First, Do No Harm

by Larry Karp

The past comes rearing up to bite the next generation when a son digs too deep into his family’s past…. Martin Firestone can’t figure why his father, the eccentric painter Leo Firestone, is throwing a fit. All Martin did was tell his dad he’d been accepted to medical school. Then, Leo tells Martin a story about his own father, Dr. Samuel Firestone, an extraordinarily gifted doctor and a living legend in the small city of Hobart, NJ, but a man with a serious character flaw. During the summer of 1943, while Leo worked as Samuel’s extern, he witnessed some highly questionable behavior. Illegal abortions, supplying heroin to an addict, black-market pharmaceuticals, babies sold to adoptive parents-all in a day’s work for Samuel Firestone, M.D. When Leo decided his father was covering up a murder, he and his girlfriend, stage-struck Harmony, followed a trail of clues into the Fleischmann Scrapyard. There, they ran afoul of old Oscar Fleischmann, Samuel’s longtime nemesis. By the time Leo realized he and Harmony were in far over their sixteen-year-old heads, it was too late to call off the investigation. But there are loose threads in Leo’s story. Martin picks them up, and sixty years after the fact, goes snooping in Hobart. And like his father, he comes away with a whole lot more junk than he’d bargained for.

Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

Larry Karp practiced perinatal medicine and wrote general nonfiction before turning his back on medical work to write mystery novels full-time. The backgrounds and settings of Larry's mysteries reflect many of his interests, including musical antiques, medical-ethical issues, and ragtime music. His current book, The King of Ragtime, the second work in a ragtime mystery trilogy, centers on a real-life dispute between Scott Joplin and Irving Berlin over the alleged theft of a piece of music."

Reviews

[Niki · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so excited about this book, having stumbled upon it in our library's ebook section and read the good reviews. I liked the idea of a story within a story and while reading the first several chapters, like how Karp broke from the one story to come back to the present. I had to stop reading however, due to the language. Don't get me wrong; I'm not a prude and I understand that writers must use certain language to either get a point across or to help readers fully understand a character (their character, education level, etc.) but I just can't accept page after page of GD's and JC's. I'd love to read this if a censored version ever comes out.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, it's my brother, but it's my favorite of his books. Poses an unanwerable question and goes at it.

[Joanne Cheek · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not hold my interest. The author used God’s name in vain throughout the book. A real turn-off for me.

[Donna Siebold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martin Firestone and his father have never had the most normal of relationships, but they did not have significant issues, until that is, Martin announces he is going to go to Med School. His father, Leo, a painter flips his lid. He asks Martin to meet him for a meal and then proceeds to tell Martin the story of his own father, Samuel.

Turns out Samuel was a doctor and he was phenomenal. He was an unparalleled diagnostician. His patients thought he could save anyone he treated. And, he did incredible things: he diagnosed a girl as having diphtheria after two specialists missed the disease. Samuel's clue? A small stain on her pillow which indicated the diphtheria infection had settled in her middle ear. Without his quick diagnosis this young girl would have died within days. Samuel recognized meconium aspiration in a new born and suctioned the fecal matter out of the baby's lungs with his own mouth. He resuscitated a terminally ill young child so that her parents could be there to say good-bye. He performs a person to person transfusion to help a young woman recover from an abortion.

But, there is a dark side to Samuel as well. He helps supply his wife, Leo's mother, Ramona with morphine to support her addiction. Indeed, he sometimes takes morphine himself. He declared the death of one young man to be do to a heart attack when he clearly died of other causes. Leo thinks he died of strychnine poisoning. He takes wild chances with his patients because he is sure he is the only one who can help them.

Leo sees all of this and more during a summer when he serves as an extern to his father. At this point in his life Leo hasn't decided what he will do as an adult. Will he follow his father into medicine or will he become a painter.

He sees black-market trading of scrap metal - a serious infraction since the story is set during WWII. He learns of abortions, illegal adoptions and many other issues. Leo is very close to his neighbor Harmony. Together they try to unravel the mysteries that surround Samuel and his actions and choices.

