Five Days at Memorial

Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital

By: Sheri Fink

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The award-winning book that inspired an Apple Original series from Apple TV+ • A landmark investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina—and the suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and justice—from a Pulitzer Prize–winning physician and reporter

“An amazing tale, as inexorable as a Greek tragedy and as gripping as a whodunit.”—Dallas Morning News

After Hurricane Katrina struck and power failed, amid rising floodwaters and heat, exhausted staff at Memorial Medical Center designated certain patients last for rescue. Months later, a doctor and two nurses were arrested and accused of injecting some of those patients with life-ending drugs.

Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting by Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink, unspools the mystery, bringing us inside a hospital fighting for its life and into the most charged questions in health care: which patients should be prioritized, and can health care professionals ever be excused for hastening death?

Transforming our understanding of human nature in crisis, Five Days at Memorial exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals how ill-prepared we are for large-scale disasters—and how we can do better.

ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Chicago Tribune, Seattle Times, Entertainment Weekly, Christian Science Monitor, Kansas City Star

WINNER: National Book Critics Circle Award, J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Ridenhour Book Prize, American Medical Writers Association Medical Book Award, National Association of Science Writers Science in Society Award

©2013 Sheri Fink (P)2013 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

2014, Carnegie Medal, Short-listed

2013, Los Angeles Times Book Prizes—Current Interest—Winner

2014, National Book Critics Circle Awards, Winner

2015, PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, Winner

2014, Ron Ridenhour Book Award, Winner

“The journalist and doctor Sheri Fink published a meticulous investigation of these deaths in the New York Times Magazine and on the Web site of ProPublica, in 2009. Her work won a Pulitzer Prize. And now comes the book. In Five Days at Memorial, the contours of the story remain the same, yet Fink imbues them with far more narrative richness, making the doctors seem both more sympathetic and more culpable. Fink also expands on the ethical conundrums, which have festered over time and seem to gain fresh urgency.” (The New Yorker)

"“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. Dr. Fink brings a shimmering intelligence to its many narrative cul-de-sacs, which consider medical, legal and ethical issues. . . . By reporting the depth of those gruesome hours in Memorial before the helicopters came, and giving weight to medical ethics as grounded in the law, Sheri Fink has written an unforgettable story. Five Days at Memorial is social reporting of the first rank.” (Jason Berry, The New York Times)

Five Days at Memorial

The 1st part of the book was excellent. Very interesting about the time spent in the hospital. The 2nd part was unexpected but gave quite a summary of the background on relevant cases and other items key to the story. The narrator was very well spoken and easy to listen to although she did have trouble with some of the local last names.

I would say that it was time well spent listening to the book.

Would have enjoyed more if author read it

What did you love best about Five Days at Memorial?

It evoked a very important conversation about creative thinking especially in a crisis and how we look at suffering. It shows you the consequences of relying on others in a crisis versus taking matters into your own hands.

a good book looking at a challenging topic.

It's easy to say what you'd do, when you're not there, but there must be an accounting.

Loved this story

As a medical student, I really enjoyed the in depth discussion of the circumstances the doctors went through. The investigative journalism for the story seemed exceptionally thorough. I enjoyed the discussion of broader medical ethics and disaster preparedness. A very good read, and exciting story for those not in the medical profession as well.

Too detailed, not journalism

I’m not sure why this is surprising, but this isn’t journalism. The Author has an agenda that is glaringly apparent throughout. I appreciate disciplined and rigorous research that explores both sides of an issue so that the reader can decide. I just don’t like being told what to think.

That being said, the details were over the top, a more concise telling of this story would have been more appealing and impactful.

Great telling of this event.

From my perspective I believe the author did an excellent job of trying to be non-bias about the events that occurred. Gave very good first hand accounts of what many in the hospital faced. In the end only future events will determine whether anything was learned or not by medical professionals.

