Coronary: A True Story of Medicine Gone Awry | 
| Author: Stephen Klaidman
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $6.95
You Save: $8.05 (54%)
New (28) Used (18) Collectible (1) from $5.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 128250
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.2 x 1
ISBN: 0743267559
Dewey Decimal Number: 610
EAN: 9780743267557
ASIN: 0743267559
Publication Date: June 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A chilling real-life medical thriller, Coronary chronicles the story of two highly respected heart doctors who violated the most sacred principle of their profession: First, do no harm.In the summer of 2002, fifty-five-year-old John Corapi, a Catholic priest with a colorful background, visited Dr. Chae Hyun Moon, a celebrated cardiologist in Redding, California. Corapi had been suffering from exhaustion and shortness of breath, and although a physical examination and a conventional stress test revealed nothing abnormal, Moon insisted that the calcium level in Corapi's coronary arteries called for a highly invasive diagnostic test: an angiogram. A chain-smoking Korean immigrant known for his gruff bedside manner, Moon performed the procedure briskly and immediately handed down a devastating diagnosis: "I'm sorry; there is nothing I can do for you. You need a triple bypass tomorrow morning." He then abruptly left the room. Several hours later, however, Moon inexplicably decided the surgery could wait until Corapi returned from a previously scheduled cross-country trip. Unnerved by the dire diagnosis and also by Moon's inconsistent statements, Corapi sought other opinions. To his amazement, a second, third, and fourth doctor found that his heart was perfectly healthy. In fact, for a man his age, Corapi's arteries were remarkably free of disease. Sensing a cause more disturbing than human error, Corapi took his story to the FBI. As local agent Mike Skeen soon discovered, Corapi was one of a number of people who had suspicions about Moon and Moon's go-to cardiac surgeon, Dr. Fidel Realyvasquez, an equally respected member of the close-knit northern California community. Working at a hospital owned by Tenet Healthcare, Moon would make the diagnoses and Realyvasquez would perform the surgeries. Together, these leaders of the Redding medical establishment put hundreds of healthy people at risk, some of whom never recovered. Soon Skeen launched a major investigation, interviewing numerous doctors and patients, and forty federal agents raided the hospital where the doctors worked. A timely and provocative dissection of America's medical-industrial complex, Coronary lays bare the financial structures that drive the American healthcare system, and which precipitated Moon's and Realyvasquez's actions. In a scheme that placed the demands of Wall Street above the lives of its patients, Tenet Healthcare rewarded doctors based on how much revenue they generated for the corporation. A meticulous three-year FBI investigation and hundreds of civil suits culminated in no criminal charges but a series of settlements with Tenet Healthcare and the doctors that totaled more than $450 million and likely put an end to Moon's and Realyvasquez's medical careers. The case's every twist and turn is documented here. A riveting, character-rich narrative and a masterpiece of long-form journalism, Coronary is as powerful as it is alarming. This is a hair-raising story of the hundreds of men and women who went under the knife, not in the name of medicine, but of profit and prestige. Brilliantly told, Stephen Klaidman's Coronary is a cautionary tale in the age of miracle medicine, and a shocking reminder to always get a second opinion.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 42 more reviews...
 Systemic Flaws in American Medicine September 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Stephen Klaidman gave an honest and fair account of the Redding Medical Center (RMC) debacle. It provides a solid proof that American health care system is indeed a big mess.
As Klaidman concluded, there are fundamental systemic flaws in American medicine and the major one being its vulnerability to fraud. The main attributing factor for such vulnerability is that our health care system runs like a business. The primary objective of such business is driving up profit, revenue and stock price rather than the welfare of patients. The relentless pursuit of profits undermines the original purpose of medicine, i.e. provide care and cure to those who are ill. Medical practice is no longer a profession or a calling.
RMC's extremely successful California Heart Institute is Tenet's biggest profit center. Dr. Moon was RMC's rainmaker, generating far more revenue than any of his colleagues through his own practice and his referrals to Dr. Realyvasquez and the other cardiac surgeons. Driven by Tenet management's bottom-line, the excessive zeal for profits started to take precedence over the best interests of patients. Dr. Moon and Dr. Realyvasquez neglected their professional and legal obligations to patients while actively promoting their own and the company's financial interests.
The fiasco at RMC also demonstrates the inadequacy of oversight of medical practice. Both Realyvasquez and Moon refused to accept review of their work by other medical professionals and neither the medical staff nor the hospital administration could or would force either of them to do so. If an adequate peer review system were in place, perhaps the abuses such as intentionally misleading diagnosis and unwarranted surgery would have been prevented.
One would have thought that with such egregious misconduct, an insider from RMC would believe it was a moral imperative to come forward to blow the whistles on their colleagues. Unfortunately, Moon and Realyvasquez were considered to be talented physicians and heroes in Redding for doing an unusually high number of angiograms and cardiac operations respectively. Not many in the community raised their eyebrows and question their aggressiveness on treatment or whether they are guilty of malpractice. Instead the common view was that they were simply practicing medicine on the cutting-edge. Some medical professionals who witnessed the misconduct were unwilling to accept that Moon and Realyvasquez were practicing way outside the standard of care. Other either had no interest in blowing the whistle on their colleagues or were afraid to do so.
