The People's Hospital

Hope and Peril in American Medicine

By: Ricardo Nuila

Narrated by: Ricardo Nuila

“Nuila’s storytelling gifts place him alongside colleagues like Atul Gawande.” —Los Angeles Times

This “compelling mixture of health care policy and gripping stories from the frontlines of medicine” (The Guardian) explores the question: where does an uninsured person go when turned away by hospitals, clinics, and doctors?

Follow the lives of five uninsured Houstonians as their struggle for survival leads them to a hospital that prioritizes people over profit.

Stephen, a restaurant franchise manager, signed up for his company’s lowest priced plan, only to find himself facing insurmountable costs after a cancer diagnosis. Christian is a young college student and retail worker who can’t seem to get an accurate diagnosis, let alone treatment, for his debilitating knee pain. Geronimo, thirty-six years old, has liver failure, but his meager disability check disqualifies him for Medicaid—and puts a life-saving transplant just out of reach. Roxana, who’s lived in the community without a visa for more than two decades, suffers from complications related to her cancer treatment. And, finally, there’s Ebonie, a young mother whose high-risk pregnancy endangers her life.

Whether due to immigration status, income, or the vagaries of state Medicaid law, all five are denied access to care. For all five, this exclusion could prove life-threatening.

Each patient eventually lands at Ben Taub, the county hospital where Dr. Nuila has worked for over a decade. Nuila delves with empathy into the experiences of his patients, braiding their dramas into a singular narrative that contradicts the established idea that the only way to receive good health care is with good insurance.

As readers follow the moving twists and turns in each patient’s story, it’s impossible to deny that our system is broken—and that Ben Taub’s innovative model, where patient care is more important than insurance payments, could help light the path forward.

Critic reviews

"Physician Ricardo Nuila brings the full extent of his passion for people to his narration of his experiences with American healthcare. A doctor on staff at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston, Nuila saw firsthand the destructive aspects of for-profit healthcare and how often those who were truly suffering would end up in his public hospital when it was almost too late. Examining the history and current issues of the American healthcare system, this audiobook is a tough listen. Nuila embraces his emotions as he tells personal stories of real-life cases. What results is a powerful audiobook that leaves the listener both fascinated and horrified by what is happening to those who cannot access healthcare in our first-world nation."

Healthcare review

This book was an engaging review of the unique story of Ben Taub hospital. The author gives a fairly unbiased case for the benefit of social safety net hospitals. As a former Texan … it brought back memories of Houston and of my medical training in Galveston, Tx

Humanizing Healthcare

Author did a great job of providing context to our complex healthcare system, the possibilities that could be, and the people who are impacted by all these policies and procedures. The patient stories and personal background of the author help make the data and history provided in the book easier to digest.

Ben Taub Nurse

Thank you to the author. While working there for 25 yrs I often told our PR reps they should market the hospital by telling what we do. We turn no one away. This is a perfect documentation of that.

Interesting Portrayal of Healthcare in the USA

The author does a great job of outlining the greatest issues plaguing the American healthcare system. He does a nice of job of intertwining stories of individual patients over time to keep the reader engaged. The book clearly demonstrates how our government systems can motivate those who are lower wage earners to not work due to benefit qualifications. As the author very clearly describes outright and through example, this can literally be a matter of life or death. It is also very interesting how Ben Taub has managed to function in such a different way. There are some inherent issues that are glossed over, like the extended wait time in the ED. Ben Taub is actually ranked 4th in the country for the longest ED wait time, which is currently > 6 hrs. Nonetheless, their foundation is one that warrants consideration as an example of what healthcare in this country could be.

Beautiful and heartfelt

As a nurse who has worked in a safety hospital I found this to be an incredibly moving description.
It would be a fabulous book for anyone entering the medical field or anyone who doesn’t understand how fragile the system really is.