Coma (novel)
Encyclopedia
Coma is Robin Cook's
first published novel
, written in 1977. The book was a New York Times best seller and was also voted as the number one thriller of the year by the New York Times.
It was made into a highly successful film, Coma by Michael Crichton
in 1978.
for making post-treatment notations on the health of patients. Mark Bellows, a surgery resident
in the hospital, is the instructor and supervisor of this group.
The book is a journey into the inner workings of a hospital. As these students complete their three-month surgical rotation, the dilemmas and problems faced by a woman in a so-called "man's" profession are also highlighted.
There are two patients, Nancy Greenly and Sean Berman, who mysteriously went into coma
s immediately after their operations. These incidents were attributed to complications within their surgeries due to anesthesia
.
Nancy Greenly became comatose when her brain did not receive sufficient oxygen during surgery. Similarly, Sean Berman, a young man in his 30s in good physical condition, underwent a scheduled knee operation. Despite the operation's success, Sean failed to regain consciousness. Medically, the odds for such occurrences are one in 100,000, however, such odds seemed resolutely higher at the Boston Memorial Hospital.
Baffled by the comas of these two patients, Susan decides to investigate the mystery behind these peculiar events and of other recent coma victims. Susan discovers the oxygen line to Operating Room 8 has been tampered with to cause the patients carbon monoxide poisoning during surgery and, hence, brain death. At the same time Susan develops a brief, but intimate, relationship with Bellows and discusses her findings with him. After unravelling further details, and evading pursuit by a man hired to kill her, Susan is led to the Jefferson Institute.
The institute is hailed as an intensive care facility designed to cut down on heavy medical costs. All patients who are declared brain dead
or "vegetables" are referred to the institute. Here, she finds that patients are suspended from the ceiling by wires in rooms walled by glass and are moved from room to room with little human involvement. The "samples" are kept alive and healthy until a call for an organ comes in. The organ of choice is removed surgically (and without consent) and then sold on the black market.
At the end of the story Howard Stark, chief of the Department of Surgery at Boston Memorial, is revealed as the main antagonist. Stark confronts Susan over her findings and then drugs her, intending to put Susan in a coma under the pretext of an appendix operation. However, Bellows manages to disable to the oxygen line during the operation, thereby preventing a full dose of carbon monoxide poisoning. Stark is arrested but Susan's fate is left in doubt.
Robin Cook (novelist)
Dr. Robin Cook is an American physician and novelist who writes about medicine and topics affecting public health....
first published novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
, written in 1977. The book was a New York Times best seller and was also voted as the number one thriller of the year by the New York Times.
It was made into a highly successful film, Coma by Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...
in 1978.
Synopsis
Susan Wheeler is the protagonist of the novel. She is an attractive 23-year-old third-year medical student working as a trainee at Boston Memorial Hospital. Susan, along with four other students — George, Harvey, Geoffrey, and Paul — takes rounds in surgery rooms and ICUsIntensive Care Unit
thumb|220px|ICU roomAn intensive-care unit , critical-care unit , intensive-therapy unit/intensive-treatment unit is a specialized department in a hospital that provides intensive-care medicine...
for making post-treatment notations on the health of patients. Mark Bellows, a surgery resident
Residency (medicine)
Residency is a stage of graduate medical training. A resident physician or resident is a person who has received a medical degree , Podiatric degree , Dental Degree and who practices...
in the hospital, is the instructor and supervisor of this group.
The book is a journey into the inner workings of a hospital. As these students complete their three-month surgical rotation, the dilemmas and problems faced by a woman in a so-called "man's" profession are also highlighted.
There are two patients, Nancy Greenly and Sean Berman, who mysteriously went into coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
s immediately after their operations. These incidents were attributed to complications within their surgeries due to anesthesia
Anesthesia
Anesthesia, or anaesthesia , traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away...
.
Nancy Greenly became comatose when her brain did not receive sufficient oxygen during surgery. Similarly, Sean Berman, a young man in his 30s in good physical condition, underwent a scheduled knee operation. Despite the operation's success, Sean failed to regain consciousness. Medically, the odds for such occurrences are one in 100,000, however, such odds seemed resolutely higher at the Boston Memorial Hospital.
Baffled by the comas of these two patients, Susan decides to investigate the mystery behind these peculiar events and of other recent coma victims. Susan discovers the oxygen line to Operating Room 8 has been tampered with to cause the patients carbon monoxide poisoning during surgery and, hence, brain death. At the same time Susan develops a brief, but intimate, relationship with Bellows and discusses her findings with him. After unravelling further details, and evading pursuit by a man hired to kill her, Susan is led to the Jefferson Institute.
The institute is hailed as an intensive care facility designed to cut down on heavy medical costs. All patients who are declared brain dead
Brain death
Brain death is the irreversible end of all brain activity due to total necrosis of the cerebral neurons following loss of brain oxygenation. It should not be confused with a persistent vegetative state...
or "vegetables" are referred to the institute. Here, she finds that patients are suspended from the ceiling by wires in rooms walled by glass and are moved from room to room with little human involvement. The "samples" are kept alive and healthy until a call for an organ comes in. The organ of choice is removed surgically (and without consent) and then sold on the black market.
At the end of the story Howard Stark, chief of the Department of Surgery at Boston Memorial, is revealed as the main antagonist. Stark confronts Susan over her findings and then drugs her, intending to put Susan in a coma under the pretext of an appendix operation. However, Bellows manages to disable to the oxygen line during the operation, thereby preventing a full dose of carbon monoxide poisoning. Stark is arrested but Susan's fate is left in doubt.
Editions
- ISBN 0-451-21142-1
- ISBN 0-451-20739-4
- ISBN 0-606-01135-8
- ISBN 0-330-25410-3 (paperback) (1978)