Critical Conditions: An Alan Gregory Thriller (Alan Gregory)

Book Description

An emergency call brings Dr. Alan Gregory to an ICU where fifteen-year-old Merritt Strait is recovering from a suicide attempt. Her stepsister already lies near death-after being refused an experimental treatment that could save her life. When an executive with the family's HMO is shot dead, Alan discovers the shocking truth about Merritt-and a family that will stop at nothing to save its own.

Customer Reviews:

Couldn't Put it Down..........2007-10-02

Yet another fine installment in the Alan Gregory series. This time, author Stephen White takes on managed health care and HMO's. He has a 15 year old patient who has attempted suicide and almost was successful. Her family is in the midst of dealing with their HMO regarding an experimental drug for their younger daughter. White weaves the tale intricately and soon has us immersed in the story. I think this book is best enjoyed as part of the series and one would benefit from reading the earlier books. I really liked the side of Detective Sam Purdy in this one.

Critical Conditions.......2007-04-12

My second Stephen White book (Priviledged Information) and I wasn't disappointed. A great read and would recommend reading it after "Privileged." I really like Dr. Alan Gregory's character. Smart, ethical and compassionate. A wonderful author

A superior psychological thriller.......2005-04-12

One of the best of White's thrillers...
The book gives an insight into the fascinating world of Psychology which Dr. Alan master with great talent. With a very difficult patient who insists on not talking and with time running out for her little sister who is dying, the puzzle started to be solved one step at the time.

I always finish White's books with a feeling for more. Can't wait to read his next one...

Good but not the best of the series.......2005-03-31

As in the other books in the series, White uses twists and turns in the plot to keep the story moving and the readers guessing. His writing is often funny and never overly wordy. Managed care seems to be an underlying theme in the novel, and the author obviously has strong opinions about it, but it's pretty much incorporated into the natural story line; the readers are not slammed over the head with the message. This book won't keep you on the edge of your seat, but it will keep you interested.

Mature-immature-devious-charming Kid.......2004-10-19

The problem with writing about kids, particularly teenagers, is that we have gratefully forgotten what a difficult, scary, uncharted journey adolescence was for us. And I'm just talking about acne and skinny arms (or chests)! Imagine what we would feel like if we had terminally ill sibs?

As a result we have pushed to the more distant recesses of our memory what we did or even more significantly, why we did it. So the 15-year old ingenue in White's excellent murder mystery is at times conniving, relentless, obsessed, beautiful, kid-like, confused along with all of the other formed and unformed virtue/vices of kids placed in life and death circumstances. Or what we imagine those to be.

Her infant sister is dying of a rare disease necessitating, if it will work at all, an expensive heart transplant. Each member of the family has made tremendous sacrifices and then Merritt, the 15-year old, is charged with the murder of the CEO of the insurance provider who rejected the application for the transplant. Did she? Didn't she? Who did? And what else went on?

White weaves in the usual suspects, the gruff Sam Purdy, the lovely but also ill wife Lauren, his (not so) "normal" colleagues, a couple of Colorado Avalanche hockey games . . . even the loyal dog Emily makes several appearances.

Hard to believe, I suppose, to paraphrase Churchill, that so much could happen to so few so close to eachother at the same time. Yet, a relentless mystery for Dr. Alan Gregory to solve who despite impressive credentials, remains "everyman" under these painful circumstances.

Larry Scantlebury. 4 stars.

Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big Business--and Bad Medicine

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Has to be the next book you read!!!!!
Excellent book
Good research, but flawed
More than food for thought
The Time Is Now For Health Care Finance Reform!

Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big Business--and Bad Medicine
Donald L. Barlett , and James B. Steele
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Personal Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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Health Care Delivery | Administration & Policy | Medicine | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0767910753
Release Date: 2005-10-11

Book Description

Exposing the most controversial, little-known practices of America’s most flawed system, Time magazine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative team pulls back the curtain on the health care industry to explain exactly how things grew so out of control.

