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Book Summary and Reviews of Josie's Story by Sorrel King

Josie's Story by Sorrel King

Josie's Story

A Mother's Inspiring Crusade to Make Medical Care Safe

by Sorrel King

  • Published:
  • Sep 2009, 208 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Ninety-eight thousand people die every year from medical errors, making it a leading cause of death in the United States, but the subject has long been taboo. All that changed with Josie. Sorrel King's eighteen-month-old daughter was badly burned by a faulty water heater in the family's new home, but was taken to the world-renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she made a remarkable recovery. But as she was preparing to leave, the hospital's system of communication broke down and Josie was given a fatal shot of methadone, sending her into cardiac arrest. Within forty-eight hours, the King family went from planning a homecoming to planning a funeral.

Dizzy with grief and close to ending her marriage, Sorrel slowly pulled herself and her life back together. Accepting Hopkins' settlement, she and her husband established the Josie King Foundation. They began to implement basic programs in hospitals emphasizing communication between patients, family, and medical staff—practices which can now be found in hospitals around the country. The account of one woman's unlikely path from full-time mom to nationally renowned patient advocate, Josie’s Story is the inspirational chronicle of how a mother—and her unforgettable daughter—are transforming the face of American medicine.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Eschewing literary stylishness, King tells her story with a straightforward style that makes it all the more powerful." - Kirkus Reviews

"This painful but inspiring memoir is a compelling drama of family grief amid the dysfunctional U.S. health care system, buttressed by a 20-page resource guide for patients, families and health-care providers." - Publishers Weekly

This information about Josie's Story was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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