When Doctors Kill: Who, Why, and How- by Joshua Perper and Stephen J. Cina

I was very excited to read this book. From reading about the authors, I thought it was great to have a book about some of the well known reasons and theories of why doctors kill. Having a professional background in psychology, and post-graduate studies in forensic psychology and law, I am always looking for new material to recommend to friends who teach college courses, or to keep in mind, should I decide to teach a course in the future. This book had the potential to be informative and controversial, both assets to any classroom discussion.

I was impressed with about the first 100 pages. It was reader friendly, informative, and added a bit of humor on an otherwise dark subject. Many important subjects were covered, such as: doctors trying to make advancements in medicine, serial killers, doctors with a “God” complex-who liked to have the power of life and death, government medical trials on human subjects, and Nazi “medical experiments” during WWII. Several specific and important cases were cited, and overall, I thought that part was well written.

And then came part four, the authors included another approximately forty (which seemed like another 100) pages on terrorism and politics. Other than the fact that the politicians and terrorist who committed atrocious acts while in positions of power. Other than the fact that they had obtained a medical degree at some point in their lives was irrelevant. They were killing people, and training people to kill as their role as a leader (of a country, a terrorist organization, etc...), not as a medical doctor. Therefore, it should not have been included in the book because they were not “Doctors who Kill” technically. They were, as the title of the section in the book was titled “Politicians” or “Terrorists” that kill.

Part five of the book started of nicely, and I began to regain hope for this book. It discussed the issues of physician assisted suicide and euthanasia. Again, a great topic for debate, and a couple of noteworthy cases were presented. Cutting out section four, and ending with euthanasia, the book just should have ended. Or, could have included, a whole area not even mentioned, the statistics on doctors who kill their families and spouses, which is not that uncommon.

Instead, there is the real ending that I felt completely went off topic again, and was written based more on opinion. I agree with them, but it didn't seem like the appropriate place to bring up those medical dilemmas because once again, it does not stay on the topic of “Why Doctors Kill.” The book goes on about the public's view of TV doctors, once again, information that probably could have been left out. They gave definitions of different types of non-medical treatment options and some of the fatal outcomes. Once again, information I felt irrelevant because these were treatment choices that the patient made. They then brought up the issue of over-prescribing medication, and the dilemma doctors have to treat pain, and the savvyness of patients to make up symptoms to get medications and addiction. Which lead into “Doctors to the Stars” who over prescribe medication to -which the authors even state that killing them would be ridiculous because they make large sums of cash and do not have to deal with insurance companies. Ending with the evil issue of malpractice, and make a convincing defense of why most doctors don't want to kill.

Umm...now I am confused. I read this book because I wanted to know “Why Doctors Kill,” not how they are over stressed, over worked, and live in constant fear of malpractice suits...unless you are setting up a defense for why they kill. But that was not given as any motive.

Damaged...but Good!

Damaged- by Josephine Hart

This was a very well written book, capturing what greed, lust, and love, can drive even what may seem the most “normal” people to do. The writing style seemed almost like a play, taking place in the early twentieth century, but actually the story took place in modern times, and no play could capture the intense feelings and thoughts of the main character. The father of a prominent, upstanding, wealthy English family, has gotten himself into quite a predicament. Some may call it a mid-life crisis of sorts, but he has crossed the line over to the ultimate betrayal that will destroy his family. This father had everything going for him. He was a successful doctor, politician, husband, and father of two grown children, about to start new lives on their own. Although looks can be deceiving, and he was not truly satisfied with his life, all of this changed when he met Anna. The passion and lust he felt for Anna was so eloquently written, along with the anger and hatred he felt at times towards himself, and others who came between Anna. This erotic and dangerous affair that began with Anna consumed the father and his relationships with his family members because Anna was going to be his daughter-in-law. This story was full of emotion, the feelings of the characters were well captured and beautifully written, and the twists and turns of the story kept it interesting to read.

Dirty Little Angles-Chris Tusa

Dirty Little Angels by Chris Tusa This was a book about a dysfunctional family from New Orleans, based on the point of view from Hailey, the fifteen year-old daughter. I have to admit, I had higher expectations for this book. I was expecting something something more gritty, violent, raw...Maybe because I have worked with so many kids who are considered “high-risk,” as Hailey would definitely be considered in that category, nothing in the book seemed at all shocking. That is the way of life for many kids like “Hailey.” Don't get me wrong, I liked the story and thought it was interesting, but it was like reading a case file or meeting with a client. Everyone has their story.

Children in the BORING

Children in the Morning-Anne Emery

Well, I had some difficulty reading this book for a couple of different reasons. First, it did not convert well over to my e-reader and I had to read it in very small print and it was very straining on my eyes or on my lap-top, which also gave me similar issues. It also took me some timeto get used to the writing style. It was written in narritive form from the perspective of a father and his nine year old daughter. Once, I was able to adjust to reading small font and the “back and forth” between father and daughter, I was able to focus on the actual story itself. Unfortunatly it took about five or six chapters for this to happen. Basically this book is a legal drama, where one high profile defense attorney (Monty) is defending another high profile defense attorney (Beau) for the murder of his wife. Monty's daughter Normie befirends two of Beau's ten children and begins to have nightmares that Monty feels may be relevant to his client's case. Nothing in this story was overly surprising, lets just leave it at that. It is probably a lot easier to read in print, but that would not change the need to acclimate to the writing style, which would have been cool and could have worked if the story had not been so predictable, and if Monty and Normie had been a more exciting characters.

20th Century Dud

20^th Century Ghost-Joe Hill

I'm not quite sure what to say here. Well,I take that back, there is a lot I want to say about this book. First of all, Joe Hill, what happened? I expected a book full of “ghost” stories, or at least “scary” stories, but what I ended up reading was a few good scary stories, and a bunch of stuff to fill pages in a book. I tried to give you some credit, being a Boston author, and throwing in some Boston humor, but even that couldn't componsate for the majority of the stories that, I'm not quite sure,had anything to do with a ghost story.

I will give credit to the truly scary “ghost” stories as being really good. Unfortunatly, they were outnumbered by stories that could have been written by fifth graders given a creative writing assignment. A couple of stories could have been written by college freshman who have not learned that it is quality that makes a story, not quanitiy of pages. I was bored out of my mind at stories that wouldn't end, and left scratching my head, wondering why some of the stories were even in the book. Overall, it was pretty dissapointing, because there was some good stuff in it...buried.