Dirty examination and operating rooms in doctor’s offices and hospitals . . . Health care executives pulling in millions in bonuses for denying treatment to the sick . . . More than 100 million people with inadequate or no medical coverage . . . This may sound like the predicament of a third-world nation, but this is America’s health care reality today. The U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation, yet our benefits are shrinking and life expectancy is shorter here than in countries that spend significantly less per capita. Meanwhile, HMOs, pharmaceutical companies, and hospital chains reap tremendous profits, while politicians—beholden to insurers and drug companies—enact legislation for the benefit of the few rather than the many, while the entire system is on the verge of collapse.

In Critical Condition, award-winning investigative journalists Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele expose the horror of what health care in America has become. They profile patients and doctors trapped by the system and offer startling personal stories that illuminate what’s gone wrong. Doctors tell of being second-guessed and undermined by health care insurers; nurses recount chilling tales of hospital meltdowns; patients explain how they’ve been victimized by a system that is meant to care for them. Drug companies profit by selling pills in the same manner that Madison Avenue sells soap, while Wall Street rakes in billions by building up and then tearing down health care businesses. And politicians pass legislation perpetuating the injustices and out-right fraud the system encourages.

By analyzing the industry and offering an insightful prescription for getting it back on the right track, Critical Condition is an enormously compelling investigative work that addresses the concerns of every American.

Download Description

Exposing the most controversial, little-known practices of America's most flawed system, Time magazine's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative team pulls back the curtain on the health care industry to explain exactly how things grew so out of control.

Dirty examination and operating rooms in doctor's offices and hospitals…Health care executives pulling in millions in bonuses for denying treatment to the sick…More than 100 million people with inadequate or no medical coverage…This may sound like the predicament of a third-world nation, but this is America's health care reality today. The U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation, yet our benefits are shrinking and life expectancy is shorter here than in countries that spend significantly less per capita. Meanwhile, HMOs, pharmaceutical companies, and hospital chains reap tremendous profits, while politicians—beholden to insurers and drug companies—enact legislation for the benefit of the few rather than the many, while the entire system is on the verge of collapse.

In CRITICAL CONDITION, award-winning investigative journalists Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele expose the horror of what health care in America has become. They profile patients and doctors trapped by the system and offer startling personal stories that illuminate what's gone wrong. Doctors tell of being second-guessed and undermined by health care insurers; nurses recount chilling tales of hospital meltdowns; patients explain how they've been victimized by a system that is meant to care for them. Drug companies profit by selling pills in the same manner that Madison Avenue sells soap, while Wall Street rakes in billions by building up and then tearing down health care businesses. And politicians pass legislation perpetuating the injustices and out-right fraud the system encourages.

By analyzing the industry and offering an insightful prescription for getting it back on the right track, CRITICAL CONDITION is an enormously compelling investigative work that addresses the concerns of every American.

Customer Reviews:

Has to be the next book you read!!!!!.......2007-07-27

Everybody who is fed up with the current U.S. health care situation needs to take the time to read this book. It is written for the masses who need a general understanding of how this for-profit system is ruining the quality of life of millions of Americans. Especially with the 2008 presidential election in full gear, this book will give you enough basic information about our existing health care system to put the pressure on all of the 2008 presidential candidates to endorse a national single-payer health care system covering all Americans. Finally, putting us on par with every other "developed" and "civilized" nation on Earth. Excellent work by Barrett.

Excellent book.......2007-06-20

I watched Sicko and loved it. I hated the reality it showed. The problem is I didn't want to jump on his bandwagon until I did some more reading on my own.

On some website, someone wrote that they highly recommend this book. I borrowed it from the library.

This takes Sicko and multiplies its intensity by 10. It's too bad the authors couldn't get the power of visuals and sound that movies, like Moore's enjoys. Otherwise this book would HAMMER this country so hard, it would tremble.

If you liked Sicko, but want more, READ THIS BOOK! If you hated Sicko, READ THIS BOOK, to get a dose of reality. Anti-moore fans can't say much after reading this book because Moore has nothing to do with this.

While I would have liked some graphs/charts or some another illustrative, visual way to reinforce the facts, this book is GREAT! Please read it!

