Public health care is one of the most important issues in America today. Now Robin Cook, the bestselling master of medical suspense, confronts this controversial subject with an all-too-possible scenario as powerful--and terrifying--as his groundbreaking blockbuster, Coma...With its state-of-the-art facility and peaceful Vermont setting, the Bartlet Community Hospital seemed like a dream come true. It offered doctors David and Angela Wilson new career opportunities, a chance to work within an enlightened system of "Managed care" --and a perfect place to raise their daughter, who suffered from cystic fibrosis. But then, one by one, their dreams turned to nightmares. And day by day, their patients began to die...
Leaving their urban hospital for a modern medical facility in Bartlet, Vermont, Doctors Angela and David Wilson begin to notice puzzling details in the deaths of several terminal patients there
Fairytales aren't supposed to end in murder She's hiding a dangerous secret. He'll stop at nothing to keep her safe...but can he stop himself from killing her? An emotional, tension-filled forbidden romance that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page... Jenna wasn't going to let the darkness of her past prevent her from building the life she's always wanted, so she put herself through college and moved to the magnificent city of Chicago. But just when she thought all her dreams were coming true, a shocking incident shattered her fairy-tale life and now, she's hiding a terrible secret-a secret that could cost her everything. Damian is as gorgeous as he is mysterious, keeping his own dark secrets from everyone he meets. He never thought he'd care about anything again...until he meets Jenna. He knows letting her get close to him will put her in danger, but when he suspects Jenna's in trouble, there's only one thing that matters: protecting her at all costs. Thrust into a terrifying nightmare where a threat looms in every shadow, Jenna and Damian find themselves in a race for survival. Soon, everyone Jenna loves is in peril, and only the ultimate sacrifice can save them... This book contains sensitive subject matter.
With her son’s cancer in remission, NYC medical examiner Laurie Montgomery returns to work—and finds her first case back to be a dangerous puzzle in this compelling mystery by the bestselling “master of the medical thriller.” (The New York Times) The investigation into the shocking death of CIA agent Kevin Markham is a professional challenge for Dr. Laurie Montgomery, and it has her colleagues wondering if she still has what it takes after so much time away. Markham’s autopsy results are inconclusive, and though it appears he’s been poisoned, toxiccology fails to corroborate Laurie’s suspicions. While her coworkers doubt her assassination theory, her determination wins over her husband, fellow medical examiner Jack Stapleton, and together they discover associations to a large pharmaceutical company and several biomedical start-ups dealing with stem-cell research. Laurie and Jack must race to connect the dots before they are consumed in a dangerous game of biotech espionage.
LOS ANGELES TIMES AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER • The powerful memoir of a young doctor and former college athlete diagnosed with a rare disease who spearheaded the search for a cure—and became a champion for a new approach to medical research. “A wonderful and moving chronicle of a doctor’s relentless pursuit, this book serves both patients and physicians in demystifying the science that lies behind medicine.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene David Fajgenbaum, a former Georgetown quarterback, was nicknamed the Beast in medical school, where he was also known for his unmatched mental stamina. But things changed dramatically when he began suffering from inexplicable fatigue. In a matter of weeks, his organs were failing and he was read his last rites. Doctors were baffled by his condition, which they had yet to even diagnose. Floating in and out of consciousness, Fajgenbaum prayed for a second chance, the equivalent of a dramatic play to second the game into overtime. Miraculously, Fajgenbaum survived—only to endure repeated near-death relapses from what would eventually be identified as a form of Castleman disease, an extremely deadly and rare condition that acts like a cross between cancer and an autoimmune disorder. When he relapsed while on the only drug in development and realized that the medical community was unlikely to make progress in time to save his life, Fajgenbaum turned his desperate hope for a cure into concrete action: Between hospitalizations he studied his own charts and tested his own blood samples, looking for clues that could unlock a new treatment. With the help of family, friends, and mentors, he also reached out to other Castleman disease patients and physicians, and eventually came up with an ambitious plan to crowdsource the most promising research questions and recruit world-class researchers to tackle them. Instead of waiting for the scientific stars to align, he would attempt to align them himself. More than five years later and now married to his college sweetheart, Fajgenbaum has seen his hard work pay off: A treatment he identified has induced a tentative remission and his novel approach to collaborative scientific inquiry has become a blueprint for advancing rare disease research. His incredible story demonstrates the potency of hope, and what can happen when the forces of determination, love, family, faith, and serendipity collide. Praise for Chasing My Cure “A page-turning chronicle of living, nearly dying, and discovering what it really means to be invincible in hope.”—Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grit “[A] remarkable memoir . . . Fajgenbaum writes lucidly and movingly . . . Fajgenbaum’s stirring account of his illness will inspire readers.”—Publishers Weekly
"I'd gladly sell my soul to Satan for a year of freedom," cries impetuous Rosamond Vivian to her callous grandfather. Then, one stormy night, a brooding stranger appears in her remote island home, ready to take Rosamond to her word. Spellbound by the mysterious Philip Tempest, Rosamond is seduced with promises of love and freedom, then spirited away on Tempest's sumptuous yacht. But she soon finds herself trapped in a web of intrigue, cruelty, and deceit. Desperate to escape, she flees to Italy, France, and Germany, from Parisian garret to mental asylum, from convent to chateau, as Tempest stalks every step of the fiery beauty who has become his obsession. A story of dark love and passionate obsession that was considered "too sensational" to be published in the authors lifetime, A Long Fatal Love Chase was written for magazine serialization in 1866, two years before the publication of Little Women. Buried among Louisa May Alcott's papers for more than a century, its publication is a literary landmark—a novel that is bold, timeless, and mesmerizing."
