Unaccountable

What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care

By: Marty Makary M.D.

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Dr. Marty Makary is co-developer of the life-saving checklist outlined in Atul Gawande's best-selling The Checklist Manifesto. As a busy surgeon who has worked in many of the best hospitals in the nation, he can testify to the amazing power of modern medicine to cure. But he's also been a witness to a medical culture that routinely leaves surgical sponges inside patients, amputates the wrong limbs, and overdoses children because of sloppy handwriting.

Over the last 10 years, neither error rates nor costs have come down, despite scientific progress and efforts to curb expenses. Why? To patients, the healthcare system is a black box. Doctors and hospitals are unaccountable, and the lack of transparency leaves both bad doctors and systemic flaws unchecked. Patients need to know more of what healthcare workers know, so they can make informed choices. Accountability in healthcare would expose dangerous doctors, reward good performance, and force positive change nationally, using the power of the free market. Unaccountable is a powerful, no-nonsense, non-partisan diagnosis for healing our hospitals and reforming our broken healthcare system.

©2012 Marty Makary, MD (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Makary's book makes it perfectly clear that data transparency not only allows people to make informed decisions about their health but also nudges hospitals and physicians to be more vigilant and efficient." ( Booklist)

Incredible wealth of health care system pitfalls!

I normally do not read these types of books, but I was referred to this book from another book that I was reading. Once I started going through the chapters, I really started to understand how important this book is, because it sheds light on things an average person would never consider. The information held within this book is so important about healthcare and the healthcare system. that I am very glad that I purchased this book. There was enjoyable to listen to, but a little annoying at the beginning of each chapter as it was always a little chopped up. Thank you for the book. well worth the reading journey.

Excellent

This should be a required reading for those in and outside of the medical establishment.

Great information

I'm a nurse. This is an important read for those in the medical field and for patients. unfortunately the recording quality was terrible. Much of the time you cannot hear the beginning of a sentence. You might hear, "mtimes" instead of "sometimes", but it was so frequent that it was frustrating.

A must read

Deserves a spot on everyone's reading list. The things listed in this book are the reason why I refuse to see an MD.

Important book, but a little disheartening

Loved the book and message in it but a little disheartening look at healthcare. It ends with a slightly hopeful note.