Good research, but flawed.......2007-03-22

This seems to be a well-researched book and I think they do an excellent job of exploring the problem of health care in the USA today. In my opinion, however, they don't go far enough in their exploration.

The authors talk about the high cost of medical treatment. There's no denying the expense. I'm aware of more than one time when a patient has received needed care only because family and friends raised the money to pay for it. However, the way that government interference contributes to the jacked up prices is barely mentioned. (An example from a few years ago in the news, in a western state, all insurers were required by law to cover everyone who came to them, even those dying of incurable diseases. As a direct consequence of the new law, the prices of both medical treatment and insurance rates rose dramatically.)

The authors talk about how many pills are marketed and overprescribed (and I agree with them on this), but again, they don't consider in any depth the government's contribution to the problem. The DEA is waging major war on painkillers. Physicians are intimidated into not prescribing needed painkillers. This artificial market control is raising prices, as well as lowering the quality of health care and hurting people who desperately need those drugs. The authors also ignore how very affordable drugs are kept illegal by federal regulation, despite state voters voting to make them legal.

Where they really flounder, however, is when they propose their solution. They give an unconvincing plan of getting the government involved to wisely and charitably make sure everyone gets the competent medical services they need. This seems to me to be more about what government *should* do rather than what it likely would do. The government is a major part of the problem now. How is it going to change and become the solution if it takes direct control?

It seems to me that they haven't thought through their position. For instance, they write:

"Resistance [to our suggested health care reform] would come from health care providers themselves; from insurers, some of whom would go out of business; from some in the U.S. government bureaucracy who would lose control; from the antitax community; from some physicians and individuals who are content with their personal situations, and most of all, from members of Congress who benefit so handsomely from free-market health care."

I was confused by this because of how often they said most of these people were desperate for change. For example, this statement:

"We have a system in such constant turmoil that almost everyone is unhappy--patients, doctors, nurses, aides, technicians. Almost everyone. But for a lucky few, the turmoil is worth a lot of money."

If all but a "lucky few" are unhappy, then why would they resist change? This goes against what they said repeatedly before the chapter on their propopsed remedy, including some compelling anecdotes of these people who'd resist having been disillusioned and alienated from the system as it is. And why would this government that already has control dread losing control by getting even more control? For that matter, if the government is dysfunctional now, why wouldn't it continue to be dysfunctional later? And if their remedy wouldn't add any costs to society but replace existing taxes, then why would antitax people resist it so bitterly? While the antitax folk might resist any taxes, I'm pretty sure they'd rather taxes go for health care than for the wars at home and abroad and the other things that make people ashamed or angry to be forced to pay for.

I also wish they had spent more time considering how health care works in other countries. I'm not sure that the Scandinavean model could work for the USA because of how different the two places are in population and character, but I would've liked more discussion of the possibilities. I was intrigued by what they said about the system in France, but again, they didn't go into details. I'm also interested in hearing more about Thai health care, which I understand is affordable and excellent despite no national coverage (and popular with some Americans who can afford to go there to get it).

In general, I wish that they'd have explored other, already functioning systems more, and looked at why our FDA is so inferior in ethics and practice to its counterparts in other countries, as well as considering in more depth why (or why not) another country's system could work for us.

Also, from their description, it sounds as if health care was good in the USA until Wall Street, supported by their cronies in Congress, took the medical business over. If that is true, why not focus on getting Wall Street out, instead of the government in? Especially given how badly the government has done so far?

Overall, I think this book is important in understanding the problem of health care in the USA today, though not sufficient all by itself. I'm sorry the authors didn't put more thought into proposing solutions for us to get out of this mess.

More than food for thought.......2006-01-04

The book could have been shorter, without a lot of the individual "sob stories", which I know help sensationalize a news article, but made the book drag on for me.

The authors hit the nail on the head when they bring up all the bankruptcies and foreclosures in our country due to health care costs, and also the horrible cost-shifting that gets placed onto the uninsured among us to support the deep discounts that Medicare, Medicaid and now a plethora of insurers have negotiated with providers.

I'm a dentist, and do not participate in plans which would insist on my discounting services to certain groups. If I am going to discount them (and I do) they are to those less fortunate in life financially, and are not determined by someone's age, race, or employer.