How hard would you fight if you only had a sliver of hope? Elijah Stacy suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal muscle wasting disease. At the age of sixteen, to avoid agonizing surgery, he had to endure enough physical therapy to change the shape of his own spine. It had never been done before, but still, his doctor gave him a small "if." In A Small If, Elijah shares thirteen lessons he's learned throughout his life's journey of losing his ability to walk, getting bullied in school, losing his brother Max to Duchenne, and learning that his other brother has the same disease. Elijah explains how to overcome extreme suffering by developing an adapter's mindset, understanding what it means to control something rather than influencing it, and using other people's negative energy as the ultimate motivation. Today, Elijah's mission to minimize human suffering and propel human prosperity is fueling his ambition to cure his disease. He's been told he has less than ten years to live, but he's faced long odds before. Sometimes, all you need is A Small If.
What won’t we try in our quest for perfect health, beauty, and the fountain of youth? Well, just imagine a time when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When liquefied gold was touted as immortality in a glass. And when strychnine—yes, that strychnine, the one used in rat poison—was dosed like Viagra. Looking back with fascination, horror, and not a little dash of dark, knowing humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices. Ranging from the merely weird to the outright dangerous, here are dozens of outlandish, morbidly hilarious “treatments”—conceived by doctors and scientists, by spiritualists and snake oil salesmen (yes, they literally tried to sell snake oil)—that were predicated on a range of cluelessness, trial and error, and straight-up scams. With vintage illustrations, photographs, and advertisements throughout, Quackery seamlessly combines macabre humor with science and storytelling to reveal an important and disturbing side of the ever-evolving field of medicine.
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING MAZE RUNNER SERIES • “[A] mysterious survival saga that passionate fans describe as a fusion of Lord of the Flies [and] The Hunger Games” (Entertainment Weekly) WICKED has taken everything from Thomas: his life, his memories, and now his only friends—the Gladers. But it’s finally over. The trials are complete, after one final test. What WICKED doesn’t know is that Thomas remembers far more than they think. And it’s enough to prove that he can’t believe a word of what they say. Thomas beat the Maze. He survived the Scorch. He’ll risk anything to save his friends. But the truth might be what ends it all. The time for lies is over. The first two books, The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials, are also #1 worldwide blockbuster movies featuring the star of MTV's Teen Wolf, Dylan O'Brien; Kaya Scodelario; Aml Ameen; Will Poulter; and Thomas Brodie-Sangster! Look for more books in the blockbuster Maze Runner series: THE MAZE RUNNER • THE SCORCH TRIALS • THE DEATH CURE • THE KILL ORDER • THE FEVER CODE
Killer Cure will change forever how you think about your health and health care. Leaving conventional wisdom in the dust, Killer Cure reveals startling and unforgettable insights: -Why health care in America accidentally kills 12,000 people each week -- even though every doctor and nurse you know is terrific -Why health care's hidden assumptions about you are almost certain to damage your health -- and what you can do about it -Why health care's focus on solving yesterday's problems may reduce life expectancy in the U.S. -- by as much as five years -Why you might want to become CEO of your own health and health care -- and how to go about it The root cause of America's health care crisis is that health care is not about you. Health care is not designed to help you enjoy good health. It is designed to help doctors take action: write prescriptions, perform surgery, etc. That focus hurts you in two ways: -First, those actions are likely to damage you nearly as often as they help you because of side effects, complications, and other problems with care delivery. For example, hospital ICUs (Intensive Care Units) have a remarkable number of characteristics in common with prison camps for terrorist suspects. People die needless deaths as a result. -Second, the focus on actions the doctor takes crowds out actions you could take that would often get you better outcomes. For example, more than 100,000 people a year get a foot or leg amputated instead of learning simple ways to prevent foot infections in the first place. To get better results, the health care system first needs to embrace a new purpose: to enable people to lead the lives they want. Three further changes are necessary: -The first is a social revolution akin to freeing the slaves or granting women the right to vote. With this revolution, the health care system will no longer treat the people it serves as if they were second-class citizens whose intelligence, values, priorities, and needs can safely be ignored while others call the shots. -The second is more realistic expectations about what health care can deliver. -The third is management of health care as a process -- connecting the dots among actions that are uncoordinated today. Killer Cure provides a tool kit to help you safeguard your life until these changes take place. Before closing, the book makes surprising predictions concerning a future in which health care is about you. At the end of Killer Cure is a Readers' Discussion Guide. It is offered to aid you in thinking about and discussing both the book and your own health care experiences.
