The People's Hospital

The story of the Ben Taub Hospital in Houston - an angry, political book and a reminder of why Britain must value the NHS.

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How do medical staff offer care and hope to patients and families when faced with the mayhem and lottery of a broken healthcare system?

'A fascinating and beautifully written memoir that reminds us what we have with our NHS - and what we stand to lose' Christie Watson

'A tour de force... lyrical and riveting prose' Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone

'Nuila details the horrific reality of the American healthcare system from the front lines, and shows us why it doesn't have to be like that' Sally Hayden, author of My Fourth Time, We Drowned

The People's Hospital is the story of how Ben Taub Hospital strives to provide healthcare to Houston's most vulnerable population, against the background of the chaos of American healthcare. By telling the frequently heartbreaking stories of patients who have had to battle their desperate financial circumstances as well as life-threatening illness - from Rogelio, a twenty-something, undocumented immigrant from Mexico recently diagnosed with kidney disease, to Roxana, a Salvadoran woman who appears in ER after a life-saving surgery resulted in her developing potentially fatal complications - and many more.

These are extraordinary stories in which doctors are tied up with complex moral questions about money versus healthcare, and patients manipulate their health conditions in dangerous ways in order to be eligible for life-saving treatment that they cannot afford.