The fact that we have a bizarre system where your health care is tied to who you work for is perverse. The fact that this very system drives up costs for uninsured people, while taking more money out of direct health care and more into insurance company administration and profit is sickening.

I don't have the answers to our problem, but I think that this book is the foundation for much dialogue and debate.

The Time Is Now For Health Care Finance Reform!.......2005-08-23

I am running for Congress in Maryland's first district with health care finance reform as my number one priority. This book contained valuable data to help shore up my position. Read this book, make sure you're registered to vote, then let's elect a progressive, reform-minded Democratic majority into Congress!
Visit [...] for information on how to contribute to our campaign for health care finance reform.

Islam and Globalization: Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies

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Islam and Globalization: Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies
Akbarza Sharam
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Economic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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General | Islam | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0415353572

Book Description

Globalization has opened up non-Western societies to forces of economic, political and cultural liberalism for the first time, and this process has had a profound effect upon Islamic societies, causing unease and concern among many Muslims.

The conflict between Islam and globalization and the West is perhaps the most pressing issue in the post-September 11th era, and the articles reprinted in this set represent the shape of international relations--conciliatory and otherwise--between the two civilizations in the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

With a general introduction by the editor, the volumes include articles by leading scholars that initially examine the various ways in which Islam has tried to protect itself against the encroachment of the West, before investigating a more outward-looking Islam that encourages religious reformism and evolution in order to contend with the new challenges and priorities of a global community.

Social Problems: A Critical Thinking Approach

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wonderful introduction

Social Problems: A Critical Thinking Approach
Paul J. Baker , Louis E. Anderson , and Dean S. Dorn
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

History & Surveys | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0534190146

Book Description

Instead of just describing social problems, this book helps students develop active critical thinking skills through evaluating and analyzing readings from social scientists and journalists on major social problems. The authors goal is to teach students to be lifelong critical consumers of journalistic and social scientific accounts of all kinds of social problems.

Customer Reviews:

wonderful introduction.......1998-10-21

More of a primer on critical thinking than simply a textbook on social problems, Dorn, Anderson and Baker have created a eminently useful and rewarding collection of excercises and articles in this newest edition of their popular text.

While this book was never used in any classes I took, I did take an undergraduate critical thinking class in the Sociology department at CSU Sacramento at the same time that Dean Dorn was teaching there. I think he integrated some of what Andy Hiken, who taught that class, used; the structured and extensive frameworks for critical thinking excercises and other bits and pieces of the curriculum. I have read this text and others that use a similar model and find that the Dorn/Baker/Anderson book is useful, rewarding and especially interesting for use in an undergraduate environment.

Average customer rating:

Great book for Social/Urban Studies

Helpful for Grad Students

Exciting view of the City

Postmetropolis: Critical Studies of Cities and Regions
Edward W. Soja
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Rural | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory

Thirdspace: Expanding the Geographical Imagination

The Production of Space

Splintering Urbanism: Networked Infrastructures, Technological Mobilities and the Urban Condition

The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo.

ASIN: 1577180011

Book Description

Postmetropolis completes Edward Soja's trilogy aimed at expanding the scope and critical insight of our spatial imaginations. Applying the theoretical frameworks developed in Postmodern Geographies (1989) and Thirdspace (1996), it is the first comprehensive text in the growing field of critical urban and regional studies to deal with the dramatically restructured megacities that emerged worldwide over the last half of the twentieth century. At its core is a lively discussion of six discourses that have coalesced around explaining what Soja calls the postmetropolitan transition, a major sea change in how we live in cities and experience urbanism as a way of life. To provide depth to these discussions, the book begins with a rethinking of the debates on the origins of cities, the geohistorical evolution of urban form, and the dynamic relations between society and space in the specific context of urban agglomerations.In addition to being an innovative text in urban and regional studies and an insightful application of new approaches to interpreting the spatiality of human life, Postmetropolis is also a book about contemporary Los Angeles, a vivid and far-reaching interpretation of its turbulent recent history and geography. The book concludes with a look back to the civil unrest of 1992 to portray the postmetropolis in explosive crisis as well as to draw some hope for the future based on new coalition-based struggles for spatial justice and regional democracy.

