Inside Bellevue

by Sybil Leek

A young publishing executive who had been on the skids. Glen Hilken was unconscious when he landed in Bellevue Hospital. Doctors diagnosed possible tuberculosis, so he was confined to an isolation area, and there, the ordeal began. In Hilken's twelve-bed ward, one patient got a kick from turning other patients respirators on and off, among other torments. The bombshell came when Hilken was informed the spot on his lung was actually a tumor, and his rib cage would have to be completely opened for a chance of removing it. Inside Bellevue is the true story of the alternative left to patients of limited or exhausted finances. Hilken, devoid of personal property, $17,000 in debt, and strung out on pain killers and scotch, had no choice but Bellevue for treatment. His plight has been that of thousands who have endured feces in hospital hallways and rats in surgical wards, all in the name of charity health service.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Dubbed "Britain’s most famous witch" by the BBC.

Because she rose to media fame in the 1950s after the repeal of the 1735 Witchcraft Act in 1951, she had an effect upon the formation of neopagan witchcraft, namely the religion of Wicca. Strong in defense of her beliefs, Sybil sometimes differed and even quarrelled with other witches. She disapproved of nudity in rituals and was against the use of drugs, but she was at odds with most other witches in that she did believe in cursing. She was one of the first of the modern day witches to take up environmental causes.

Reviews

[Andrew Ceyton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bigoted, unflattering tale of a drug addict's time spent in a NYC charity hospital because of a tumor on their spine. I have no idea what Sybil Leek had to do with this. I'm glad I read it, can't recommend it unless you are obsessed with drug confession stories.

[Rick · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is actually authored by Sybil Leek and Glen A. Hilken. It appears to be totally forgotten as there is utterly no information about it available anywhere. I found this in the discard rack of my local library, and thinking it may resemble "Girl, Interrupted" by Suzanna Kaysen, I picked it up. It is similar, but this book is "Girl, Interrupted" combined with a racist, low-grade grindhouse film. Disgustingly biased-even for 70s standards; this book portrays every single "black" character as a monster who holds little Hispanic boys over toilets and urinates in their mouths. Leek announces the race of every character, except the white ones, which are painted like perfect angels who love to help others; the black nurses and aids are portrayed as wicked and uneducated, and responsible for the alleged atrocities depicted throughout the majority of the book. Homosexuals are not excluded, either, and of course, the only homosexual in the book was black, and Hilken alleges that this black "orderly" would take young male patients into the basement of Bellevue Hospital and perform fellatio because he "loved semen." Among other claims: Bellevue Hospital was filthy; patients would poop on the floors and nobody would clean it; all the black workers in the hospital would beat, rob, and attack patients; black nurses would leave patients dead in hospital beds for days, etc.. It even goes on the refer to the large black male who urinated on the small Hispanic boy as "the big mean looking black." Hilken himself is a failed English major addicted to alcohol and pain killers; I don't believe a word of this piece of s**t. Leave this turkey right where you found it; my copy is going in the blue recycle bin.

I will never read a book credited to Sybil Leek again.