Review of The Trouble With Medicine
Posted: 11 Jul 2025, 10:47
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Trouble With Medicine" by Sheryl Walker, MD.]
Many books have been written about the problems with healthcare in the United States. This book by Sheryl Walker, MD. is different because it is a memoir of her fifty years working in the field as an anesthesiologist. The Trouble With Medicine: Bad Behavior and Who Gets the Money discusses her time as a female medical student in the 70s, her rise to success despite her background, and the reasons for the decline in healthcare.
Unlike other similar books, Walker offers some solutions to the problems. Her purpose for promoting an industry makeover is fueled by her belief that all US citizens, as promised by the Declaration of Independence, are entitled to equal access to care that preserves life. According to Walker, greed has caused the disparity in medical practices.
Raised in a poverty-prone area of the Appalachian Mountains, Walker's family suffered due to a lack of adequate health care. Her inspiration for becoming a medical professional stems from her early experience with a caring nurse. This background gives her book credibility. Because she looks at issues from a different perspective, her insights are unique.
The first part of the book is mostly memoir, and her anecdotes are entertaining and eye-opening. The second half becomes more factual and research-based. The explanations of the inner workings of hospital procedures, billing practices, and insurance regulations take over. As she describes her career in anesthesiology, I found myself thinking of the surgeries I have had and how ignorant I was of the role of the anesthesiologist.
βCan It Be Fixed?β is the last chapter of the book. Through a series of questions, Walker explains what steps need to be taken to make that cure happen. I admire the author's courage to expose the dirty secrets of her profession. My rating is five out of five stars because there was nothing I disliked. I recommend this book especially to individuals who are thinking of pursuing a career in the medical field.
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The Trouble With Medicine
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Many books have been written about the problems with healthcare in the United States. This book by Sheryl Walker, MD. is different because it is a memoir of her fifty years working in the field as an anesthesiologist. The Trouble With Medicine: Bad Behavior and Who Gets the Money discusses her time as a female medical student in the 70s, her rise to success despite her background, and the reasons for the decline in healthcare.
Unlike other similar books, Walker offers some solutions to the problems. Her purpose for promoting an industry makeover is fueled by her belief that all US citizens, as promised by the Declaration of Independence, are entitled to equal access to care that preserves life. According to Walker, greed has caused the disparity in medical practices.
Raised in a poverty-prone area of the Appalachian Mountains, Walker's family suffered due to a lack of adequate health care. Her inspiration for becoming a medical professional stems from her early experience with a caring nurse. This background gives her book credibility. Because she looks at issues from a different perspective, her insights are unique.
The first part of the book is mostly memoir, and her anecdotes are entertaining and eye-opening. The second half becomes more factual and research-based. The explanations of the inner workings of hospital procedures, billing practices, and insurance regulations take over. As she describes her career in anesthesiology, I found myself thinking of the surgeries I have had and how ignorant I was of the role of the anesthesiologist.
βCan It Be Fixed?β is the last chapter of the book. Through a series of questions, Walker explains what steps need to be taken to make that cure happen. I admire the author's courage to expose the dirty secrets of her profession. My rating is five out of five stars because there was nothing I disliked. I recommend this book especially to individuals who are thinking of pursuing a career in the medical field.
******
The Trouble With Medicine
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon