Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital

by Eric Manheimer

The inspiration for the NBC drama New Amsterdam and in the spirit of Oliver Sacks, this intensely involving memoir from a former medical director of a major NYC hospital looks poignantly at patients' lives and reveals the author's own battle with cancer.

Dr. Manheimer describes the plights of twelve very different patients--from dignitaries at the nearby UN, to supermax prisoners at Riker's Island, to illegal immigrants, and Wall Street tycoons.


Manheimer was not only the medical director of the country's oldest public hospital for over 13 years, but he was also a patient. As the book unfolds, the narrator is diagnosed with cancer, and he is forced to wrestle with the end of his own life even as he struggles to save the lives of others.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Medicine, Medical, Biography, History, Health

368 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2012

About the author

Eric Manheimer, M.D. was the Medical Director at Bellevue for over thirteen years and is a Clinical Professor at the New York University School of Medicine. He is an Internist who trained at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York in Internal Medicine. Following his Chief Residency there, he moved to Hanover, New Hampshire where he was a member of Dartmouth Medical School and the Hitchcock Clinic for many years.

He has had a long interest in international health working in Haiti and Pakistan and in medical anthropology, history, the social sciences and literature particularly of Latin America. Along with his wife Diana Taylor, who is a University Professor at New York University, Eric travels extensively in Latin America and Mexico. He has two children and one grandchild, who was born at Bellevue.

Reviews

[Petra X]

What is most interesting so far, is seeing illegal immigration from the Mexican point of view. There is no difficulty in getting to the US, just pay a 'coyote' $3,000 and you're there, reunited with your family or joining your friends. No difficulty either in getting jobs and settling down. Entire families and even towns had relocated to the US. So long as there needs to be no contact with the authorities, and for some there is never any contact, life is good, better than where they came from in Mexico. But... needing to go home it is impossible to fly, it has been to done the same way as coming in. And if the authorities find you, even (and this is terrible) if you are legal but don't have your id on your at that very moment it might be, as in the book, eight months of being moved around internment camps and no one knowing where you are.

The Mexicans (in the book) are very angry that the US treats them so badly. They feel they are entitled to go to their richer neighbour and make better lives for themselves. They blame drugs for the present poverty of their towns, drugs that the US want. They don't seem to want to address the illegality of their position, although Mexico is very keen on deporting people who overstay their welcome (from other Latin countries as much as tourist visas from the US).

And I am looking at it from the point of view of wanting to live in the US myself but being restricted to six months. If I stay longer and get caught (and last year there was an issue with Immigration who said I had stayed the entire six months when I had left months before, easily cleared up, but worrying nonetheless) then I get banned for ten years. I'm self-supporting, don't need housing or benefits and I don't want to work. So for the US it's money in, not money out. You'd think I would be a desirable immigrant, but no....

If a Mexican gets caught they mostly get the chance to apply to live there. It's no wonder the Haitians, beaten back so viciously by the border guards, instead of flying to Miami, went to Mexico and tried to cross the river. They had a chance that way, they would be turned back at MIA if they'd flown in. If I fly in I have all my papers in order, but still only 90 days at a time.

The US needs to have illegal immigrants, I don't see the euphemism of 'undocumented migrants' as changing the situation, it just sounds better and more sympathetic. If the farms had to pay minimum wage, the price of groceries would have to triple. If there were no illegal service workers, maids, gardeners, mechanics, fast food employees, but Americans wanting proper pay for their work, the cost of living would go up tremendously. So the US only makes a half-assed effort at keeping illegals out or deporting them. But there has to be a middle way.

I live on a rich island in the Caribbean. Here we have a system of work permits. We do get illegal immigrants, mostly from Santo Domingo (the Dominican Republic), same set up as the US, 'coyotes' and then they settle down in their communities, working in Spanish bars, maids, cleaners and prostitutes. Almost all of the prostitutes are from there, they are very pretty girls, and it's not something local girls on a very small fundamentalist Christian island go in for (at least at home). Like the US, the island more or less tolerates this situation, but deports people every now and again.

