So I was really interested to read the book on which the series is based. Apart from the author's own experience as a medical director (and cancer patient) the series has little in common with the book, which is a pity as the stories Manheimer tells are very interesting. Many of his patients are from Guatemala and we learn much about the challenges they have faced in escaping from poverty and brutality. He and his wife have travelled there extensively and he provides a very useful potted political history of the country.

Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital by Eric Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital by Eric

I very much wanted to like "Twelve Patients" by Eric Manheimer, MD but struggled at times to do so. The memoir was ambitious covering everything from prison reform to foster care and Dr. Manheimer's stories moved me. Many patients like Tanisha, the teenager who grew up in foster care, and Soraya, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, left me in awe of the staggering hardships they endured. Arnie's story was particularly important and for the most part well done--it's hard to overstate the perniciousness and pervasiveness of our current opioid crisis. And Jeffrey's struggle with severe mental illness poignantly highlighted the devastating impact such illnesses can have on patients as well as their families. Dr. Manheimer himself reminded me of my dad, who was a doctor's doctor and recently died of cancer. Little details like his daughter inviting him out for dinner at their usual place made me misty-eyed. The next chapter is devoted to Tanisha, a young woman of tremendous inner strength. A lifelong foster child, she has been raped countless times, repeatedly running away from abusive families. Once, early in her life, she stayed briefly with a family who loved her. When the matriarch died, Tanisha was moved again. Manheimer sets off on a quest to find “Abuela’s” (Spanish for grandmother) extended family in the hopes that they not only recall Tanisha, but are willing to take her in. Incredibly, joyously, they remember her fondly, and despite their limited income, welcome her home. Lerner, P.P.; Miodownik, C.; Lerner, V. Tardive dyskinesia (syndrome): Current concept and modern approaches to its management. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 2015, 69, 321–334. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef][ Green Version]

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et al. Long-Term Follow-Up of 12 Patients Treated with Bilateral Pallidal Stimulation for Tardive Dystonia. Life. 2021; 11(6):477. Sako, W.; Goto, S.; Shimazu, H.; Murase, N.; Matsuzaki, K.; Tamura, T.; Mure, H.; Tomogane, Y.; Arita, N.; Yoshikawa, H.; et al. Bilateral deep brain stimulation of the globus pallidus internus in tardive dystonia. Mov. Disord. 2008, 23, 1929–1931. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] [ PubMed] A former medical director of Bellevue Hospital in New York offers stories from the case histories of twelve patients, ranging from a homeless man to a prominent Wall Street financier, to humanize current social issues Moro, E.; Piboolnurak, P.; Arenovich, T.; Hung, S.W.; Poon, Y.-Y.; Lozano, A.M. Pallidal stimulation in cervical dystonia: Clinical implications of acute changes in stimulation parameters. Eur. J. Neurol. 2009, 16, 506–512. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] In the chapter Beso de Angel, it is about how a dying young Mexican man is returned to the land of his birth. I liked this passage "How people die and how we participate in their deaths is as much about us as about them. Our own humanity is at stake. In a society that is increasingly mesmerized by efficiency, measurement by numbers and a bottom-line neutrality that extols profit and wealth over any other human value, the risk is clear to everyone I work with. When health care is now measured by a 'medical loss ratio', and the percentage of spending on health care is considered a 'loss', then we are really lost."

Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital - AbeBooks

interesting to readers, or important in the respective research area. The aim is to provide a snapshot of some of the

Coubes, P.; Cif, L.; El Fertit, H.; Hemm, S.; Vayssiere, N.; Serrat, S.; Picot, M.C.; Tuffery, S.; Claustres, M.; Echenne, B.; et al. Electrical stimulation of the globus pallidus internus in patients with primary generalized dystonia: Long-term results. J. Neurosurg. 2004, 101, 189–194. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] [ PubMed] Manheimer intends more than 12 sharp little medical biographies. He uses each case as a springboard from an ailing individual to greater social ills. While these digressions are intended to edify, Manheimer’s impassioned asides lose urgency with unnecessary repetition. Book Genre: Autobiography, Biography, Biography Memoir, Health, History, Medical, Medicine, Memoir, Nonfiction, Psychology, Science

Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital (The

The title of this book, 'Twelve Patients', is a bit inaccurate. There are twelve stories in the book about patients and their care, however the author also has his own medical story to tell. The author, Eric Manheimer, is the Medical Director of Bellevue Hospital in New York City. He has throat cancer. So nestled among the 12 stories chosen, is his regiment and life altering condition, as he oversees Bellevue. Further, Manheimer is preaching to a left-wing choir, assuming readers share his liberal political leanings on everything from the need for socialized medical care to a call for more lenient immigration policies. While many readers may wholeheartedly agree with Manheimer, others may be so distracted by his overt liberal agenda that they abandon the book. Kupsch, A.; Klaffke, S.; Meissner, W.; Arnold, G.; Schneider, G.H.; Maier-Hauff, K.; Trottenberg, T. The effects of frequency in pallidal deep brain stimulation for primary dystonia. J. Neurol. 2003, 250, 1201–1205. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] The opening chapters of Twelve Patients are compelling enough to overcome the book’s flaws. We meet Juan Guerra, a 59-year-old career criminal dying of cancer. Manheimer’s description is of a basically decent person who had little chance in life. Despite multiple incarcerations, drug problems, and terminal illness, Guerra has managed to keep his family together, including his devoted wife of 35 years. The hospital staff secures his freedom so he can go home to die.Dr. Eric Manheimer, until recently medical director of New York City’s Bellevue Hospital, has added to the genre with Twelve Patients: Life And Death At Bellevue Hospital. Manheimer is the first to proudly explain Bellevue’s history.

Twelve patients : life and death at Bellevue Hospital

I call shenanigans. This is the stuff you see in television shows, and it seems fairly apparent to me that an eventual screen adaptation was precisely what Manheimer was aiming at. Which he did, and congratulations. But the book is a little too full of these "amazing!" coincidences, and poorly written on top of it. Franzini, A.; Marras, C.; Ferroli, P.; Zorzi, G.; Bugiani, O.; Romito, L.; Broggi, G. Long-term high-frequency bilateral pallidal stimulation for neuroleptic-induced tardive dystonia. J. Neurosurg. 2005, 102, 721–725. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] Kiriakakis, V.; Bhatia, K.P.; Quinn, N.P.; Marsden, C.D. The natural history of tardive dystonia. A long-term follow-up study of 107 cases. Brain 1998, 121, 2053–2066. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef][ Green Version]

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Aderibigbe, Y.A.; Jampala, V.C.; Mathews, T. The current status of tardive dystonia. Biol. Psychiatry 1999, 45, 715–730. [ Google Scholar]