Dr. Bailey's novel juxtaposes the idealism of medical care and healing with the profits of a bloated corporate medical system. "Follow the money", is the idea behind the book. When you see your doctor's bill, your pharmacy bill, your hospital bill and are floored, realize that this is because of political weakness and the many hands that have profited from an industry. The End of Healing though has a hopeful message: that there are people within the system who care and that care improves us.

Against the backdrop of a continuing national debate about healthcare access and costs, stories about $17,850 urine tests, and confused and bewildered health consumers, I couldn’t help but pick up The End of Healing, a new novel by Dr. Jim Bailey, (Professor of Medicine and Preventive Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center). This Benjamin Franklin Silver Award Winner in the popular fiction category provides a well-researched descent into the inner workings of American healthcare through parallels with Dante's Inferno. It's compelling in the best activist tradition of Upton Sinclair and as heartfelt and thought-provoking as the work of Atul Gawande. Dr. Bailey specifically wrote The End of Healing as a novel, because he felt that stories can more powerfully give voice to the lived experiences of patients and their health care providers than yet another scholarly article. He’s also a clinician who cares for the sick and teaches doctors; one who is on a mission to heal rifts the current system causes and preserve the patient/physician relationship. As a result, the information contained in his character, Dr. Virgil Sampson’s fictional Health System Science Program and syllabus, portrays a factual, documented history of how American medicine has evolved. Taking his advice to “Follow the money!” leads the characters and the reader down a rabbit hole that’s anything but fiction. Librarians will appreciate that the syllabus reflects the actual documentation for Dr. Bailey’s own research and sources.
I’m not recommending this book for it’s fiction storyline, because it is not as polished in that way as one by a favorite fiction author would be. The format serves as a vehicle to draw the reader in, artfully weaving the story around actual medical histories and composites of real cases, while revealing the complexities and forces driving healthcare delivery in the US today. Health care providers will recognize some of the anguishing situations they’ve found themselves in and patients may well find answers to questions about their own care and experiences. That is where the value lies for librarians. We are able to understand the challenges all parties in the system face and can think about ways to bridge gaps between patients and providers, through resources, programming, collaborative efforts, conversations – whatever might help meet the needs of our communities. This book within a book does much more than entertain, it effectively serves as a call to action.

*This review was published in the April 2018 issue of OHSLA Voice

Great story which reflects what’s happening to our patients. This story made me appreciate what I have.

Eye-opening and dismaying! Nevertheless, Mr. Bailey gives us an accurate and compelling look at the wreckage of the American health care system in detail. He is compassionate and caring, a voice for all of us. Must-read!

Jim Bailey paints a rather prolific picture of the healthcare system in the U.S. with his novel, The End of Healing: A Journey through the Underworld of American Medicine. The American health care system has been broken for some time. Most people are aware that somewhere along the lines it has invariably become more profit-driven than care driven. To read a first person account of just how broken the American industry has become was eye opening, to say the least. With a close relative near the end of life, this book spoke to me deeply. Family all disagree on what should or could be done. Will the extremely expensive health care options prolong her life by an additional 6 months? Or are they needlessly putting this relative through pain? It seems no one is given much time to ponder these important questions. Doctors are quick to cast judgments on those that need time to think about the best course of action for their loved one, firmly pushing loved ones in the direction of expensive and perhaps unnecessary procedures while offering very little in the way of expectations. This book encourages readers to question and use discernment in an arena where we’ve all been told to blindly trust. Enlightening.