U-M grad wins Ridenhour Book Prize for 'Five Days at Memorial'
By Jenn McKee | jennmckee@mlive.com
Sheri Fink Head Shot 2.jpeg
U-M grad, physician and journalist Sheri Fink.
(Courtesy photo)
Detroit native and U-M grad Sheri FInk has won the Ridenhour Book Prize for her book, "Five Days at Memorial," which chronicles life at a New Orleans medical center in the days of Hurricane Katrina.
Ridenhour Prizes "recognize and encourage those who persevere in acts of truth-telling that protect the public interest, promote social justice, or illuminate a more just vision of society. The Prizes are named after investigative journalist Ron Ridenhour, to commemorate his lifetime of fearless truth-telling and to inspire others to do the same."
Fink attended U-M as an undergraduate, earning a degree in psychology before studying medicine at Stanford University. She went on to work as a journalist, and a New York Times Magazine article she wrote, titled "The Deadly Choices at Memorial," earned her a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting (among other awards), and "Five Days" expanded on that original piece. (Fink appeared in Ann Arbor in November 2013 as part of the Jewish Book Festival.)
A press release contains further details.
"Five Days at Memorial" paints a vivid picture of seriously ill patients first left vulnerable to an ad-hoc evacuation plan, and then to a cascade of decisions made by exhausted doctors and nurses about whose lives could be preserved and who would most likely die in the face of serious illness and limited medical care. The consequence was an almost unthinkable tragedy: Several health professionals injected patients with morphine and the fast-acting sedative Versed. At least twenty patients died after being injected.
"Ron Ridenhour knew about secrets in New Orleans - he spent a year investigating a tax scandal there, reporting that won a George Polk Award," said author Sheri Fink. "Here the subject is different, but the questions are similar: To what degree do entrusted institutions function in the public interest? How do individuals within them handle consequential decisions, and what implications do past events carry for our future? It's a tremendous honor to accept the Ridenhour Book Prize for 'Five Days at Memorial.'"
In the book's riveting second half, the quest to understand what happened at Memorial is brought to life through the eyes of a prosecutor-investigator team, Butch Schafer and Virginia Rider. Their investigation into the five days uncovers a whole new understanding of the human drama that fuels medicine and the unchartered territory of end-of-life care. "Five Days at Memorial" raises important ethical and legal questions about the way resources are allocated in crisis situations and throws into sharp relief some of the issues that dominate everyday headlines on healthcare reform and inspire significant debate, including rationing, justice, and liability.
"Five Days at Memorial" will be awarded the 2014 Ridenhour Book Prize on Wednesday, April 30th at noon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. This event is open to press.
Jenn McKee is an entertainment reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Reach her at jennmckee@mlive.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.