Customer Reviews:

Great book for Social/Urban Studies.......2006-03-09

This book is very excellent for those who are interested in Urban Studies. The author argued that instead of looking at the city as a product of agriculture community, rather, the city should be concerned as a catalyst for those agricultural activities. Without the city, the agriculture wouldn't exist! Interesting argument. Such a paradigm shift in understanding the city.

Helpful for Grad Students.......2004-02-05

The core of the book is a section of 6 chapters, each focusing on a key issue of post modern debate about megacities. I found this extremely helpful because each one starts with a list of 20 of the most important books about the issue, and contains Soja's summary of the main arguments of 4 or 5 important writers with occasionally enlightening commentary. It is Soja's own analysis that tends to fall flat, however. He criticizes the traditional left as not understanding the complexeties of modern cities, but the only examples he gives of modern progressive sucess stories are based on the kind of community organization coalitions pioneered by orthodox leftists like Saul Alinsky. Perhaps to counter it being written off so much as an anomoly, Soja overstates the case for Los Angeles as the model postmodern megacity. In order to do that he has to avoid talking about the main difference between it and larger cities like London, New York, Tokyo or São Paulo - its near total lack of what Oldenburg calls 3rd places: public, non-consumerist spaces where people socialize away from work and home. Soja mistakenly labels advocates of pedestrian friendly cities like Jane Jacobs as "nostalgic", ignoring the positive social factors that vibrant street live gives to every other city with over 10 million inhabitants in the World. He is also occasionally misleading in his statistics, repeatedly siting one neighborhood in LA as being more densily populated than the borough of Manhatten (which has a large non-residential business district and two huge parks), downplaying LAs sprawl problem. On the whole, however, it is a very helpful book to read if you are an urban studies student needing to familiarize yourself with current debates in postmodern urban theory.

Exciting view of the City.......2001-03-07

The city as a phenomenon has gone through major changes. Mr Soja displays some extraordinary visions and views of this phenomenon and invites us to an exciting journey of the urban and regional concept.Quite recommendable if you are interested in the subject and already know a bit about it.

Culture and Development: A Critical Introduction

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Culture and Development: A Critical Introduction
Jane Haggis , and Susanne Schech
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Policy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Development & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0631209514

Book Description

This book introduces students to new ways of thinking about culture and development. The book integrates the recent scholarship in the area of cultural studies within the existing frameworks of development studies, which have primarily focused on issues of political economy and structural transformation. Rather than viewing culture as simply an attribute of the societies undergoing development, this text critically examines how development itself operates as a cultural process. The authors draw on theories of modernity, poststructuralism and post-colonial studies to show how development institutions, processes and practices are inevitably caught up in a web of cultural presuppositions, values and meanings.The authors use the themes of gender, tradition and identity, human rights and new communication technologies to explore the challenges that processes of cultural change pose to conventional understandings of development. The book concludes by considering the move beyond development to a post-development paradigm.The book is made up of thematic chapters which include outlines and overviews of the specific topics, as well as case studies to illustrate the issues. The authors have designed the book specifically for students and teachers and the material included has been class-tested during their own teaching.

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Nothing new
Fast Paced Medical Thriller
Another solid medical thriller by Clement
A Must Read
Unauthorized research has fatal consequences.

Critical Condition
Peter Clement
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0345443403
Release Date: 2003-08-26

Book Description

In the heat of a passionate encounter, ecstasy suddenly turns to terror for renowned geneticist and TV personality Dr. Kathleen Sullivan. Stricken by a brain hemorrhage, she is rendered completely paralyzed and speechless . . . but still utterly aware; a prisoner inside her own body.

Kathleen is rushed to a Manhattan hospital, her chances of survival slim. Even if she pulls through, the likelihood that she’ll sustain permanent brain damage is near one hundred percent. But neither outcome can compare to the insidious fate in store for her masterminded by the very people entrusted with saving her life. As her lover, ER chief Richard Steele, watches and waits for a miracle, Kathleen becomes a pawn in a clandestine plot that runs deeper than medical politics–and reaches into the highest echelons of power at New York City Hospital.

