'Five Days at Memorial' by Sheri Fink

Five Days at Memorial; Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital, Sheri Fink (4)

This may have to be my last sad non-fiction book for a while. I first heard of this book on ‘The Daily Show’, where John Stewart interviewed the author and highly recommended reading this retelling of the horrific events at a hospital in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina. Though rather long and a bit tough to keep track of all the players, the majority of the book is riveting. The core drama is about the lack of disaster preparedness and the frightening conditions and actions taken by a few staff members of the hospital. Ms. Fink, a former relief worker in disaster and conflict zones, specializes in reporting from a physician’s point of view during such events. As terrible as the situation and the actions of many people were, she tells the story non-judgmentally and from alternating points of view. The first half of the book deals with the events, as seen from a variety of participants. The second half is the ‘reckoning’, the aftermath of all that happened at Memorial and other hospitals in the area. The sadness of this book is not only from the actual events that occurred at this hospital, but of the politics, corruption and incompetence during the aftermath. Some of victims’ families definitely did not get justice for the treatment of their loved ones. This book also makes you consider how different people react during crises and what they use to justify their actions. Given how thoughtful and well educated the doctors in question are, their actions were scary and reprehensible.