by Sherri Fink
First published 2013
Physician and journalist Sheri Fink examines what happened at Memorial Medical Center during Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. When floodwaters surrounded the hospital, power systems failed, and temperatures soared, medical staff worked without resources to keep patients alive. Exhausted doctors and nurses made agonizing decisions about which patients to evacuate first. Some caregivers allegedly gave lethal injections to hasten deaths of certain patients. Months later, criminal charges followed. Fink spent six years investigating these events. She reveals the impossible choices healthcare workers faced when disaster struck. The book explores how unprepared America remains for large scale emergencies. Fink examines the ethics of medical triage during crisis and exposes the reality of rationing care when resources disappear. Her reporting shows what happens to human judgment under extreme pressure and how medical professionals navigate life and death decisions when normal systems collapse.
Genres: medical, non-fiction, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: ethical-dilemma, investigative-journalism
Setting: Memorial Medical Center
Period: Hurricane Katrina
558 pages · Hardcover · Crown
Content warnings: death, medical-trauma