Coronary: A True Story of Medicine Gone Awry

Father John Corapi, a former accountant, was urged in 2002 to have immediate triple bypass surgery at Redding Medical Center. In fact, his coronary arteries were normal, and he and a former colleague persuaded the FBI to launch a criminal fraud investigation against the for-profit hospital, a renowned Northern California medical institution, and its two rainmakers, cardiologist Chae Hyun Moon and chief of cardiac surgery Fidel Realyvasquez. It soon became clear that the egotistical, abrasive, chain-smoking Moon and the highly ambitious, self-promoting Realyvasquez were performing numerous unnecessary procedures on gullible patients, with devastating consequences. Among the egregious examples of medical misconduct were unnecessary bypasses performed on Paul Alexandre, who became an invalid at age 36 after his sternum was permanently damaged during surgery, and on Shirley Wooten, a lively golden-ager whose surgery led to a fall that caused a fatal cerebral hemorrhage. Although it suffers from veteran newsman Klaidman's (Saving the Heart ) lack of access to Moon and Realyvasquez, this well-researched and ably written account offers solid proof that American medicine is indeed "a mess." Readers may think the same about the legal system after learning that Alexandre and Wooten received only six-figure settlements while the Corapi walked away with millions, and neither doctor was prosecuted for a crime. (Jan.)