Code 15
Non-series
Gary
Birken
Jove (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-515-14720-6 (0515147206)
ISBN-13: 978-0-515-14720-9 (9780515147209)
Publication Date: November 2009
List Price: $7.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): As the Chief of Emergency Medicine at Dade Presbyterian
Hospital, Dr. Morgan Connolly faces death and suffering on a daily
basis. So when two brothers in her care suddenly die from far advanced
meningitis, she is devastated but understands as a doctor, she has to
let it go. Not long after, Morgan's own father is killed in what seems
to be a random attack. At the same time, the number of patients dying
due to devastating but seemingly preventable medical mistakes -- also
known as a Code 15 -- begins rising dramatically throughout the
hospital.
Morgan become suspicious that her father's death and that of the other
patients were not random events. Her relentless pursuit of the truth
leads her superiors to think she's losing her edge. As she begins to
unwind a ruthless conspiracy, Morgan becomes convinced someone or some
group is cutting a deadly path of vengeance through Dade Presbyterian
-- a path that may end with her facing her own demise at the hands of a
merciless madman.
Review: Dr. Gary
Birken crafts an absorbing medical thriller set in a large hospital in
Miami in Code 15, the title
taken from a (fictional?) emergency code used to indicate deaths caused
by preventable errors.
Dr. Morgan Connolly is the Chief of Emergency Medicine at Dade
Presbyterian Hospital. While under her care, two brothers with advanced
cases of meningitis die. Their father threatens action against both
Connolly and the hospital. Several months later, a patient attacks her
own father, also a physician at the hospital, by injecting him with
compressed air, killing him. Devastated by the loss of her father, and
with a threat of legal action against her, she is urged to seek
counseling. But her situation soon gets worse. Another patient is given
the wrong medication during emergency surgery and dies, then two young
women, in separate instances, die after being treated in the emergency
room. These latter deaths are all classified as Code 15s: preventable
medical errors. Connolly isn't convinced these were all accidents, but
were intentionally caused by someone -- possibly the same person who
killed her father. But who will believe her?
Code 15 is a brilliantly
constructed and electrifying murder mystery that offers an insider look
at how hospitals operate, the laws that govern what physicians and
hospitals may or may not do, and the technology used to monitor and
safeguard patient treatment and care. The character of Dr. Morgan
Connolly may be a little too dramatically drawn -- not only is she
grieving for her dead father and fending off charges of incompetence,
but she's estranged from her gambling addictive husband and in her
first trimester of pregnancy -- but that's a minor criticism in what is
otherwise a first-rate thriller.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Code 15 and to Goldberg McDuffie Communications for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Code 15? How would you rate it?
Novels by this author …
Code 15
Jove (Mass Market Paperback), November 2009
ISBN-10: 0-515-14720-6 (0515147206)
ISBN-13: 978-0-515-14720-9 (9780515147209)
Omnimystery keywords for Code 15 ...
Location(s) referenced: Miami, Florida.
