Critical – by Robin Cook

Menisci, femur, tibia, anterior cruciate ligament, fulminant postoperative course, staphylococcus aureus, bronchioles! What would you do if you opened a novel and found words like these staring at you in the face? You would do a double take and have second thoughts about continuing with it, isn’t it? That’s what I thought of doing too – except that I was too lazy to make another trip to the library so I dug in my heels and refused to quit until I turned the last page of Robin Cook’s “Critical”.

I had already met Dr. Jack Stapleton and Dr. Laurie Montgomery - forensic pathologists at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner – in another Cook book (!). The difference this time is that they are now married. Jack has suffered “anterior cruciate ligament” – whatever that means – during one of his basketball matches and decides to go for an elective surgery for the same at one of the newest specialty hospitals by Angels Healthcare.

But Laurie is disturbed because she has been autopsying quite a few apparently-healthy people who died of severe staphylococcus infection after some routine uncomplicated surgery. The twist in the tale is that a number of these cases have been from the 3 Angels Healthcare hospitals!

Enter Dr. Angela Dawson, the CEO of Angels Healthcare LCCC, who is worried because her startup venture is just 2 weeks from IPO but the drug resistant infections are keeping the ORs closed resulting in negative cash flow which needs to be reported to the SEC. And her accountant, Paul Yang, looks all set to do it despite its potential serious implications for the IPO.

I am glad I wasn’t put off by the heavy-duty words in the Prologue. For those of you who might want to have a peek at the world of pathologists from a safe distance, this book is a must on the reading list!

BTW, Mr. Cook - GAAP doesn’t mean “Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures” – it means “Generally Accepted Accounting Principles” :-)