County Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital

The amazing tale of “County” is the story of one of America’s oldest and most unusual urban hospitals. From its inception as a “poor house” dispensing free medical care to indigents, Chicago’s Cook County Hospital has been renowned as a teaching hospital and the healthcare provider of last resort for the city’s uninsured. Ansell covers more than thirty years of its history, beginning in the late 1970s when the author began his internship, to the “Final Rounds” when the enormous iconic Victorian hospital building was replaced. Ansell writes of the hundreds of doctors who underwent rigorous training with him. He writes of politics, from contentious union strikes to battles against “patient dumping,” and public health, depicting the AIDS crisis and the Out of Printening of County’s HIV/AIDS clinic, the first in the city. And finally it is a coming-of-age story for a young doctor set against a backdrOut of Print of race, segregation, and poverty. This is a riveting account.

DAVID A. ANSELL, M.D., MPH is the vice president of Clinical Affairs and chief medical officer at Rush University. He lives in Oak Park with his wife of thirty-six years, Dr. Paula Grabler, who also trained at Cook County Hospital. They have two grown children. During his scarce leisure time, he enjoys reading, exercising and gardening.
For more info on the author and event listings visit: www.countythebook.com