Five days at memorial

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fink did an excellent job of presenting the facts in an objective manner. By laying out the story in only the words of eye witness interviews and testimony, she refrains from judgement from those who weren't there and those who would "couch quarterback" it after the fact. What we discover is that these ethical questions are not as clear cut as we'd like them to be.
I will admit that by limiting herself to testimonies and interviews, sometimes I was confused on who was being referred to...was "the frizzy haired lady" Dr. Pou, I'd wonder, and have to look up her physical description again. Also, some of the events were told multiple times by different viewpoints and that was hard to keep the timeline straight. My ebook had no pictures either...that would have been useful to help picture it. I'm not sure I came up with a judgement myself on what happened The only people who will truly know what their motivations were are the doctors and nurses involved....and perhaps they don't even really know. But I do know that when a crisis comes and I am in charge, getting enough sleep, encouraging resourcefulness, keeping morale up and not allowing fear to spread are things I have learned that make the difference in good decision making.

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