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(http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/books/341905,CST-BOOKS-sickening15.article) Seeking a cure for
health care April 15, 2007 BY SICK: THE UNTOLD STORY OF By Jonathan Cohn The sliver of a title for Jonathan Cohn's work has an ominous ring to it
suggestive of a psycho-horror thriller rather than a detailed history of the
health care system in In one vignette, a schoolteacher's wife commits suicide after being denied hospitalization because their mental health coverage was maxed out. But perhaps the most jaw-dropping story is that of the elderly former nun who was sued by a Catholic hospital for non-payment of an $11,000 bill covering two days of "observation." Many other such health care horror tales are told. Cohn keeps the reader in suspense by telling these stories in two acts, separated by historical details of the development -- and failures -- of the nation's health care industry. When he returns to wrap up the individual's story, we learn the frustrating and infuriating results of that failure. Cohn's background as a writer and editor is apparent in his storytelling, which is crusty and decisive, but also funny and touching. From "Babylonian traders who feared that their shipments across the desert might fall prey to bandits, dust storms, or camels with shoddy knees," through turns of political, benevolent, financial and just plain wrong-headed forces, Cohn explains how the industry became the Frankenstein that has turned on Americans and drained us of the resources and promises of excellent medical care. Sick is chock-full of information for a book of modest length. However fascinating the history lessons are, Cohn's tendency to see-saw between time periods is frustrating. He makes frequent references to facts detailed in earlier chapters, causing the reader to thumb maddeningly backward. It would be an "easy read" were it not for that. And that's too bad, because this is a terribly important book. There are a couple of other points that detract from the appeal. For one, Cohn's tendency to inject his political bias is unhelpful. Scattered about the book are comments such as, "[At] some fundamental level, [President] Bush and his allies don't seem to think the affordability and availability of health care is a major problem that commands their sustained attention." But perhaps the most frustrating problem with Sick is Cohn's purported cure. Only in the last eight pages or so does he even begin to make the case for universal health care. He makes a compelling argument, but does not follow through with the statistics necessary to arm us for battle. Despite Cohn's subtitle, this is not an "untold story" by any means; we certainly know who "pays the price." That also sums up the major criticism of the book: Too much and yet too little. Lorraine Sharon Roth, M.D., is a psychiatrist in the © Copyright 2007 Sun-Times News Group |