The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis

By Jonathan Cohn, Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.
Posted on May 29, 2007, Printed on May 29, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/52448/

The following is an excerpt from Jonathan Cohn's latest book Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis -- and the People Who Pay the Price.

April 10, 2007 -- It was 4:43 on a clear November afternoon when the paramedics found Cynthia Kline, pale and short of breath, slumped against a bedpost in her double-decker Cambridge home. Although Kline was in obvious pain, she seemed keenly aware of what was happening inside her 55-year-old body. One of her blood vessels had closed off, blocking the flow of blood to her heart. Minutes before, she had phoned 911, taken the nitroglycerin tablets prescribed for such an emergency, then waited for help to arrive -- an ordeal that stretched out an agonizing extra few seconds while the rescue workers, having found the front door locked, scampered in through an open second-story window. Now, while the paramedics worked busily over her, noting vital signs consistent with cardiac distress, Kline turned to one of them with an anxious plea: "Take me to Mount Auburn Hospital."