The book does not seem to be about 12 patients but about the author, a doctor, who goes through grueling cancer treatment himself and has a holiday home in Mexico. It's quite interesting, just not what I expected.

[Shainlock · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a DNF. My loan time ran out and though I got pretty far, the writing was pretty choppy and there wasn’t a flow. It literally followed the frantic pace of a doctor with way too much to do. It was very interesting and I might have finished it if I had time; however, I had to wait for weeks at the library with this in my hold list. Perhaps later ;)
My favorite parts were about the history of Bellevue and about the different parts of it. Very amazing.
No rating from me as of yet. I liked what I read even if it was choppy and tossed the reader around quite a bit.

I added some highlights. Read them if you want to get a sense of the book. ;)

[♥ Sandi ❣]

3.5 stars

The title of this book, 'Twelve Patients', is a bit inaccurate. There are twelve stories in the book about patients and their care, however the author also has his own medical story to tell. The author, Eric Manheimer, is the Medical Director of Bellevue Hospital in New York City. He has throat cancer. So nestled among the 12 stories chosen, is his regiment and life altering condition, as he oversees Bellevue.

Each of the twelve stories told in this book is unique. This hospital receives inmates from Rikers Island, the prison just off shore of New York City, diplomats, both national and foreign, immigrants and the homeless from the streets of New York. These walls are the gathering place for the rich and the poor, the criminal and the insane, the lost and the everyday Joe. There is not a day that goes by that there are not problems. Problems to be solved by the Medical Director.

This book developed from hand written journals started in 2008 was written and then edited time and again. It was this book that set the pace for the television show New Amsterdam. Fashioned on Bellevue hospital and Eric Manheimer as Medical Director, New Amsterdam has followed closely in the footsteps.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was definitely worth picking up, but isn't going to stick in my mind as much as I thought it was. While the stories of the twelve patients were interesting, the writing bothered me. Manheimer is extremely verbose, and some of the tales come off as pretty convoluted, with an almost romantic, wispy writing style at times. It's as if he's writing in a style that he thinks is how writer's SHOULD sound, as opposed to his real voice. It especially irritated me when he used the same speaking voices for all of the other "characters" in the stories; voices that I didn't think were particularly realistic, regardless of which of the handful he used. A kid off the street would have, for example, sounded completely cartoonish, and someone he may have thought of as particularly wise would use turns of phrase that borderline required a dictionary - whether or not it would be realistic that the person would speak that way. As a result, the people he profiles come off as almost caricatures, as opposed to flesh and blood human beings.

In spite of the writing style, there are definitely some gems in the details of each essay. Manheimer does a great job of relating personal stories of patients to real political happenings of the world. I can't say that I didn't learn anything from his book, and that definitely made it worth it.

[Kristen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a very disappointing read. It was not what I expected; it is not a tale of 12 medical mysteries (and certainly not in the spirit of House or Oliver Sacks.) The author was the Medical Director and was not the primary doctor in any of these cases. He tells the emotional story of these patients, but the medical diagnosis is unimportant and is simply introduced at the start of each story. He focuses on the larger social issues related to immigrants, poor, and prisoners. He also goes off on rather boring historical and anthropological tangents about the history of various Latin American counties (of which his wife is a scholar).

It's also very depressing. Most of these cases are not cured and most of these patients were victimized before they became ill.

I finished the book, but I did not enjoy the read. I did not care for his writing style, and I skimmed portions waiting for the author to get the point. He also had this odd habit of introducing upfront the ethnic origin of every non-white character in the book, and it seems he might have been the only American born character in the book the way it reads. It's actually annoying. I think he was going for ethnic diversity, but is that what he thinks every single time he sees to an immigrant - cataloging their ethnic origin?

It's also a very thinly veiled political agenda book, and I didn't agree with his agenda.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can’t do it. The author desperately needs an editor; his writing is full of snags, like a nail that needs filing. Time shifts are all over the place without adequate transitions, and the tangents! So. Many. Needless. Tangents.

