Medical Stories
A DOCTOR’S DECEPTION
For 30 years, Paul Shuen was one of the city’s most respected obstetricians. Then his nurses noticed something unusual about the way he delivered babies. A story of greed, betrayal and medical misconduct. The labor… Read More
James sat by his bedside, as any parent would, and wondered how this could happen.
Alex James knew how to exhaust himself. It started on his childhood swim team when his coach, a whistle-blowing, red-faced caricature, demanded he swim to the end of the Olympic-sized pool and back again—without taking… Read More
Doctors Confess Their Fatal Mistakes
Doctors, nurses, and pharmacists hold your life in their hands. Here, their shocking stories of what can go wrong—and what has to improve to keep us safe. “It was more than 20 years ago, but… Read More
“She whispered, ‘When is my doctor coming?’ ‘Soon,’ I lied.”
By Sunnie Bell, RN. I was the nurse in charge of the evening shift at a small hospital. I was enthusiastic and experienced—a top graduate of a prominent nursing school. I had come on duty… Read More
“I gave her some pain meds and discharged her from the ER. Then I picked up the next chart in the bottomless stack.”
By Bryan E. Bledsoe, DO. I’ll never forget her—in fact, I still have dreams about the look on her children’s faces after she died. Her name was Claire,* and she came into the ER where… Read More
“Heavy perspiration, shortness of breath—his symptoms were textbook. The only thing was, I hadn’t read that chapter yet.”
By Robert M. Wachter, MD. I was a second-year medical student at the University of Pennsylvania, and on my second day of rounds at a nearby VA hospital. Penn’s philosophy was to get students seeing… Read More
“Her name was Emily, and she was two years old.”
By Eric Cropp. It was a busy Sunday in the pharmacy at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland. The hospital’s computer system had been down for about ten hours before I started my shift,… Read More
“After six hours, he still wasn’t waking up. What had I done?”
By Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD. I was a young doctor doing specialty training in critical care, and I was exhausted. Partway through a 36-hour shift at Johns Hopkins Hospital, I was hungry and hadn’t slept… Read More
5 HOUR OUT-PATIENT SURGERY $83,000
I had sinus surgery in June 2013 to repair a deviated septum and sinus turbinates expanded. This was outpatient surgery. I was at the hospital for about 5 hours with no complications. Prior to my… Read More