Instead, Harmony and Samuel both end up dead. It isn't until some sixty years after the incidents that Martin is able to find the truth and help his father see it as well.

Right up until the very end this was an engaging story. You wanted to learn more about Samuel, why Leo had never discussed him and what caused Martin to suddenly decide to go to med school. But, the story ends so abruptly that I found it disconcerting. For the most part Leo and Samuel's story is resolved, but it is too quickly and too tritely.

[Carl Brookins · Rating 4 out of 5]

The family that practices medicine together may find themselves in more trouble than bargained for.

When Martin Firestone decides, at the ripe age of twenty-eight, to go to medical school, he assumes his father, Leo, will be, if not supportive, at least acquiescent. He is totally unprepared for the explosion that comes with his announcement, and for the peremptory summons that follows. His father, a hard-drinking creator of acclaimed if bizarre paintings, demands that Martin meet him for lunch forthwith to lean how wrong his decision is and why he must abandon all thought of a medical career.

What follows is a long, richly detailed if somewhat meandering, tale of Leo’s father, Martin’s grandfather and his career as a physician during the thirties and forties in New Jersey. Martin’s grandfather, it develops, is the renowned physician, Dr. Samuel Firestone, celebrated in the annals of medicine. As, indeed, he should be. Leo’s story to his son, about growing up with this celebrated GP is, truly, the stuff of legends.

What we have here is a richly detailed roaring tale of medicine, social mores and political acumen. When Samuel Firestone decides to make his son, Leo, his assistant for a summer, in Hobart, New Jersey, Leo discovers that his father is revered far and wide as a compassionate, caring, doctor of people, not just of medicine. Dr. Firestone is a friend of politicians, of black marketers, of junkies and of unmarried, pregnant girls. He rarely sees a golf course or a tavern. He provides medical services to an enormously wide range of people who are ill. House calls at three a.m. on a Sunday night? No question, and through the entire novel, the false birth certificates, the unregulated adoptions, son Leo learns to drive his father’s car, meets hoods, pharmacists, a junk man who acquires a false death certificate, and officials who will conveniently look the other way when the patient’s well-being is at stake—and the cash is there.

Make no mistake, compassionate Dr. Samuel Firestone is a criminal. I lost track of the number of laws he broke, laws which for the most part protect society. But not everyone, all the time. The overall law that operates throughout this novel, when applied to individuals, is the law of unintended consequences. Legislators and political leaders could learn from this book. FIRST, DO NO HARM, is a very accessible novel and should be of interesting to everyone, including physicians. Author Larry Karp delivers a powerful message wrapped inside a fascinating, well-written mystery. This is how it should be done.

[LJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

FIRST, DO NO HARM (Mystery-New Jersey-1943/Cont) - Ex
Larry Karp – Standalone
Poisoned Pen Press, 2004 – Hardcover
When Martin Firestone tells his father, Leo, he’s going to be a doctor, he is stunned by the negative reaction he receives. But when Leo insists on meeting Martin and proceeds to tell him of Martin’s grandfather, who was a doctor, Martin knows there are still answers to be uncovered.
*** This is not a classic mystery, but it is an absolutely remarkable piece of writing. I became completely immersed in the characters and their story. It is poignant, engrossing, tragic and truly excellent. Be prepared to give it your undivided attention as you’ll want to do nothing less.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this book at a library book sale. Wow what a find! In my top 10 for sure. The characters are fantastic. As a rule, I don't read series books. If this one had a follow-up, I'd definitely have to rethink that stance. The story unfolds in New Jersey during WW2. Leo is the 16 year old son of a doctor. This summer, Dr. Firestone decides to take Leo along on house calls to learn "what doctoring is all about." "Doctoring" isn't all Leo learns. Lessons about life, loyalty, love and
the laws of living become part of the good doctor's prescription. A great read, you won't be disappointed.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite books from several years ago. I don't usually keep
books that I have read but I kept this one hoping to read it again in the future.
It is well worth seeking out because it is a wonderful read.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ain't nothin like a good detective novel every once in a while :)