The Hospital: Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town

USA Today's 5 BOOKS NOT TO MISS

Alexander nimbly and grippingly translates the byzantine world of American health care into a real-life narrative with people you come to care about. --New York Times

Takes readers into the world of the American medical industry in a way no book has done before. --Fortune

With his signature gut-punching prose, Alexander breaks our hearts as he opens our eyes to America's deep-rooted sickness and despair by immersing us in the lives of a small town hospital and the people it serves. --Beth Macy, bestselling author of Dopesick

By following the struggle for survival of one small-town hospital, and the patients who walk, or are carried, through its doors, The Hospital takes readers into the world of the American medical industry in a way no book has done before. Americans are dying sooner, and living in poorer health. Alexander argues that no plan will solve America's health crisis until the deeper causes of that crisis are addressed.

Bryan, Ohio's hospital, is losing money, making it vulnerable to big health systems seeking domination and Phil Ennen, CEO, has been fighting to preserve its independence. Meanwhile, Bryan, a town of 8,500 people in Ohio's northwest corner, is still trying to recover from the Great Recession. As local leaders struggle to address the town's problems, and the hospital fights for its life amid a rapidly consolidating medical and hospital industry, a 39-year-old diabetic literally fights for his limbs, and a 55-year-old contractor lies dying in the emergency room. With these and other stories, Alexander strips away the wonkiness of policy to reveal Americans' struggle for health against a powerful system that's stacked against them, but yet so fragile it blows apart when the pandemic hits. Culminating with COVID-19, this book offers a blueprint for how we created the crisis we're in.

Author: Brian Alexander
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 03/09/2021
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.20w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9781250237354
Award: ALA Notable Books - Winner

About the Author
Brian Alexander, the author of Glass House and winner of the Ohioana Book Awards, is a contributing writer to The Atlantic. He's written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, among others. He's spoken at The Obama Foundation Summit, and in Washington to members of the Senate and House of Representatives. He lives in San Diego.