Five Patients

by Michael Crichton

ER has become the most successful television series in the world since Charlie's Angels. Michael Crichton created the series from his own experiences as a medical doctor in the emergency rooms, operating rooms and wards of Massachusetts General Hospital. Five Patients is Michael Crichton's true account of the real life dramas so vividly portrayed in ER. A construction worker is seriously injured in a scaffold collapse: a middle-aged dispatcher is brought in suffering from a fever that has reduced him to a delirious wreck; a young man nearly severs his hand in an accident; an airline traveller suffers chest pains; a mother of three is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease.

Genres: Nonfiction, Medical, Medicine, Science, Memoir, Thriller, Mystery

246 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1970

About the author

John Michael Crichton was an American author, screenwriter, and filmmaker whose prolific career left an indelible mark on popular culture and speculative fiction. Raised on Long Island, he displayed a precocious talent for writing, publishing an article in The New York Times at sixteen. Initially enrolling at Harvard as an English major, he switched to biological anthropology after discovering a preference for scientific study over literature. He graduated summa cum laude and received a fellowship to lecture in anthropology at Cambridge. Later attending Harvard Medical School, he earned his MD but chose not to practice, dedicating himself to writing instead. His medical background profoundly influenced his novels, providing authentic scientific and technical underpinnings that became a hallmark of his work. Crichton began writing under pseudonyms, producing suspenseful thrillers as John Lange, including Odds On, Scratch One, and Easy Go, and as Jeffrey Hudson with A Case of Need, earning him an Edgar Award. His first major success under his own name, The Andromeda Strain, established his signature blend of scientific authenticity, tension, and exploration of technological hazards, leading to its film adaptation. Over his career, he wrote 25 novels, including The Terminal Man, The Great Train Robbery, Congo, Sphere, Jurassic Park, Rising Sun, Disclosure, The Lost World, Airframe, Timeline, Prey, State of Fear, and Next, several adapted into major films, with four additional works published posthumously. Crichton also made significant contributions to film and television. He wrote and directed Westworld, pioneering the use of 2D computer-generated imagery, and later directed Coma, The First Great Train Robbery, Looker, and Runaway. He created the influential medical drama ER, which he executive produced and developed with Steven Spielberg, achieving critical and commercial success. Many of his novels, most famously Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World, became cultural phenomena, combining imaginative adventure with grounded scientific speculation, often exploring humanity’s overreach in genetics, biotechnology, and complex systems. His literary style was notable for integrating meticulous scientific detail, suspense, and moral cautionary themes. His works frequently addressed the failure of complex systems—biological, technological, or organizational—demonstrating the unpredictable consequences of human hubris. Employing techniques such as first-person narratives, false documents, fictionalized scientific reports, and assembling expert teams to tackle crises, Crichton created immersive stories appealing to both popular and scholarly audiences. His exploration of genetics, paleontology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence revealed both fascination and caution about humanity’s technological ambitions, while his early non-fiction, such as Five Patients and Electronic Life, reflected his scientific insight and forward-thinking approach to computers and programming. Standing 6 feet 9 inches tall, Crichton experienced social isolation in adolescence and later pursued meditation and consultations with psychics, cultivating a lifelong interest in human consciousness and alternative experiences. A workaholic, he approached writing with disciplined ritualistic methodology, often retreating entirely to complete a novel in six or seven weeks. He was married five times, fathered two children, and maintained a wide-ranging collection of 20th-century American art. Crichton engaged in political and scientific discourse, particularly regarding global warming, where he was an outspoken skeptic and testified before the U.S. Senate. He contributed significantly to the discussion of intellectual property, technology, and environmental policy, coining concepts such as the Gell-Mann amnesia effect. Throughout his life, he received numerous awards, including Edgar Awards, a Peabody Award for ER, an Aca

Reviews

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Crichton started his career as a medical student but veered towards writing as he became more and more dissatisfied with his chosen profession (see: Travels for more info). Five Patients, one of his earliest works and one of his handful of non-fiction books, is not only a look at a modern (in 1970) hospital but also serves as Crichton's denunciation of some troubling problems in the practice of medicine. Crichton's research is thorough as always and some of the sections pertaining to medical history are captivating. Forty-seven years have passed so some of the stories lack relevance although some are still quite entertaining. If any of the material seems familiar, keep in mind that Crichton drew upon these experiences when he co-created the TV show ER.