I finally lost patience in “Beso de Angel,”a story full of the same coincidences that plague the rest of what I managed to read in this book. Manheimer is heroically getting an indigent undocumented man and his wife back home to Mexico, which just happens to be right where Manheimer has his second home. Amazing! And OMG, he and his patient both have a favorite ice cream shop in that small Mexican town! Amazing again!

The description of the cancer killing this patient is horrific. The patient could bleed out at any moment. And yet the decision is made that they will somehow get him back to Mexico to see his three children and die with his family. This is a good and noble thing, but... really? We really got the Mexican consulate on board with this? And got a plane to take out rows of seats to accomodate a hospital gurney? And then flew two undocumented immigrants out of New York to Mexico City with just no issues at all? Who paid for all of this?

Assuming this did happen: it is obvious that they are racing the clock to get a dying man home. And yet we are supposed to imagine that a carefully constructed and didactic conversation about the state of American health care is going to happen on the tarmac in Mexico City. My politics are progressive. I agree with the point of the discussion. But you're going to pause for this conversation when you have a dying patient?

I call shenanigans. This is the stuff you see in television shows, and it seems fairly apparent to me that an eventual screen adaptation was precisely what Manheimer was aiming at. Which he did, and congratulations. But the book is a little too full of these "amazing!" coincidences, and poorly written on top of it.

Hard pass. Don't bother with this one.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only a few chapters in and still interested, but the author could really have used an editor interested in cutting out the countless unnecessary details.

Finally finished and I'm not sure why I stuck with it. The patients' stories were interesting but the writing was not very good. The author wandered frequently, and while I love a good tangent, these did little to add to the story or my interest. He includes so many tiny details that do not need to be there. I think this book would have been greatly benefited by a good editor who could have chopped out the ramblings and pushed for more direction. I admire this man's career and outlook but not his writing.

[Ted Lehmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital (Grand Central Publishing/The Hatchette Group, 2013, 349 Pages, $9.99 Kindle edition) Dr. Eric Manheimer tells  a story about the American health care system set in Bellevue Hospital, which is the oldest and largest hospital in the United States. As a public hospital it serves the needs of those populations not well-served by the huge infrastructure of America's hospital and larger medical industries. Through its vast doors come the immigrant and minority people who, for hundreds of years, have gathered in New York City for its challenging environment of work, wealth, and freedom, as well as providing a home for all who come. Riker's Island, the largest prison complex in the country provides a vast prison facility for those who comit crimes or are waiting trial for offenses ranging from simple drug arrests to the most horrendous of violent acts. The serial killer known as Son of Sam was imprisoned there for several years awaiting trial. The relationship between these two institutions and the communities surrounding them provides the context for this enormously engaging and challenging exploration of the American health care system at the nexus where it is most challenged. Using twelve patients, including himself, as examples, Manheimer explores the nooks and crannies of an over-challenged system to provide care for those most in need.

In what amounts to a series of harrowing and inspiring case studies, he portrays the capacity of this system to meet the physical and emotional needs of those most in need of its powers. Skillfully using dialogue with his patients, colleagues, and family to explicate the stories he has to tell, Manheimer avoids the trap of jargon and stilted description bringing the cases to life through his own humanity and turning what might be cardboard stereotypes into people the reader cares about caught in situations that become real and compelling. Beneath each story lies the reality of grindingly difficult living conditions experienced by many who have suffered to get to the United States only to find themselves confronted by many of the same criminal elements they encountered at home, a system fragmenting to a halt under its own weight, and a country deeply divided about what to do with both criminals and immigrants. Early in the book, Manheimer comments, “PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) was made an official disease in 1980. That is 2700 years after Homer described the effects of war on warriors in his majestic Iliad.”

