County

Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital

By David A. Ansell, Introduction by Quentin Young

MEDICAL

256 Pages, 6 x 9

Formats: Trade Paper, Cloth, Mobipocket

Cloth, $29.95 (US $29.95) (CA $35.95)

Publication Date: May 2011

ISBN 9780897336208

Rights: WOR

Chicago Review Press (May 2011)
Academy Chicago Publishers

Price:	$29.95

Overview

The amazing tale of “County” is the story of one of America’s oldest and most unusual urban hospitals. From its inception as a “poor house” dispensing free medical care to indigents, Chicago’s Cook County Hospital has been renowned as a teaching hospital and the healthcare provider of last resort for the city’s uninsured. Ansell covers more than thirty years of its history, beginning in the late 1970s when the author began his internship, to the “Final Rounds” when the enormous iconic Victorian hospital building was replaced. Ansell writes of the hundreds of doctors who underwent rigorous training with him. He writes of politics, from contentious union strikes to battles against “patient dumping,” and public health, depicting the AIDS crisis and the Out of Printening of County’s HIV/AIDS clinic, the first in the city. And finally it is a coming-of-age story for a young doctor set against a backdrOut of Print of race, segregation, and poverty. This is a riveting account.

Reviews

"County is a landmark book, brave, angry and indispensable not least because Ansell declared... Obamacare was no breakthrough." — Chicago Tribune

"When it comes to the stories of his patients, many of whom he cared for over decades from clinic to hospital to funeral, Ansell soars." — New York Times

"With the nation's focus on a national health-care policy providing quality medical services to citizens regardless of race, ethnicity, and income level, Ansell's exposé will shock and motivate readers to take a stand on the issue." — Publishers Weekly

"Ansell skillfully humanizes questions of health-care policy by describing real-life scenarios... his gift for making the connections between social forces and medical care, coupled with the vivid patient stories interspersed with trenchant critiques of the politics of health care, makes this work stand out."

— Library Journal

Author Biography

DAVID A. ANSELL, M.D., MPH is the vice president of Clinical Affairs and chief medical officer at Rush University. He lives in Oak Park with his wife of thirty-six years, Dr. Paula Grabler, who also trained at Cook County Hospital. They have two grown children. During his scarce leisure time, he enjoys reading, exercising and gardening.
For more info on the author and event listings visit: www.countythebook.com

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