Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital

Product Information

Franzini, A.; Marras, C.; Ferroli, P.; Zorzi, G.; Bugiani, O.; Romito, L.; Broggi, G. Long-term high-frequency bilateral pallidal stimulation for neuroleptic-induced tardive dystonia. J. Neurosurg. 2005, 102, 721–725. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] We then take the walk around the central administrative hub of the intensive care unit (ICU), where a safe space is secured in the event a high-profile politician or diplomat comes in with trauma or another life-threatening condition. I stop to introduce them to Maria, the secretary to the surgical intensive care unit, and the chief resident on neurosurgery. I look in on the fifteen members of the trauma team that surrounds the bed of a young woman who lies in a coma after her motorcycle was hit by a distracted octogenarian behind the wheel. She was launched into a low orbit that caused multiple cranial fractures, internal bleeding, and swelling that killed all tissue above her brain stem. The doctors are carrying out some of the tests we relied on completely before the age of CT scans. Do the pupils react to light? Are they equal in size? Do you see doll’s eyes moving together when you rotate the head to one side and the other? She has fine features and long dark hair. For an instant she reminds me of my daughter, and I look away. They are around the same age. Too painful to think about. A story about Arnie, a Wall Street high-flyer who loses everything to drug and alcohol addiction, is less cohesive yet still saddening. While it’s easy to hate a man who grew wealthy off the losses of others, Arnie pays dearly. Even when he manages to clean up, he’s left unemployed, with the fallout of angry ex-wives and deeply troubled adult children. et his story ends on a fragile note; we learn nothing about what happens to him. Closing this vignette, Manheimer writes: “I… pondered the nature of forgiveness.” Don’t we all. Koyama, Hiroshi, Hideo Mure, Ryoma Morigaki, Ryosuke Miyamoto, Kazuhisa Miyake, Taku Matsuda, Koji Fujita, Yuishin Izumi, Ryuji Kaji, Satoshi Goto, those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or

Summary and reviews of Twelve Patients by Eric Manheimer

Guerra stands up, a bit shaky, and introduces me to his family as the “ mero mero” or the man who would help explain his treatments. We shake hands and trade the bachata CDs we’ve both brought, the rhythmically contagious music from the Dominican Republic. In fact, Juan Guerra and I like to joke about his tocayo or namesake, Juan Luis Guerra, one of the most popular bachateros in the world, who sells out Madison Square Garden in an hour. While infamous for its mental hospital, Bellevue has long been more than a mental care facility. From its beginnings in 1763, Bellevue is the longest-running hospital in the United States. Its services are extensive, its facilities state-of-the-art. Manheimer is justifiably proud to work there. I very much wanted to like "Twelve Patients" by Eric Manheimer, MD but struggled at times to do so. The memoir was ambitious covering everything from prison reform to foster care and Dr. Manheimer's stories moved me. Many patients like Tanisha, the teenager who grew up in foster care, and Soraya, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, left me in awe of the staggering hardships they endured. Arnie's story was particularly important and for the most part well done--it's hard to overstate the perniciousness and pervasiveness of our current opioid crisis. And Jeffrey's struggle with severe mental illness poignantly highlighted the devastating impact such illnesses can have on patients as well as their families. Dr. Manheimer himself reminded me of my dad, who was a doctor's doctor and recently died of cancer. Little details like his daughter inviting him out for dinner at their usual place made me misty-eyed. I finished the book, but I did not enjoy the read. I did not care for his writing style, and I skimmed portions waiting for the author to get the point. He also had this odd habit of introducing upfront the ethnic origin of every non-white character in the book, and it seems he might have been the only American born character in the book the way it reads. It's actually annoying. I think he was going for ethnic diversity, but is that what he thinks every single time he sees to an immigrant - cataloging their ethnic origin?Manheimer counts himself amongst the 12 patients. He developed a squamous cell carcinoma near his throat, necessitating grueling treatment—platinum chemotherapy and radiation. His weight dropped from a healthy 155 pounds to a skeletal 123. Unable to swallow, he dripped Ensure through a line into his belly. Radiation left him too exhausted to function. Ill and depressed, he withdrew, indifferent even to his grandson’s birth. He attributes much of his recovery to wife Diana. If his suffering helps him connect to his patients, he doesn’t say so. Learn from me. You go in, you enlist and choose carefully who you hang with, and you stay away from drugs—nothing in the vein, up the nose, nothing. You do that and the odds shift right away.” Ostrem, J.L.; Starr, P.A. Treatment of dystonia with deep brain stimulation. Neurotherapeutics 2008, 5, 320–330. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] [ PubMed] Guerra, don’t give up now. You’ll be home soon. You have to save your strength for your treatment. Don’t make it harder for your wife or for your son.” The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. References

Twelve Patients, One Ailing Book: ‘Twelve Patients: Life and Twelve Patients, One Ailing Book: ‘Twelve Patients: Life and

Quién te manda, jefe?” she rejoins. “You are your own taskmaster. So today, the UN Secret Service folks are coming in to make sure we’re ready for the upcoming General Assembly meeting next week. God forbid they take a shot at one of those world-leader types and he ends up here. The Mexican minister of health will pop in to discuss health care for Mexican migrants.” She goes down the list and finishes with:“By the way, Budd called down from the prison health unit asking if you would run up to say good-bye to Juan Guerra, who is to be discharged on compassionate release.” I ask her about Guerra. “No news,” she says, “but they’ve got a whiff of the problem. It’s hard for them, after everything they’ve been through. The possibility now that he won’t get out seems more than they can bear.”We’d filed the papers for compassionate release with the prosecuting attorney, a recent Harvard Law School grad (as she let me know in the first three minutes of our conversation), and we attempted to call her office a dozen times without a response. Finally, I called on connections. The husband of one of my attending physicians was a prosecuting attorney with a bright political future. He was eventually successful in getting his colleague to return my call. You have to eat, Guerra, or you’re going to get weaker. You need all the strength you have for this. We will use the stomach tube now exclusively to feed you, so no worry about swallowing at all. You will reteach yourself how to swallow when you’re stronger. Your throat muscles will learn again.”