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Natural Causes by Michael Palmer
3.5★'s
From The Book:
Dr. Sarah Baldwin races to a Boston hospital with a young woman whose normal labor has suddenly become a matter of life and death. As she struggles to save both mother and baby, she doesn't know that two other women have already died under horrifying identical circumstances. And so begins Sarah's own nightmare, as she learns that the prenatal herbal vitamins she prescribed are the only thing these women have in common. Soon Sarah is fighting to save her career, her reputation--her life. For she's certain there must be some unknown factor linking these women, and as she gets closer to the truth, it becomes clear that someone will do anything--even murder--to keep a devastating secret.
My Thoughts:
Interesting to see the world of medicine through the eyes of Dr. Sarah Baldwin. She's the type of doctor that almost anyone would want to have. One that is not afraid to employee methods such as Western science medicine as well as using holistic practices such as acupuncture. But she gets into trouble after two women die and one woman is maimed in their pregnancies after taking her herbal supplement which she recommended instead of the usual vitamins. An investigation follows which delves into the politics and money of the medical profession.
The book started out as a whirlwind page turner that had so much promise....exciting passages that detailed medical emergencies as this bizarre blood clotting illness that consumes its victims with horrific speed... and realistic insights into internal hospital politics...and believe me there are many. Eventually it dissolved in the average hospital melodrama of big money...corporate greed...and institutionalized medicine versus the persecuted doctor. It seemed that Michael Palmer just couldn't figure a way to end it all on a different note than all the previous medical thrillers.
