Editorial Review:

Product Description:
A veteran paramedic decries the declining standards within the commercial ambulance corps and hospital emergency rooms. In a dramatic semi-autobiographical volume he points out several factors driving the decline (abuse and overwhelming of the system by Medicare/Medicaid patients and other non-emergency patients; and the way fiscal requirements distort how the services are run









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Rating: - Interesting perspective, but soft and in need of editing.
Most EMS books focus on the visceral aspects of the job. Purdy's book incorporates interesting tales and commentary during a career in EMS, but comes up drastically short in clarity of story.

The recurring metaphor is the idea of the patient as sinner and medic as saint. This metaphor makes for confusing and contrived prose. While the message has great potential, it chokes under the weight of weak editing and spastic flow.

I wanted to like this book. The thoughtful discussion on the author's choice of pre-hospital care versus a second career as a physican are memorable. Cliched writing and the autobiographical dillution take away, rather than add to, the overall idea.

There's a good book here, but its buried. That pre-hospital care and the whole system of emergency medicine has been driven into the toilet is worthy of discussion. Unfortunately, this isn't a discussion medium that will be noticed.

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Rating: - Sorry
Sorry, my mistake. She said he was the author of an EMT true life book...So I apologize. And while, yes, there are more violent cities in the country than Albuquerque, we have our share of atrocities. I was simply trying to say that not all EMTs and Paramedics have the same view of their job as the "dazzling exaggeration" fellow. Some really love their job, and care about their patients.

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Rating: - sara you need to read the book
first off...I am the author but I've never been a patient in Albuquerque...however I did work there as an emergency room nurse. Sara, everything you say is true and if you had bothered to read the book before you wrote a review on it you would have seen that. Incidentally, the violence in Albuquerque is nothing compared to other cities in the U.S. Thank you for the review, but to serve the readers better it might be a good idea to read what it is that you are talking about first.
Chuck Purdy NREMTP RN

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Rating: - Another Comment For The Dazzling Exaggeration
I haven't read this book, but I do have a little something to say to the one who wrote the ridiculously harsh and quite UNTRUE review...My aunt is an EMT-Intermediate, and works nights in a very violent city. Does she do it for the money? $10.63 an hour? Give me a break. Does she do it for the excitement? Sure, she LOVES picking up shooting victims, and drunks, and heart attack victims, all throughout the night, on 4 hours of sleep. She is one of the great ones, who does this job because she wants to make a difference. She does it because she has a true, honest love and compassion for people. She doesn't always enjoy it...But she goes back to it, night after night, with the hope that maybe she'll save someone's father, who just suffered an AMI...Maybe she'll help control someone's bleeding, so that they can go home to their kids. Just because YOU sound like some washed-up burn out...Don't make it seem like all Medics have that mentality of "Do it for the money and the excitement." Perhaps it's time to consider a career change.

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Rating: - You Truly Are Saints, Some More Than Others
I haven't read this book, but to the one who wrote the ridiculously harsh review...My aunt, an EMT-Intermediate, recently ran a call, and her patient happened to be the author of this book. I have the greatest respect and regard for EMTs and Paramedics. I took the Basic class myself, and found that it wasn't right for me. It takes more compassion, more patience, more dedication than I'd be able to give. NO ONE gives these people the reverence that they deserve, and judging from the review written by that person, they wouldn't deserve it if they got it. My heart goes out to all of you who do the job that many others of us don't have the courage to perform.