Placed in the hands, and at the mercy, of revered Chief of Neurosurgery Dr. Tony Hamlin, Kathleen descends into a waking nightmare. Powerless to resist the sinister experiments she is subjected to, and unable to cry out for help, she must fight desperately to communicate her tortured, trapped thoughts to Steele–before her tormentors can carry their bizarre and potentially lethal work to its completion.

Ruthlessly determined to achieve their goals, the secret cabal of ambitious physicians will go to any length to avoid discovery, defy the law, and make medical history at all costs . . . even the human life they are sworn to preserve.

For anyone who has ever had a mortal fear of hospitals, and the sense of powerlessness that often transpires within their cold, sterile corridors, Peter Clement’s Critical Condition will provide chilling new nightmares–along with infectious suspense.

From the Hardcover edition.

Download Description

Kathleen is rushed to a Manhattan hospital, her chances of survival slim. Even if she pulls through, the likelihood that she'll sustain permanent brain damage is near one hundred percent. But neither outcome can compare to the insidious fate in store for her masterminded by the very people entrusted with saving her life. As her lover, ER chief Richard Steele, watches and waits for a miracle, Kathleen becomes a pawn in a clandestine plot that runs deeper than medical politics—and reaches into the highest echelons of power at New York City Hospital.

Placed in the hands, and at the mercy, of revered Chief of Neurosurgery Dr. Tony Hamlin, Kathleen descends into a waking nightmare. Powerless to resist the sinister experiments she is subjected to, and unable to cry out for help, she must fight desperately to communicate her tortured, trapped thoughts to Steele—before her tormentors can carry their bizarre and potentially lethal work to its completion.

Ruthlessly determined to achieve their goals, the secret cabal of ambitious physicians will go to any length to avoid discovery, defy the law, and make medical history at all costs... even the human life they are sworn to preserve.

For anyone who has ever had a mortal fear of hospitals, and the sense of powerlessness that often transpires within their cold, sterile corridors, Peter Clement's Critical Condition will provide chilling new nightmares—along with infectious suspense.

"Clement's twenty years as an emergency physician and family doctor result in novels of stunning suspense grounded by an insider's view of medical science."
   THE TORONTO STAR

Customer Reviews:

Nothing new.......2006-03-29

The theme of this book is not new. The plot goes out of the main story explaining surgeries that nobody'll do unless a M.D. and that gets boring. The way Kathleen saves herself is a fairytale and the way Dr. Morris and Dr. Downs save their selves is pathetic.

Fast Paced Medical Thriller.......2005-08-24

Dr. Kathleen Sullivan and Dr. Richard Steele have returned (Mutant). Sullivan suffers a severe brain hemorrhage and finds herself totally paralyzed, but completely awake and aware. She is given a questionable treatment by the Chief of Neurosurgery. It is left to Steele to determine what a group of doctors in his hospital are up to. Throw in a fanatical murderer on the loose who is killing doctors, and you have a fast paced thriller. Clement has developed some intriguing characters for this outing. Realistic descriptions of stem cell research add to the mix. The skulking killer was a bit over the top, but needed, I suppose, for the suspense. Overall, a good read with a very exciting conclusion.

Another solid medical thriller by Clement.......2005-06-27

I really enjoy Peter Clement's books. It would be really easy to write way over our laymens heads, since he is a doctor, but he seems to always be aware of his reader's limited medical knowledge and writes accordingly. His books are packed with mystery and suspense. His characters are always interesting and believable. Critical Condition delivers like all his others.

Dr. Sullivan has a stroke and wakes up to find that while she is totally aware of her surroundings, she is trapped inside a body that will not respond. The only way she is able to communicate is by blinking her eyes to yes & no questions. Her lover, E.R. physician Richard Steele is desperate to find a way to help restore her life to normal. There are doctors at the hospital that have been experimenting with stem cells, and they may be able to help, but at what cost? When things don't go the way these physicians planned, will Dr. Sullivan be capable of making those around her understand there is a plot to kill her?