[Kyriakos Sorokkou]

Διαβάστε και την ελληνική κριτική στις βιβλιοαλχημείες.

Five Patients was Crichton's first non-fiction book I read this year. He wrote four in total. I read his other two last July (Electronic Life: How to Think About Computers & Travels) and I'm still hunting down his most rare one Jasper Johns.

This book, as the title indicates tells the true stories of five patients at Massachusetts General Hospital, all admitted while Crichton was a medical student there.

This book tells Crichton's experiences as a doctor, the history of Massachusetts General Hospital, the general history of American medicine and hospitals,and of course, as I mentioned earlier, the personal stories of five patients their life and medical problems.

From the back cover's blurb:
«A construction worker is seriously injured in a scaffold collapse; a middle-aged dispatcher is brought in suffering from a fever that has reduced him to a delirious wreck; a young man nearly severs his hand in an accident; an airline traveller suffers chest pains; a mother of three is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease.»

These stories, and Crichton's experiences as a medical student and doctor in general, served as the main inspiration for his drama E.R. George Clooney was a protagonist in the 1st out of 15 seasons.

Even though I'm not a fan of medical dramas and medical non-fiction, I'm a fan of Crichton, so I ended up reading this book.
It also includes a 7-pages glossary and ten pages of bibliography, showing once more Crichton's dedication on each of his works.

I can't say I loved it, but it was certainly a great experience and of course I'm glad I have one more Crichton in my possession.

[Book Concierge · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the back cover: A construction worker in his fifties is seriously injured in the collapse of a scaffold. A middle-aged railroad dispatcher develops a high fever that makes him wildly delirious. A young worker nearly severs his hand from his arm in an accident. A woman traveling alone has persistent chest pain and is treated by a doctor on a TV screen. A mother of three is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease.

My reactions
These five patients’ cases are used to illustrate the workings of a large academic medical center: Massachusetts General Hospital. Crichton, best known for thrillers and the TV show E.R., wrote this nonfiction explanation of how a hospital works when he was barely out of medical school himself – November 1969. I happened to get a 25th anniversary edition, which includes a “new” Author’s Note dated 1994. In that forward he writes: “When I reread the book recently, I was struck by how much in medicine has changed – and also, by how much has not changed. Eventually I decided not to revise the text, but to let it stand as a statement of what medical practice was like in the late 1960s, and how issues in health care were perceived at that time.”

Another twenty years have gone by and Crichton’s comments still ring true. Much has changed, and much remains the same. The system of training new physicians has changed little, though residents no longer have the gruelingly long hours that were the norm when Crichton was writing. Technological advances have certainly changed the way in which certain services are delivered, but third-party payers (i.e. insurance companies, including government programs such as Medicare) have much more to say about what services the patient receives and how. (A friend recently had a mastectomy as an outpatient procedure!)

So, while this work is obviously dated, I still found it interesting.

[Thalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Expected a dramatic retelling of patients' stories as described by the blurb, I was pleasantly surprised that this was more expository on themes surrounding Medicine such as history, financial costs/ insurance, technology and the hierarchy of residents. It was fascinating that a book written in the 70s had similar issues as today. Overall, a great read for me.

[Oli Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s an annual tradition of mine to read a michael Crichton novel at Christmas. I am making my way through his early work. #fivepatients (a non-fiction account from his medical days originally published in 1970) is a fascinating examination of the American healthcare system and a brief guide to the history of medicine as well as an introduction to how a hospital operates in practice. The more things change the more things stay the same. @michaelcrichton_official #michaelcrichton
was often ahead of his time. This particular edition features an authors note from 1994, which almost laments some of the technology that was breaking through in the late 1960s but hadn’t yet come to fruition in 1994. But another 30 years later and Crichton is proven right once again as those particular technologies (AI and computer assisted diagnosis and examination) are really getting more traction. Some of Crichton’s criticisms and concerns about the cost of medical treatment are even more relevant today.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really terrific :o) It was written in 1970 maybe (?) but his style as ever is compelling. It was super interesting to read what he envisioned as the future of medicine and hospitals. At the time he wrote this the first 'tele medicine' was being practiced at an airport terminal and computers were just starting to be used ... Fascinating book - I'm keeping it and may reread it sometime in the future

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an enlightening view of the inner workings of a teaching hospital, even though it is now several decades old. I is easy to see how methods, technology, and improved knowledge have changed the problems but some do still exist. I would be interested in hearing what this author thinks of today's hospitals.

