs.
Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting by Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink, unspools the mystery, bringing us inside a hospital fighting for its life and into the most charged questions in health care: which patients should be prioritized, and can health care professionals ever be excused for hastening death?
Transforming our understanding of human nature in crisis, Five Days at Memorial exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals how ill-prepared we are for large-scale disasters—and how we can do better.
ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Chicago Tribune, Seattle Times, Entertainment Weekly, Christian Science Monitor, Kansas City Star
WINNER: National Book Critics Circle Award, J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Ridenhour Book Prize, American Medical Writers Association Medical Book Award, National Association of Science Writers Science in Society Award
What the critics say
2014, Carnegie Medal, Short-listed
2013, Los Angeles Times Book Prizes—Current Interest—Winner
2014, National Book Critics Circle Awards, Winner
2015, PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, Winner
2014, Ron Ridenhour Book Award, Winner
“The journalist and doctor Sheri Fink published a meticulous investigation of these deaths in the New York Times Magazine and on the Web site of ProPublica, in 2009. Her work won a Pulitzer Prize. And now comes the book. In Five Days at Memorial, the contours of the story remain the same, yet Fink imbues them with far more narrative richness, making the doctors seem both more sympathetic and more culpable. Fink also expands on the ethical conundrums, which have festered over time and seem to gain fresh urgency.” (The New Yorker)
"“That so many people, starkly divided over the question of whether crimes had been committed, come off as decent and appealing makes this book an absorbing read. Dr. Fink brings a shimmering intelligence to its many narrative cul-de-sacs, which consider medical, legal and ethical issues. . . . By reporting the depth of those gruesome hours in Memorial before the helicopters came, and giving weight to medical ethics as grounded in the law, Sheri Fink has written an unforgettable story. Five Days at Memorial is social reporting of the first rank.” (Jason Berry, The New York Times)
What listeners say about Five Days at Memorial
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Professional Commuter
- 2022-09-23
Well written, unbiased, and explores the complexity of people
This book was incredibly well written, easily understandable, and most importantly: Unbiased. The author doesn’t label any medical professionals as murderers, she does somewhat condemn the government. But I honestly would as well. She simply tells us the facts, the hell placed upon them, and the bureaucracy that honestly made this situation worst. I would recommend watching the show AFTER listening to this book as there are more details not shown on the show and I personally feel the impact was stronger.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2022-12-23
OH My………..
I am speechless. I have no words. I am a nurse and my adrenaline is pumping!! Written wonderfully and read perfectly. Thank you for the insight to this situation.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M Lee
- 2019-09-07
Informative and well written true story
So many things in this book that I had never heard before. As a registered nurse, it made me wonder how I would respond in those horrendous conditions.
The epilogue was very interesting as it describes studies done around the world following this tragedy and developing protocols if this set of circumstances or like circumstances were to happen again
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Nancy Steinhausen
- 2018-09-19
Destined to re-live the past
I listened to this story as Hurricane Florence was taking aim at North Carolina. As I got further into the book, I realized that we probably haven't learned much from the past. I enjoyed listening to the retelling of the experience and found the second half a bit repetitive. Occasionally, I wished I had the book version so that I could skip through some parts. The narrator was clear and compelling. It is a good story and has many lessons that we have yet to learn. #audible1
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