[Elyse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. Sometimes an author should not narrate their own books. Eric Manheimer is a doctor. He knows how to remove himself and emotion from conversation. He's done that in this book. He's very unemotional, bland, monotone, boring. I might've enjoyed it more with a different narrator or maybe just reading it. Some of the patients' stories were just too detailed. I want to know about why they are patients, not necessarily why they fled their country when it had nothing to do with their being a patient. I liked that he went to college at Dartmouth in New Hampshire. I like when strangers know NH! I enjoy the TV show, New Amsterdam, and will continue watching it. There's nothing similar between the two though. Mediocre first book finished of the year.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I found the title compelling. I figured it would be an interesting peek behind the storied walls of Bellevue by someone who's been there and done that. Yeah, not so much. Reading this was comparable to slogging through the waist high muddy swamp in that one film... you know which one I'm talking about...

The concept of this book is nice, in theory, each chapter highlights one patient's story and includes enough family details that you will very quickly lose track of who's who, and then goes on to make some point about what is wrong with society today, including prison overcrowding, the problems faced by immigrants, Obamacare, and on, and on, etc. As I said, the concept of the book is nice, though the author is very, very wordy. He talks about being woken up in the middle of the night to tend to a very sick patient, but first stopping off for a quadruple macchiato and tipping the barista and on and on, and where was this going again? Oh, yeah, a very sick patient... There were segments of this book that were actually interesting, such as his details about how parts of Bellevue are less hospital and more extensions of Riker's Island, and the courtroom contained within. Those were the good parts, the parts I wanted to know more about, but alas was treated instead to the lengthy backstory of one character or another. There were so many characters in each chapter that it was impossible to keep them all straight, and so by the time that one dies off, the reader feels no connection to that person and certainly has no emotional bond. In the end, I simply could not finish this book. It is rare that I give up on a book but there was just no point in me continuing on. Save yourself.

[esmepie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only kept reading because the patients were so interesting, both as illustrations of the kinds of cases that come to Bellevue, and as a lens through which to examine current topics in medicine today. I even liked the author's personal cancer story.
But the author is a horrible writer and could have been so easily helped by a good editor. First, time and sequence are hard to follow. The author was allowed to tell too much of his own personal (non-medical) story so that he comes across as super-humanly wise, kind and intelligent. Lastly, he attempted to tell the story through "dialogue". Which is good (show don't tell) but the conversations are long-winded, boring and unbelievable as a reflection of how people actually (i.e. people use contractions in speech).

[Robin Overman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I normally don’t read nonfiction but because I love the show New Amsterdam I decided to read the book it was based on. I’m glad I did. While some chapters were more interesting than others I was caught up in the politics of medicine and the background of Bellevue hospital. Some stories made me sad, some made me angry but most gave me satisfaction that our medical care workers can and do change lives...physically and mentally.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

When embarking upon this book, I had seen a BBC2 programme about nursing in Mexico 'The Toughest Place to be a ... Nurse'

Although the Author is based in Bellevue in New York City, like that BBC2 programme this book was a real eye opener. In the space of one book he takes us beyond the walls of a busy hospital and shows us modern day America in terms of what you sow, so shall you reap!

The Author's detail in writing suggests a screenplay writer could take the characters off the page and transfer them straight to the screen. Even down to the contents of the meals.Don't read it if you are hungry lol. There's less blood and gore and more the side of getting to know your patient. That's the key I think. It is about getting to know the patient and looking at the social injustices that have led them to his hospital.

Eric does not shy away from holding a mirror up to the politicians; the big companies who manipulate the public; the media and others whose self-interest is creating a strain on the health sector and ruining lives.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

No wonder this was made into a (loosely based) TV show.
I didn't expect to be learning about the prison system, immigration, obesity, personal mortality, homelessness,mental illness, and abuse all in one book. I really loved the stories of the patients, but I think some chapters could have been cut down.

[Laura Spira · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have just binge watched the first series of New Amsterdam. I'm a sucker for a medical drama, all the way back to Marcus Welby and Dr Kildare, and this one is a fairly conventional example of the genre. All the doctors are heroic but slightly flawed personalities and the central character, the hospital medical director, has the added problem of being a cancer patient himself.

So I was really interested to read the book on which the series is based. Apart from the author's own experience as a medical director (and cancer patient) the series has little in common with the book, which is a pity as the stories Manheimer tells are very interesting. Many of his patients are from Guatemala and we learn much about the challenges they have faced in escaping from poverty and brutality. He and his wife have travelled there extensively and he provides a very useful potted political history of the country.

In providing medical care for these people who have already suffered so much, Manheimer also battles with the constraints of the US health care system. He shows how treatment regimes can sometimes confuse diagnoses and disguise underlying problems - he clearly favours a more hands-off and holistic approach to patient care - but his critique of the overall system is more subtle than one might expect.

This is not a well written book and could have used some editing in places. In literary terms it is not in the same league as works by Atul Gawande or Henry Marsh, the UK brain surgeon, but it is certainly heartfelt. I learned a lot from it.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you picked this up, as I did, thinking it would be like the TV show "New Amsterdam" (which is based loosely on this book), you may be disappointed. Or, you may find a thought-provoking collection of cases which Dr. Manheimer has overseen during his many years of running New York's Bellevue Hospital. Not only does he delve into the specifics of each of twelve different patients and their medical histories, but he goes even deeper, exploring the earliest possible explanations for their subsequent behaviors and the resulting conditions. Sometimes it is difficult to follow his train of thought because of the short, almost choppy style of writing which creates a sense that he is jotting ideas down as they occur to him. But since this is apparently based on a series of journals that he kept over the years, I suppose that is understandable. All in all, I found this to be a fascinating, although sometimes depressing look, at the state of "modern" medicine in this country.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been on a kick reading books by doctors about the practice of medicine, and this is one of the finest. Far more than just a series of case histories, though it includes that, this is a literary text, as good as any book of fiction, with a strong voice, wonderfully wrought images and characters, and a goal of exploring the lives of people, both patients and doctors. I wish this author was a friend so that I could go out to dinner with him and just listen to his stories. Smart, engaging, full of honest reflection without ego and with a clear sense of care for everyone who comes into the hospital.

[Yoursexylibrarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked this book in the beginning. Abut halfway through, I started disliking the book and the author's point of view. By patient ten, I hated the book.

In the Kindle edition, each patient has his or her own chapter, which are about 45 minutes each. It seemed never-ending during some of the chapters.

The author is a doctor. In some parts of the book, he comes across as sincere and intelligent. In other parts, he was a bit of a pompous ass. I did not appreciate his discussions about traveling, his second home outside the country, and his opinion on abused patients.

I failed to finish the last two chapters because reading this book was sadly beginning to feel like torture.

[SaraB · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book wasn't at all what the back cover or blurbs would have you think. Instead of a story of 12 patients, it's a story of a doctor who occasionally goes above and beyond to help them; which might be a nice story if it wasn't written by said doctor. This is literally a book he wrote to tell everyone everything great and praise worthy he has done, while making sure you see how busy he is.

This book also need A LOT of editing. The amount of times he would just ramble on with his 'deep thoughts' about life, forgiveness, mortality, etc was just excruciating.

It was like reading a book long Tinder profile.

[Genia Lukin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was... fine? The subject matter was pretty interesting, but the writing style put me off. it needed editing very badly, and was full of odd digressions and jumps that had no place there. Plus, the dialogues and conversations sounded like odd, stilted recitations. If you're writing nonfiction, you can often elide these or present them as semi-paraphrased. if you're actually putting quotes there you should maybe try to either accurately quote, or at least make it sound like something people would say. This is neither fish nor fowl nor good medicated herring.

[Pam Carmichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was written by a doctor and man it was great. If you want to know how the inside of a hospital really works this is a great start. Got it from the library and was right into it. Bellevue it not a bad hospital like people think, it is a hard working one which treats all kinds of things and the doctor is so interesting I could not put it down! If you get a chance pick it up, I promise you will really enjoy it!

[Tracy Fitzpatrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories about the patients were very interesting. I found some parts a little dry. The author uses this as a platform to bring attention to his social/political concerns.

[Isabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nareszcie skonczylam, fajne bardzo

[Ruby Weatherstone · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know this is brutally honest but it’s 2025 and I’m giving my genuine rating

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I very much wanted to like "Twelve Patients" by Eric Manheimer, MD but struggled at times to do so. The memoir was ambitious covering everything from prison reform to foster care and Dr. Manheimer's stories moved me. Many patients like Tanisha, the teenager who grew up in foster care, and Soraya, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, left me in awe of the staggering hardships they endured. Arnie's story was particularly important and for the most part well done--it's hard to overstate the perniciousness and pervasiveness of our current opioid crisis. And Jeffrey's struggle with severe mental illness poignantly highlighted the devastating impact such illnesses can have on patients as well as their families. Dr. Manheimer himself reminded me of my dad, who was a doctor's doctor and recently died of cancer. Little details like his daughter inviting him out for dinner at their usual place made me misty-eyed.

And yet I thought Dr. Manheimer frequently overreached making broad generalizations about complex subjects such as immigration. The telling of Arnie's compelling story unnecessarily, in this reader's view, broached topics like Jim Crow segregation and prison overpopulation. With Marta and her struggle with obesity, Dr. Manheimer reassured her that “an epidemic is not one person’s fault.” True enough but adults are responsible for what we do to our bodies. I think this work would have been stronger if Dr. Manheimer allowed his stories to speak for themselves without injecting his political proselytizing. Nonetheless, physicians like Dr. Manheimer see us at our most vulnerable and, as a result, have incredible stories to tell.

[Niall · Rating 2 out of 5]

I made it all the way to Chapter 11 but I simply could not go on. Listening to this (audiobook) had to be one of the most miserable experiences of my life. The story, and narration, was so dull and depressing. There was no silver lining (at least up to Chapter 11). The world is f**ked. Everything's f**ked. There's not even a system we can called f**ked.

I understand the Author wanted to tell as many stories, and truths, as possible, but it was like listening to someone with some extreme kind of attention deficit disorder. He couldn't tell one story straight. There were tangents. Clusters of people. An overload of names. I fail to believe this was about 12 patients - I suppose the Marketing team thought "I12 Patients" would put potential readers off.

I am sure there are much better Medical memoirs out there with the recent surge. I would avoid this miserably, meandering mess.

[Nida · Rating 2 out of 5]

Each chapter started with an intriguing patient case, but unfortunately midway through each chapter I found myself wishing the author would get it over with already. The author's writing style could be more concise, and it doesn't quite flow when he writes in his own elaborate voice for the underprivileged patients that he is dealing with.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book after finding out that it inspired the television series New Amsterdam. It pulls no punches in using Bellevue Hospital as a way of telling tough stories about addiction, mental illness, disease, family dynamics and the successes and failures of the American health care system.

[LibraryCin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The author is a doctor and was the head of the Bellevue Hospital in New York City for 14 years, I believe. This book dedicates a chapter each to one patient. One chapter focused on himself and his own bout with cancer.

I thought this was good. He was able to sit down with some of these patients and talk to them and find out more about their backgrounds, so he provides more than the medical information about each one. He talks about their lives, and how they came to be in New York and in the hospital. Some of the patients were immigrants and some were prisoners from the nearby Rikers Prison, and there is more variety in addition.

Given that he also looks at the people’s backgrounds, there is some politics thrown in, as well – some to do with the patients’ countries of origin, some with the way the US handles immigration, and some with public health care in the US and the costs. I have to say the chapter on his own cancer scared me a bit, as he described the treatments and such; what worried me was that I live alone and wonder how I would manage if I need to go through such treatments one day.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a slog to read. I was really interested in reading it because I’ve binged watched all the seasons of New Amsterdam in about six weeks and I really loved the characters and the hard hitting issues the show presented. The book is divided into chapters each presenting a different patient. You don’t really get to know the patients that well. The author spends most of the time talking about the sociopolitical events that affects the patient’s case. The author often goes off on tangents and I would forget where I was oriented in the narrative as the timeline would jump. I ended up pushing through to finish the book. In the last two chapters previous patients came up but I just couldn’t muster up energy to care. I just wish the stories were about the patients more.