This was an exciting book. It was hard to put down. It was hard not to panic while reading Sullivans reaction to finding herself unable to move, or speak. She can't even breath on her own, and I had trouble breathing just reading about her panic. Clement doesn't waste alot of time mincing words or piling on page after page of "filler". He gets right to the heart of the story, making your heart beat faster in the process. Pick this one up, you won't regret it.

A Must Read.......2002-06-03

Peter Clement is a natural, the novel is full of surprises and action, and difficult to put down. Any book that keeps my interest over sleep and meals deserves the highest score. I have become a devout follower. I stongly recommend this book - A must read.

Unauthorized research has fatal consequences........2002-06-02

In Peter Clement's "Critical Condition," Dr. Kathleen Sullivan suffers a brain hemorrhage and spends most of the book flat on her back, unable to move or to communicate normally. Her lover, Dr. Richard Steele, Chief of ER, is heartbroken, especially since his first wife died after a battle with cancer. Will Richard once again lose a woman he loves? Even if Kathleen survives, will she ever be able to function normally again?

There is a great deal more at stake here, however, than Kathleen's medical problems. There are a number of doctors in New York City Hospital who are engaged in unauthorized research that could revolutionize the treatment of a variety of medical conditions, including heart failure and strokes. When Kathleen, without her consent, becomes a guinea pig in this new research, she cannot easily communicate her terror to Richard or to the police. Complicating matters still further, there is a homicidal maniac on the loose, and he is targeting those very doctors engaged in this new research.

Although the plot of "Critical Condition" is extremely convoluted, Clement manages to hold the reader's interest with crisp dialogue and fast-paced action. There is plenty of gore here, as people are dispatched in extremely messy ways. One of Clement's strengths is his talent for explaining arcane scientific concepts, and his information about stem cell research is fascinating. Another plus is Clement's restraint in not making either of his heroes, Kathleen or Richard, super-detectives. Instead they are portrayed as vulnerable people, whose medical knowledge does not protect them from the evil that surrounds them. Finally, Clement wisely shows that there is a moral gray area surrounding controversial scientific research. Do the potential benefits that may result from stem cell research offset the moral questions that such research raises? Does the United States government handcuff its scientists too much with restrictive rules, or are these rules designed to protect us all from dangerous and untested practices? These are valid questions, which are intelligently addressed. Clement gives no pat answers; he allows the reader to make his own judgments concerning these thorny issues.

Book Description

This volume discusses changes in views and attitudes about the work of teachers and how these sociological views and attitudes have asserted themselves in the last decade. The book is organized in three sections. The first lays a theoretical framework by addressing the notion of class and how it affects views of teachers' work. The second section puts the first section's theory into practice through an illustrative analysis of teachers' lives in America and in England. The final section focuses on the changes that have affected teachers' work in the 1990's and world over.

Critical Development Theory: Contributions to a New Paradigm

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Critical Development Theory: Contributions to a New Paradigm

Manufacturer: Zed Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Theories of Development

ASIN: 1856496384

Book Description

In recent years there has been considerable rethinking of the whole concept of development, including a growing awareness of its gender, cultural and environmental dimensions, and the impact of globalization. The contributors to this volume seek to extend these debates to a more fundamental level, tackling major issues and transcending those critiques of development which simply engage in a blanket dismissal of the whole enterprise. Instead they offer innovative ways of re-engaging with a reality that, despite globalization, is very much still a dimension of our era.

Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s (Critical Social Thought)

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Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s (Critical Social Thought)
Michael Omi
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0415908647

Book Description

First published in 1986, Racial Formation in the United States is now considered a classic in the literature on race and ethnicity. This second edition builds upon and updates Omi and Winant's groundbreaking research. In addition to a preface to the new edition, the book provides a more detailed account of the theory of racial formation processes. It includes material on the historical development of race, the question of racism, race-class-gender interrelationships, and everyday life. A final chapter updates the developments in American racial politics up to the present, focusing on such key events as the 1992 Presidential election, the Los Angeles riots, and the Clinton administration's racial politics and policies.

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