Fiction Review

Straightjacket
by Richard E. Sall
ISBN-10: 1419630547
Review by Heather Froeschl

Joe Grady is about to complete his surgical residency when his hospital's penny pinching administrator decides that Joe must complete ten major surgeries in the next thirty days or he will be dismissed without certification. All those years of medical school and on the job training going to waste? Not likely. Joe just may pull it off, but the hospital has bigger problems. Patients who were on their way to recovery, are dying seemingly without reason. Joe Grady is given a case to look into. What pathology finds could probably save lives if Dr. Grady wasn't in the position he is in, and if the administration actually cared why these patients passed away.

Besides being on the look out for every major case he can work through, Dr. Grady is head over heels in love with a lovely nurse in ICU. The problem is, her nutcase mother doesn't take kindly to her daughter being attached to anyone...and starts making death threats. Other minor characters in the book undergo major events. Young Haley is in a coma but can see and hear everything going on around her, though her perspective is from the ceiling looking down. Dr. Sarafin, a highly qualified surgeon, is being sued for malpractice - this storyline seems to be a chance for the author to make commentary on the way things are today with the outrageous costs of malpractice insurance and the frequency of patients suing their doctors, but it works well with the story and he does have a point. The nurses in the hospital are seriously understaffed and are in need of a union. This point is brought home by the little things that go on, such as medications being distributed off schedule, under-qualified persons working directly with said medications, and 12 hour shifts working with eight patients at a time. Sound a little too real?

Richard E. Sall, MD is an author with an inside perspective. He willingly shares the craziness of his profession through a work of fiction that is seriously funny, dangerously close to reality, and downright captivating. It is a lighthearted read that is easy to get into, relate to, and enjoy. Throw in the romance factor, the crazy mom, some wild patient stories that just have to be based on reality, and you've got this great book that readers of all types, doctor, nurse and patient alike, will adore.