Very impressive..

Made me laugh a lot, even though im not in the medical field, I have found this book exciting and had to listen in one sitting.. Definitely recommend it..

10 people found this helpful

Subtle, funny and compassionate

Doctor Franklin explains through stories of patients and himself or his colleagues, how Medicine has devolved from a covenant between patient and doctor, to a business, in which everybody is treated like "corn or coal". The writing is serene, but the subject makes the good doctor furious, and with a good reason. The hospitals where he once learned and practiced, places where doctors were proud of the virtue their trade represented, are now places where only one thing matters: money.
What a great read/listen. John Pruden does a good job of telling it all.

9 people found this helpful

Disappointing

Self indulgent, moderately interesting, anecdotes where the author is the falsely modest hero of each one.

8 people found this helpful

Disappointed!

Placing the abbreviation " ICU" in the title lead me to imagine much more interest stories.

The tales were mostly G rated and without much genuine humor. I found the narration wooden.

I appreciate the undeniable consciousness of the writer, but the stories I have heard and repeated over the years were much more exhilarating.

7 people found this helpful

Off Topic -

What would have made Cook County ICU better?

If the author had spoke more about the CC ICU and not his own grandiose perceptions

Would you ever listen to anything by Cory Franklin, MD again?

No - Save for some unsupported rhetoric I'm not sure I would even want to hear from this author again

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

There are some good 'Stories' in the book but some are at the expense of others, including family and patients - I think one's own character comes out best when they speak about others and not themselves-

Any additional comments?

Quite disappointed in the character as either accurately or inaccurately shown by this book-

5 people found this helpful

Excellent

Loved it! Brought back memories of my over 40 years as a nurse. If we could only go back to the early 70s, when we could REALLY CARE for patients, NOT CLIENTS!

3 people found this helpful

Worth a Listen!

What made the experience of listening to Cook County ICU the most enjoyable?

I really enjoyed listening to all the interesting cases that Dr. Franklin wrote about in his book, and the interplay between his work life and the affects (positive and challenging) it had/has on his personal life. Dr. Franklin is extremely honest about everything; this book isn't gory or disgusting, but it shows that doctors really are people and have strong feelings and emotional connection to their patients.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite scene in this listen was when Dr. Franklin wrote about a patient he saw in the clinic who ran a barbecue restaurant during his career. The description of the emotional closeness of Dr. Franklin and his patient, whom he saw many times over the course of a few years, was beautiful. The patient would bring the doctor a container of barbecue ribs at each of his clinic appointments and, later, an annual barbecued turkey (!) each year at Thanksgiving. The patient would meet the doctor at the hospital each Thanksgiving morning to give the doctor the barbecued turkey, free of charge, to share with his family to thank the doctor for his care throughout the year.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I would certainly like to listen to this book all in one sitting, but as it is 7-12 hours long (I can't remember exactly how long it is now because I'm writing this review about 6 months after I finished listening), I would never have a span of time that long available to listen all in one sitting. I certainly could listen to it and finish in one sitting; the book is well-written and would hold my attention long enough for me to listen all the way through.

Any additional comments?

Would certainly recommend this listen, especially if you like medically related books with firsthand stories of the cases that actually come through the doors of the hospital and clinic.

3 people found this helpful

Self serving and egotistical

Ugh. This book had so much potential but sadly it fell very short of it. The Dr. that wrote this book is clearly knowledgable and he has good stories and experience which come across at times but mostly it's just shadowed by this personality that comes off like a major jerk. He whines about how he doesn't get credit for some medical discovery in a journal. He talks about pranks he plays on residents that aren't funny. Even his attempts at humility are lacking and seem disingenuous. I found his accounts of actual patients interesting but they were buried beneath layers of self centered, I'm a fancy Doctor, pat me on the back for x, y and z.

Also? The narrator doesn't help the case, his performance comes off as condescending which may very well be the case and he too hated the way the author spoke.

3 people found this helpful

Made me frightened.

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

This book I did not like. I found it scary and so many reasons why things went wrong which I don't want to know about. It quite frightened me.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Learning your genealogy I thinks

Would you be willing to try another one of John Pruden’s performances?

Yes

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

no

3 people found this helpful

Fun insight into the inner workings of a teaching hospital

I really enjoyed the patient cases and anecdotes about life as the author moved from intern to resident to full fledged physician. I wished he had spent more time on these then on trying to make them relatable to the ever changing healthcare system. These stories were incredibly interesting on their own without further exploration and make the book worthy of a listen.

2 people found this helpful