“Tulane hospital in downtown New Orleans,” Dr. Memorial, part of a chain owned and operated by the Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corporation, had no generator mechanic on staff or an evacuation plan, despite the city’s history of hurricanes and flooding. Fink brings a shimmering intelligence to its many narrative cul-de-sacs, which consider medical, legal and ethical issues. That so many people, starkly divided over the question of whether crimes had been committed, come off as decent and appealing makes this book an absorbing read. Then the viewfinder shifts to an entwined legal and political story in which state authorities pursue a homicide investigation. The first half of this book, which is well paced, covers the five days of the title. She writes with a seasoned sense of how doctors and nurses improvise in emergencies, and about the ethical realms in which they work. Fink, whose previous book, “War Hospital,” was based on her reporting in the Balkans in the 1990s, more than delivers. This approach is a literary gamble, demanding more of readers than a standard-issue medical thriller would. Fink has slowed the narrative pulse to investigate situational ethics: what happens when caregivers steeped in medicine’s supreme value, preserving life, face traumatic choices as the standards of civilization collapse. Although she had the material for a gripping disaster story, Dr. This book is much more than an extension of that report. Fink, a physician turned journalist, won a Pulitzer Prize for her investigation of these events in a 2009 joint assignment for ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine. Sheri Fink explores the excruciating struggle of medical professionals deciding to give fatal injections to those at the brink of death. The State of Louisiana began an investigation forensic consultants determined that 23 corpses had elevated levels of morphine and other drugs, and decided that 20 were victims of homicide. When evacuations were done, 45 patients had not made it out alive. The doctors and nurses, beyond exhaustion, wondered how many could survive. Fifty-two patients in an intensive care wing lay in sweltering darkness only a few were able to walk. Two stabbing victims turned up at this hospital, which was on life support itself, and were treated.īy Day 4 of the hurricane, the generators had conked out. Gunshots could be heard, echoing in the city. Hospital staff members smashed windows to circulate air.

Diesel generators gave partial electricity.

The power grid failed, toilets overflowed, stench-filled corridors went dark. Floodwaters rose in the Uptown streets surrounding Memorial Medical Center, where hundreds of people slowly realized that they were stranded. Eight years ago, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink