Cook County ICU: 30 Years of Unforgettable Patients and Odd Cases

by Cory Franklin MD Narrated by John Pruden

Overview

Filled with stories of strange medical cases and unforgettable patients culled from a thirty-year career in medicine, Cook County ICU offers listeners a peek into the inner workings of a hospital. Author Cory Franklin, MD, who headed the hospital's intensive care unit from the 1970s through the 1990s, shares his most unique and bizarre experiences, including the deadly Chicago heatwave of 1995, treating the first AIDS patients in the country before the disease was diagnosed, the nurse with rare Muchausen syndrome, the only surviving ricin victim, and the professor with Alzheimer's hiding the effects of the wrong medication. Surprising, darkly humorous, heartwarming, and sometimes tragic, these stories provide a big-picture look at how the practice of medicine has changed over the years, making it a must-listen for patients, doctors, and anyone with an interest in medicine.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

07/13/2015
Franklin, former ICU director of Chicago’s Cook County Hospital, girds his memoir with a simple yet powerful philosophy: as his medical career has been guided by his heart, he wants his profession as a whole to be grounded in empathy. The stories in this deeply humanist collection feature former patients, some well known and many well loved; remarkable fellow doctors prone to extreme arrogance; medical mysteries solved without the sleuths receiving their due attention; close encounters with celebrities; and Franklin’s own fleeting celebrity, including his technical advisor role on the Harrison Ford thriller The Fugitive. But Franklin, whose father also worked at Cook County, mostly writes of his love for a revered “charity hospital,” his profession, and the patients who made them both memorable. One such patient was CW, an elderly man whose heart was failing due to a bacterial infection caused by pulling out a tooth with some pliers. The “fancy doctors” scoffed at this “simple man from Texas who had no access to a dentist and no other recourse,” writes Franklin; “they had lost their empathy for people like CW long ago.” In a medical landscape dominated by “big business, a maze of profit centers, and bureaucracy,” Franklin’s fond memories contain seeds of pessimism about the future. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

"Longtime doctor and first-rate observer Cory Franklin writes that, in the emergency room, ‘the day shift was rap music, the evening shift was easy listening, and the overnight shift was jazz.’ Franklin is an overnighter, riffing on practitioners and patients, jamming with equal parts pride and regret about his fascinating and sometimes brutal world.” —Marilyn Johnson, author of Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble



“For those who know Cook County Hospital or trained there as I did, this book will rekindle emotions from those times. I can honestly say that this book is a phenomenal, funny yet poignant read. It’s a ‘must read’ for anyone interested in Chicago institutions and legends in medicine.” —George Bakris, MD, FASN, FAHA, Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago Medicine



“The Cook County Hospital intensive care unit was the focal point whereupon Chicagoans in the inner city either survived or succumbed to the rigors of urban life. Using a combination of clinical anecdotes from all phases of his medical career and historical notes, Dr. Franklin resuscitates the Cook County ICU, bringing it back to life for the reader. A must read for anyone interested in the historical landscape of Chicago critical care.” —Jerrold B. Leikin, MD



“[a] deeply humanist collection.” —Publishers Weekly


“For readers who enjoy true-medicine stories, this is one of those reward-yourself kinds of books filled with anecdotes you’ll eat up. It’s compelling, comic, and constantly addicting so, for you, missing Cook County ICU would be very wrong.” —The Bookworm Sez


"a fascinating book of interesting medical cases brought to life." —Blogging Astrid

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171210861
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	03/22/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos