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"Hospital: An Oral History of Cook County Hospital" covers what was once the largest public hospital in the United States. With 6,000 employees, Sydney Lewis learned that County Hospital was a small city onto itself. One may have a long wait at the hospital, but Lewis found because of it's good health care, there was a kind of a loyalty toward County. With Chicago and its diversity, it was good for the people to see African American doctors and nurses that were Black and brown, too.
What started out as a 5-piece article on health care became Laurie Abraham's book, "Mama Might Be Better Off Dead: The Failure of Health Care in Urban America". Through her stories, Abraham points out the many hardships and catch-22 scenarios of some poor families. One woman, after caring for her mother all day, Julie, wanted to work part time in the evenings. However, she soon learned that she'd be making too much money and she'd no longer be eligible for Medicaid for herself and her children.
Discussing "The Damnedest Radical: The Life and World of Ben Reitman, Chicago's Celebrated Social Reformer, Hobo King, and Whorehouse Physician," (published by University of Illinois Press) with the author Roger Bruns.
Dr. Young talks about his policy about addictive medications at Cook County Hospital, and about the financially driven connections between pharmaceutical companies and doctors.