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.

Drs. Quentin Young, Lambert King and Robert Maslansky discuss public hospitals in the United States. Young is the chairman of the Department of Medicine at Cook County Hospital, King is the medical director of Cermak Memorial Hospital, and Maslansky is the director of medical education at Cook County Memorial Hospital.

With regards to surgeries, patients must ask questions.  In his book, "Surgery: Your Choices, Your Alternatives," Dr. George Crile Jr. warns of undergoing a surgery if it's truly not warranted.  Crile's most important piece of advice to patients is to always remember that with any surgery, death is a real possibility, should there be a complication.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations