Ward 402

by Ronald J. Glasser

Mary Berquam, een betoverend meisje van 11 jaar, wordt met leukemie opgenomen in het ziekenhuis. De internist die het kind na haar opname onderzoekt, is verbaasd. Mary is zo ziek, dat hij nauwelijks kan geloven dat ze niet eerder is opgenomen.Als hij de reden verneemt waarom de vader het meisje nu brangt, slaat zijn verbazing om in verbijstering. Hij heeft vaker te maken gehad met moeilijke ouders, maar deze man slaat alles.En zo start de 'omscholing' van deze arts. Door Mary ontdekt hij namelijk, dat hij niet te maken heeft met een geval, maar met een persoon... Met een kind en zijn ouders...

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Ronald J. Glasser, MD, is the author of the bestselling 365 Days, an account of his experiences as an army doctor during the Vietnam War. Dr. Glasser has written several investigations of trauma in modern warfare, including Broken Bodies, Shattered Minds and Wounded: Vietnam/Iraq, as well as the general medical studies The Light in the Skull and The Body Is the Hero. He is also the author of the novels Another War, Another Peace and Ward 402.

Reviews

[Sallie Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An unusual genre for me, this is a short novel of “medical fiction.” The story line is that of a young intern who is doing a six week rotation on the pediatric ward. It’s a world class hospital and all the young patients have serious illnesses.

Published in 1973, I suppose it’s just a little bit dated. There are lots of medical terms and procedures, definitely not my strong suit. But the story behind all that is very human and touches on how much treatment is too much treatment, and when is it okay to let someone go. You get the doctors’ viewpoints, a sick little 10-year-old girl’s viewpoint, the parents, the nurses, the whole gamut. And a young intern perhaps learns how or be a more human (better?) doctor.

The ATY Goodreads Challenge - 2024
Prompt #32- a book with a number in the title

[Anna Shelley Johnson]

Picked this up in the biomed library at St. Jude. An interesting narrative by a resident on a pediatric unit, centered around the story of a patient with leukemia. Touched on medical team dynamics, psychosocial elements of care, interacting with families of pediatric patients, and dealing with death and dying.

“We were not very good with death. Indeed, death was something rarely mentioned on the ward, or any ward for that matter. In a world of dying, death was the really unacceptable thought.”

“What was I doing sitting here? I wondered; what did I hope to accomplish? I was simply there, as people had always been there with the dying, so those they cared about, those they loved, would not be alone.”

[Francisco Falvo · Rating 3 out of 5]

¿Cuánto tiempo es suficiente cuando lo único que se siente es constante dolor?

Interesante mirada sobre la medicina y el rol de los doctores como las personas encargadas de mantener la vida.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book through Netgalley.com. Thank you NetGalley, Open Road Integrated Media, and to the author, Ronald Glasser.

5 STARS! I loved this book. What an absolutely wonderful novel! This is the story of an intern who is doing his rotation on Ward 402, the pediatric ward – one of the most grueling rotations in the hospital. The reader experiences the world of the intern with the author. He faces the realities of the mechanism of the hospital (administration, hours, rules, etc) while the needs of his patients as human beings tugs at his heart. One of my favorite parts of the novel was when the intern realized that the hospital was run more for the employees than it was for the patients. The author had a way of making the reader understand everyone's point of view. This includes the high ranking surgeons, the residents, the interns, the nurses, the patients, and the parents. This was such a difficult task, but superbly done by Ronald Glasser. I had many places in my heart for everyone. I have a 5 year old child and am currently a teacher at a daycare center, so I was very attached to little Mary. I spent a few years as a hospital employee so I can also relate to their point of view. Ward 402 enlightened us to the unfortunate ways that the hospital staff view their patients as cases rather than as people. Although this is often necessary to stay impartial and to best treat an illness, there does come a time when doctors need to relate to the patients and their loved ones. Imagine...what if this was your family member being treated? The author did such a great job in expressing this situation through the turmoil in the ward and the reactions of the staff.

I fell in love with little Mary and my heart broke for her and for her family every step of the way. This novel is, however, so much deeper than just the story of Mary. I simply couldn't put this book down. I recommend it to everyone.

[Morganna The Hungry Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a young doctor. I got my degree last year and I am at the end of my internship in a psychiatric ward. Basically, I'm up against the same reality which is discussed in this book. I was very impressed by what is narrated, but also how it is said: honestly, without hiding anything, including the presumption and the technicality that features a young doctor when it is fresh out of college. And also the tiredness of the first responsibilities. This book is well written in the first person, and never bored me. The author explains what can be the medicine when she meets reality, and when encounters patients who prefer humanity rather than aggressive treatment.A smile rather than a pill. This is a great teach for everyone, readers, not only doctors. Experencies are told like a first-person novel but with a strong touch of reality, and this is the point. The experience of the writer as a first-in-line during the happenings of the novel. This is a great book that needs promotion.

[Sally Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having lost my daughter to leukemia in 1999, I can say that I'm profoundly relieved at how much, in 2024, treatment for childhood cancer has improved since this book was written in 1973. Treatment then pretty much included no hope, a lot of roughness, and primitive medicines.

I'm also glad that we were at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, where if the staff didn't get along, we didn't see it. The people in Ward 402, especially the parents, were awful. But the staff didn't help much. It's encouraging that, even in 1997 when our journey began, there was financial and emotional help for families going through a life-limiting illness.

I never realized how things were in the 1970s. Just shocked me. I'm sure the doctors and nurses did their best with what they had --- but they didn't have much!

[The Bibliophile Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fast read that, bearing in mind the time it was written, posed a very interesting view of how patients and their families should be treated when admitted in a hospital. Humanised medicine is the main claim the author does although I see a glimpse of controversial topics like euthanasia in the book. Well written and full of medical jargon that the author knew how to deal with inthe book so the reader isn't lost at all. Well done.

[Andreschalag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente motiva al medico novato en la labor que le espera

[Enzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cómo kinesiólogo, fue una buena y sincera introducción a los elementos "no clínicos" del trato con pacientes y padres. Buena lectura, fácil de leer, buena narrativa.

[LuzdeTea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lectura rápida, contundente y sencilla, sobre el trato con el paciente y la praxis médica.

[Carla Selem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro que todo médico debería leer, una evolución del pensamiento médico necesario para ejercer con empatía

[Skyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

With painful clarity, Ronald J. Glasser vividly recounts the true story of his time spent on ward 402 as a new medical intern, battling his conscience and childhood leukemia. This book deserves two thumbs up!

In Ward 402, the author, Ronald J. Glasser, is faced with a new admission named Mary Berquam. She is in the advanced stages of leukemia and is brought in by her parents ultimately to die. When Mr. Berquam puts up a fight with the hospital staff regarding the permission to treat his eleven-year-old daughter, Glasser soon realizes that medical school has left him woefully unprepared for handling situations involving actual dying children and belligerent parents. Is it worth it to keep a child alive when she will suffer from frequent painful treatments until her terminal illness finally consumes her? While contemplating what constitutes a valuable life, he must decide. Is it better to surrender to the Berquams' wishes to leave Mary untreated yet comfortable, or should he continue to fight in order to prolong her imminent death? Perhaps scientists will come out with a new drug that will be able to wipe out the leukemic cells that are ravaging the child's body. But what if that doesn't happen?

[Mercedes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro con el que me topé en otra librería de Capital. Lo encontré junto a Go Ask Alice, y en ese momento sí tenía un cobre entonces me los llevé.

En el momento pensé "Uh, seguro es de fantasmas", porque claro, leés 'Pabellón 402' y lo primero que pensás es 'asilo>historias turbias>fantasmas'. Muchas series.

En fin, para los que no cazan holandés, cuenta la historia de un doctor y una paciente de 11 años con leucemia. No les digo nada más, leanlo. Se van a querer cortar las venas con un micrófono.