God's Hotel

A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine

San Francisco's Laguna Honda Hospital is the last almshouse in the country, a descendant of the Hôtel-Dieu (God's hotel) that cared for the sick in the Middle Ages. Ballet dancers and rock musicians, professors and thieves - "anyone who had fallen, or, often, leapt, onto hard times" and needed extended medical care - ended up here. So did Victoria Sweet, who came for two months and stayed for 20 years.

Laguna Honda, lower-tech but human-paced, gave Sweet the opportunity to practice a kind of attentive medicine that has almost vanished. Gradually, the place transformed the way she understood her work. Alongside the modern view of the body as a machine to be fixed, her extraordinary patients evoked an older idea of the body as a garden to be tended.

God's Hotel tells their story and the story of the hospital itself, which, as efficiency experts, politicians, and architects descended, determined to turn it into a modern "health care facility", revealed its own surprising truths about the essence, cost, and value of caring for body and soul.

©2012 Victoria Sweet (P)2013 Tantor

Bravo 👏 👏👏

An excellent book. Very well written. Not many people think about how hospitals became established and managed. This gives insight. Shows passion. Would recommend to those in the medical profession. Nurses would especially enjoy but recommend for all.

a lot of insight and promotes introspection

Great point of view when considering the current situation with health care. all hospital admin, nurses, and docs should read.

Such a rich story.

A reminder of what medicine was and the now titled Healthcare is. the reader has a warm and inviting voice.

Fascinating & Thought Provoking

Very much enjoyed this story of stories by Dr. S. Illuminates the changes from premodern to modern medicine & all of its foibles with engaging true stories.

Great Book

This touched on so many things humanity is lacking now. The book has spiritual aspects, personal growth, and how time, community, dignity, compassion, and a little care goes a long way. I would love to see a reoccurrence of such care.