A tough read

Long and hard to get through all the investigational material. Not for the faint of heart, but thought-provoking and troubling on many levels. Good background for COVID-19 pandemic.

Good, not great

An important and fascinating listen, but long winded and the mispronunciations were distracting. Also hard to read in the aftermath of a pandemic.

A must-read - deserves a Pulitzer

I am from the New Orleans area and was one of the many thousands who evacuated for Hurricane Katrina. I was also one of the large population of locals who were offended and dismayed when then-Attorney General Charles Foti arrested a doctor and two nurses who had been at the flooded Memorial hospital during the disaster. Public opinion at the time was squarely behind the hospital staff, largely because we thought that the opportunistic former sheriff was blaming the very people, who saved so many lives, of not being even more heroic. This was my opinion, and that of everyone I talked to - until I read the ProPublica article about conditions at Memorial, published in 2009. That article convinced me that perhaps something very unsavory had happened at the hospital during the disaster.

And so it was with great interest that I read the reporter's more thorough examination of those days in this book. This book deserves a Pulitzer; it is an unbiased, well balanced and extremely thorough examination of the events at Memorial and the consequences of those events. I also have a Ph.D. in philosophy, and so I was hoping to see a studied examination of the ethical issues surrounding the events, and I was not disappointed. Ms. Fink clearly and accurately explained some of the most basic principles of ethics, and how they were (or were not) applied in this case.

The overall impression that I had of the medical professionals at Memorial was that they were so over-taxed, over-worked and under-prepared that they were not in a position to make truly rational choices about their sickest patients. To prevent this kind of tragedy in the future, our institutions must determine ahead of time how they will react in a disaster, and the people in those institutions need to cling to their moral principles, rather than abandon them in such a moment of crisis. The contrast of Memorial hospital with Charity hospital is most striking in this regard. Both hospitals were stranded in flood waters and lost power. But at Charity they were prepared and had practiced for just such an event. They evacuated the sickest patients first, not last, and they didn't give any patients lethal injections. Three people died at Charity, compared with forty-five deaths at Memorial, many of those in the last few hours, even as helicopters were arriving en masse to evacuate the hospital. Please read this book.

So utterly disturbing yet a must-read!

This book should be read by all thinking adults. It is so much more than just an account of what happened at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina. I came away, just finishing the book, with really disturbing feelings. I know these uneasy feelings will linger for a long time. I feel the wrongness of what happened in my bones, but I also realize that there were extenuating circumstances that allowed it to happen. I feel a deep sense of anger, but I am not sure where it should be directed.

I toss around so many thoughts, in my head and to those who will listen to me.

Was Dr. Anna Pou a sociopath (a liar and murderer) or was she just a victim of her circumstances? After all, she appeared to be an experienced and talented surgeon who really cared about her own patients. But is that enough to excuse her behaviors, before and during the event?

Are doctors considered on a par with God in this country? Just because a doctor takes charge in a critical situation, will no one even question their decisions? Understandably certain staff will follow all orders, but what about other doctors (co-workers) of equal status? Is it enough just to walk away and not see?

Is it just in the personality of those people who step up and want to take charge--Anna Pou, most of our politicians, big bosses? Perhaps people of greater honesty and honor have no desire to take charge? I am often disturbed at having to vote, not for the best person, but for the lesser of two evils.

Is a DNR really the best way to go? I always thought I should have one, but after listening to this book, I am not so sure anymore. How can one protect their own wishes in the absence of a friend or loved one?

Above all, this book should be read by medical professionals, especially administrators, who can and should come up with policies, procedures, and recommendations, so that one or more rogue persons cannot take charge and make decisions that are not in the best interest of the most helpless souls.

This book was expertly narrated by Kirsten Potter, who has the ability to narrate as the book was written, in a neutral, non-accusatory manner. I commend the author, Sheri Fink, for doing her research and for presenting the facts without an agenda getting in the way.

Highly recommended listen!