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“Five Days at Memorial” is Gut-Wrenching

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“Five Days at Memorial” is Gut-WrenchingFive Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink
Published by Crown Publishing Group on January 1, 2013
Genres/Lists: Non-Fiction, Political
Pages: 558
Read synopsis on Goodreads
Buy the book: Amazon/Audible (this post includes affiliate links) five-stars


Today I am reviewing Five Days At Memorial, and tomorrow I will discuss the questions that it left me with. 

Imagine this scenario: You’re stuck in a hospital without electricity, food, or proper resources to care for your patients. Some are going to die and there’s nothing you can do about it. Would you help ease their pain by euthanizing them, or hold out hope that help will arrive? And how would you decide which people to give the drugs to and which ones to rescue?

These are, on the surface, the questions that the doctors at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans asked themselves while they waited out Hurricane Katrina. But what if there was more to the story than that? What if, in actuality, the patients weren’t about to die? These questions are exactly what author Sheri Fink set out to do when she started interviewing the hundreds of witnesses that helped recreate their five days in hell. Their choices would affect them forever, and for some would result in criminal charges.

Source: Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum, for The New York Times
A photo of Memorial Hospital’s hallway to the helipad taken four years after Hurricane Katrina.
Source: Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum, for The New York Times

When I first started reading this book, I couldn’t decide what side of the ethical line I stood. On the one hand, killing someone without their consent is wrong, but on the other hand, I can’t even imagine being put in a situation that requires even thinking about such a thing, so who am I to judge? But as I started reading the book, or more accurately, as I started taking this journey, I found myself feeling every possible emotion a person can feel when reading a book. I started out sad, then turned sympathetic, followed immediately by horror, and ending with anger. As the facts unravelled, I found myself completely shocked by the utter breakdown in communication and both the hospital and government’s failure to prepare for such an event.

Five Days At Memorial is an important and difficult read. Hurricane Katrina blew in to New Orleans and the city is still recovering, and so this book is an important part our American history. While it shines a light on our government and corporate failures, it also highlights the resiliency of the human spirit and will to survive. I highly recommend this book, but I do so with the warning that it addresses some very important and controversial issues involving end-of-life care and, in all honesty, will leave you a bit outraged.

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  • Allison, as always, your review has taken a book that angers many and presented it with not only the facts but some conclusions and questions many other readers will have. Look forward to tomorrow’s post.

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  • I ended this feeling pretty outraged too! I thought this book did a fantastic job preventing the facts and letting you draw your own conclusions. While enjoyable feels like the wrong word for such a sad story, it was certainly interesting.

  • I believe that if other hospitals could have almost every single patient, many of whom were sicker than these patients, survive, then Memorial could, too.  This was an AMAZING read in my opinion, what a fabulous nonfiction book should be.

  • I stay far away from books about New Orleans’s experience with Katrina because they make me so angry for so many reasons. (You know I live on the coast, only 2.5-3 hours from there. Lots of residents from New Orleans – and the Mississippi coast, not to forget the nightmare they endured, too – moved here after the storm). This book would probably take me right over edge. 🙁 So awful.

  • This sounds like a really fascinating, thought-provoking read. Great review!

  • This book slayed me. It was so well written, so unbearably sad. Wonderful review, Allison.

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  • I know so little about the events that took place during Katrina. A book like this would teach in the best way.

  • Shannon @ River City Reading

    Even though it was so difficult to read, this is always the best kind of non-fiction to pick up. It shares so much information but also gives you something to think about (without telling you which side is right or wrong). Loved it.

  • I just can’t even imagine. I know I’ll read this book at some point, but it’s gonna level me, I’m pretty sure.

  • I have a copy of this and I’m really looking forward to reading it soon. Great review!

  • You know (because we have discussed) that this is a book I have in my stack to read and I’ve been waiting to read your review. Great job! After the fiasco that we just went through in Atlanta with the snow, it’s incredible to me how government has not learned from these mistakes. And it’s another reason why I want to read this book even more!

  • This book was shocking and horrific but so good. I had so many conflicting feeling about it. And it gave me such insight into the American medical system. Privatized health care scared me before (says the Canadian) but now it seems rather ruthless.

  • A book that brings out such a range of emotions is definitely a must read and as you say, an important read. I wouldn’t mind to pick this up and read more about the people who were directly impacted by the hurricane. Will keep this book in mind. Thanks Allison.

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