Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital
Eric Manheimer

Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital served as the basis for the NBC TV series, which ran for five seasons from 2018 to 2022. I try and watch all medically oriented shows and managed to watch the first season. I only watched the first episode of the second season because it ended on a cliffhanger, but I decided that my time could be spent elsewhere.

It’s not that the series was bad, it’s just that it didn’t keep my interest. The fact that it ran five years means that someone enjoyed it: I just wasn’t my bag.

Now, on to the book. The only aspects of the book that were kept in the TV series was the fact that the medical director had cancer of the throat. Otherwise, the book and TV show did not resemble each other.

I really enjoyed this book. As the title alludes to, the book is about twelve patients, how Dr. Manheimer interacts with them as he, himself, goes through cancer treatment.

As you can guess, I found the book much more interesting that the TV show and would recommend this book to anyone interested in the administrative side of running a hospital along with having to care with patients.

5/5 stars

Book finished 20 November 2024