Our November 2021 Book of the Month

Review by Anita Finley, Gerontologist

As I read Dr. Sherer’s book, Hospital Survival Guide, it felt like a dagger was released into my body for all the mistakes I made when my dear husband was hospitalized. As a professional who has been in and out of hospitals helping my family, friends and clients, I thought I knew what I was doing to keep everyone safe and getting the best outcome. For example, Dr. Sherer has a chapter about choosing the right hospital and why. I always thought choosing the right doctors was the key!

As an anesthesiologist, Dr. Sherer has a lot to say about choosing the right anesthesia to control pain. The layman has no experience in this area of medicine but his book devotes the consequences if not handled appropriately.

We see movies about emergency rooms and they can be confusing, scary, and inhospitable. This chapter, like the others in this “bible” of hospital survival, is a “must read” just in case you or one of your loved ones wind up there.

Hospital jargon and a glossary of hospital terms will be your “go to” read when the doctor and/or nurse tries to explain what is going on. The Hospital Survival Guide…The Patient Handbook To Getting Better and Getting Out is a compilation of what can go wrong if you are uninformed. It is not to scare you but to assist you, your family and friends of the best possible hospital care.

The Wall Street Journal reports about this book: “Practical advice about how to keep yourself free from harm and error in hospitals.” (To purchase Hospital Survival Guide, go to Amazon.com.)

Dr. David Sherer is an American physician, author, inentor, and patient advocate. He retired from his clinical Chevy Chase, Maryland. He is writing novels and is available for interviews and speaking engagements.