[Hayden Fuchino · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 Stars.
Mostly an examination of the state of medicine in 1970. Surprisingly prescient about the role of computers and money. Not nearly as much about individual cases as I was expecting.

[Ardon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually didn’t realise that Michael Crichton had ever done any medical books - admittedly he’s best known for Jurassic Park, so perhaps I only had him shelved as a sci-fi writer in my head.

For whatever reason, I’ve been rewatching ER lately, and I discovered that Crichton (who wrote the show) had also written this, an account of 5 specific patients he saw as a fourth year Harvard medical student.

It honestly reminded me of the same sort of hustle and bustle one sees in an episode of ER, so I really liked this side of the book. However, the book is very much dated - it was written in the late 60s, so much of Crichton’s coverage of contemporary issues with American healthcare are a bit anachronistic, but interesting nonetheless.

[Andreas Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il germoglio da cui è nata la serie E.R. Nella realtà si tratta di un lavoro di raccolta dati molto ben romanzato.

[Linda Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read. I didn't know he was a doctor. While this book is so interesting, is Michael Crichton predicted the evolution of the hospital. He also vividly brings the ER to life. He writes about how decisions are made, why to proceed with caution, to wait and see how the patient progresses. Even today, we don't know why some patients get better and why some don't.

[BradMD · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a great book for me, but if I remember correctly this was very early in his writing career.

[Will Eubanks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd heard several people complain that this book was outdated. Yes... that is the entire point of reading it in 2021. If you'd like a take on current medicine, read a current book (or read the foreword). Part of the charm of reading Five Patients is looking back 50 years, especially for us young folk. Not all of Crichton's predictions are accurate (who could expect them to be?), but give a solid idea of the state of medicine and its practitioners at the time.

The dividing of the book into five sections for five patients, and more importantly five different topics in medicine (general hospital history, cost of healthcare, history of surgery, technology in the medical field, and medical education, respectively), works fairly well, but Crichton fails to consistently tie each patient's story to the topic to which he devotes each chapter. I wonder how well Five Patients would read split into two different books: one telling the stories of each patient, and another a collection of essays about the state of medicine in 1969.

[Veronica - I need a husband, to have a fancy last name · Rating 1 out of 5]

Szczerze? Nie polecam 😩
Ponad połowę przewijałam bez jakiegokolwiek skupienia (tylko po to, żeby mieć ją skończoną skoro jest mega krótka...) (I tak, wiem pan profesor mówił, że życie jest krótkie, więc trzeba czytać same najlepsze książki - I ZGADZAM SIĘ. Ale to już był akt desperacji. Kwestia mojej dumy i honoru itp itd. +no jak już pisałam - było to bardzo krótkie, więc uznajmy, że mało czasu zmarnowałam)
***
Bo jakby... To jest bardzo dziwna książka. Trochę jakby ktoś (I mean Crichton) dosłownie zrobił kopiuj+wklej dokumentacji medycznej. Trochę wkleił fragmentów z rozmów z pacjentami. I trochę dodał randomowej historii medycyny.
Czyli ogólnie jeden wielki chaos w sercu i nudy jak ma się z tym do czynienia na co dzień (I mean tu nudy, normalne rozmowy z pacjentami i czytanie ich dokumentacji są super 😌)
***
Także jak ogarniać coś związanego z "ER" to lepiej obejrzeć serial (i przymknąć oko na ich defibrylację PEA i asystolii 💀)

[Kathy Hiester · Rating 4 out of 5]