The most disturbing part of the story is that despite more than sufficient amount of evidence to build a strong prosecution case of malpractice or criminal fraud, the U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott decided to reach a settlement instead. While the settlement might have provided some financial compensation to the victims such as Shirley Wooten, Zona Martin, Paul Alexandre, and their families who suffered from great pain and emotional distress, what they wanted more was to have the villains put in prison for their wrongdoings so that they wouldn't be able to crack another person's chest open. Sadly, the flaw in our judicial system did not allow justice to happen.
CORONARY gives compelling insight into the business of health care September 25, 2008
Coronary tells the true story of how the greed and ego of two doctors in Redding, CA led to multiple instances of unnecessary open heart surgeries resulting in life altering inuries and death. One man - who narrowly missed the scalpel - sues to stop these doctors with a god complex from continuing their reign of terror in this small Northern California town.
I liked this book a great deal. The story was shocking and made me reassess my faith in the health care field and in my doctors. The writing and pacing were clipped along, slowly building suspense as the story continued. The book read almost like a medical thriller rather than a non-fiction book, complete with larger than life characters, such as Las Vegas enforcers, ex-drug addict priests and egomaniacal doctors with a god complex.
However, while the beginning was strong and compelling, the second half of the book began to run out of steam as the fight to indict the doctors moved from the investigation to the courtroom. It seemed as though there wasn't much to tell, and the ending seemed a little rushed.
However, despite this complaint, the book was a truly engaging, illuminating story of a health care system gone mad.
"Spinning the story" July 17, 2008
As a local from Redding, I can tell you that some of the "heros" in the book put quite a spin on their involvement. Specifically, when objections were raised about the CV program prior to the FBI raid, those objecting were told that the cardiologist and surgeons were saviors and, furthermore, "they really refer a lot of patients to me" ('so please be quiet about your concerns'). These sentiments were issued by some of the directors of departments in the hospital. Imagine my surprise to find one of these individuals lionized in the book rather than indicted himself! Oh well, this made the reading extra riveting for me!
Appalling.... May 6, 2008
Appalling would have been a more appropriate name for this book; appalling that these actions occurred in this current era of medicine and regulatory compliance. Every new twist in this well-chronicled story can be described as appalling.
The reader is drawn to the charm of Redding, California, but then the evident ethical disconnects of the townsfolk become apparent. As the story implies, the fact that something was not quite right at Redding Medical Center was well known in the community, yet it was spoken of only in whispers and never with any conviction. Because Dr. Moon and Dr. Realyvasquez were revered in the community, one can only wonder whether the townsfolk were devoid of ethics and chose to ignore the whispers or whether their loyalty to their neighbors blinded them to the truth. Or, perhaps, as one Redding resident wrote in a review of this book, "We felt pretty powerless to stop a huge corporation and its power-hungry minions."
Even more inexcusable than the act of fraud by Moon and RV is Tenet's apparent disregard for the practice, all in the name of profit. What principles did corporate executives lack that they allowed these things to happen and to continue without any intervention. This question becomes more significant when we consider that, in addition to settling this lawsuit for $54M, Tenet settled claims in January and July 2006 worth $215M and $900M, respectively.
This is a well-researched and well-narrated book that exposes the reader to the realities of healthcare. Those of us who work in healthcare and believe in its merits cannot deny that fraud and abuse occur. We, as healthcare workers, have a duty to our patients, employers, and community to recognize and report these practices.
Coronary: A True Story of Medicine Gone Awry - Jaw-dropping April 26, 2008
Stephen Klaidman does a wonderful job of exposing just how awry medicine can be in Coronary: A True story of Medicine gone Awry. This book gives a detailed account of two cardiologists making a living off of performing unnecessary heart surgeries. It was one brave soul, John Corapi, who with help from others, eventually took these physicians down. The practice of the two surgeons, Drs. Moon and Realyvasquez, were completely unethical.
I believe that the author attempted to show just how prevalent situations like this occur and how easy it is to get away with it. I think that he also attempted to show how difficult it can be to prove that situations like this are in existence. It took years to take down Drs. Moon and Realyvasquez. Many complaints were voiced in regard to Dr. Moon's callous treatment to patients and concerns on his medical diagnosis were presented, but none were taken seriously or acted upon. And why would they be? Dr. Moon was performing so many bypass operations and generating so much revenue that who dare question him?
I feel that this book did a good job capture the case of Drs. Moon and Realyvasquez and Redding Medical Center. I am sure that there is a lot of information that we do not know either because the author did not know or because it was never discovered. Some believe that some of the accounts referenced in the book may not be true. I feel that the author did show some bias in writing the book as it is my opinion that he sided with the patients or "victims" if you will and did not give an objective view 100% of the time. It is clear that he would not have written this book exposing the doctors and the healthcare organization if he did not have a certain amount of bias in the matter. If you feel passionate about a particular topic then it is not easy to write about it objectively.
I would definitely recommend this book to other readers, especially readers who work in the healthcare field. It is a book that prompts much thought around ethics in healthcare. After reading this book, I started doing more research ethical issues surrounding surgical procedures. I found an article on doctors removing defibrillators from dead people, reusing them and pocketing the money. It is amazing how much information you will find in these ethical issues in healthcare, and this is only the stuff we know. It will really get you thinking!
Ronnie H.
|
|
|