I work in the healthcare field and I thought that I was getting a fiction book my Michael Crichton. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I had a nonfiction and interesting read. The funny part is that I had no clue that this author actually created the TV series ER. The story encompasses five patients, a construction worker in his fifties who is seriously injured in the collapse of a scaffold, a middle-aged railroad dispatcher who develops a high fever that makes him wildly delirious, a young worker that nearly severs his hand from his arm in an accident, a woman who while traveling alone develops persistent chest pain and is treated by a doctor on a TV screen and a mother of three who is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. Five Patients has abundant detail, decent medical knowledge and insight into the health care business all told in layman’s terms.
4 Stars

[Karschtl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Die Vorlage für die TV-Serie "Emergency Room". Allerdings haben diese beiden Sachen - außer der Idee - nichts weiter miteinander zu tun.
Stattdessen beschreibt der Autor, der einst selbst Medizin studierte bevor er ein Bestseller-Autor wurde, wie das Leben in einer Notaufnahme ist. Zu diesem Zweck werden die Fälle von fünf verschiedenen Patienten geschildert. Neueste medizinische Entwicklungen kommen ebenso zur Sprache wie das Sozialsystem der USA. Das ganze ist in einem sehr dokumentarischen Stil geschrieben (obwohl es auch gut möglich ist, dass die Fälle in dieser Form vollständig erfunden sind.)

Zu bedenken ist: dieses Buch wurde erstmals 1970 veröffentlicht, und daher sind die "neuesten Entwicklungen" für uns gar nicht mehr so neu.

[Aparna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember getting this from my library since a friend recommended it to me. I have always found medicine a very interesting field (only to read about, though), and my first surprise was how easy this book was to read. And the second surprise was how the statistics have been presented, to represent healthcare as an industry. It reminds the reader that although intentions may be noble, no profession exists for the sole cause of charity. It also reminds you that a hospital is not a non-profit place, and why its in the patient's best interest that it remain that way.

This book made me feel a whole lot smarter, and gave me more insight to an industry I knew nothing about but will be involved with for as long as I am alive.

[Lilith · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first non-fiction work of Mister Crichton. I plowed through his fiction works in my (very) early twenties, originally borrowing them from a co-worker. After I ran through his collection, I went on to buying my own used Crichton books until I was pretty much out of options.

I picked up Five Patients at Goodwill for fifty cents on half price Saturday. Moving through it pretty quickly, I was swept away by the stories included in it, and even more so, I was taken in by just how much WORSE our health care system in America has become since Five Patients was published.

It's an eye opening read, certainly.

[Jay Arcy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is super boring for me because it is non-fiction. If you want a history of medical advances, this may be it. I'm curious about the monitor check up thingy, where you don't really see the doc, only a nurse attends to you. If they can do that, then next time, it's ok to have a medical consultation via facebook. Took me months to finish this book.

[Kristina Ruttan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Michael Crichton might just be my favorite author. He usually blends riveting story lines with political or scientific opinion seamlessly. Maybe because this is an earlier work, the switch between story and teaching was stop and go. Add in the problem that the facts he were presenting were 40 years old (not his fault), and I couldn't finish this book.

[David Meyer]

A fascinating look into the world of a hospital. It is not so much a look at 5 interesting cases as much as it is a look at the way though cases effect the surrounding environment of the hospital itself. This is all accompanied by interesting looks into the history of how this all came to be.

[Manishad Haroon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another short stories collection.Maybe an interesting read for medical professionals but not being one myself and the genre a departure from Crichton's usual thrillers (more like documentary) this book was totally disappointing

[Kirsten Karlen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Earlier Michael Crichton, an interesting read. Despite being so pop-culture, I have to admit a weakness for MC because he's a science nerd and so am I. :)

[Rheanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tasha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my favorite onbe of his so far, sounds like a lecture more than a novel. . . and I only got half way through and gave up on it, oh well that can't all be winners

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

The inspiration for the TV series ER. Without the inspiration.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This gives you an interesting insight into his medical years. It was interesting.

[K'roll · Rating 1 out of 5]

In my opninion, I really don't get the point with this book.
I've even not finished it.

[Kelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was an interesting look into some medical history but I much prefer his fiction pieces..

[Melanie Christie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not enjoy at all