Terminal Decline

Synopsis

'This book is my attempt to find the truth about health care in Australia today; what decisions were made in the 1970s and 1980s that have resulted in the system in which I work; and who made those decisions'After the success of MAKING THE CUT, in which he described his work as a surgeon, and The Patient, in which he wrote about the life of a man terminally ill with cancer, Mohamed Khadra moves to their natural sequel - the topical subject of the healthcare system in Australia.In this book, Khadra explains how our hospitals came to be stifled by bureaucracy; whether we can and should administer universally free health care to our population; and how best we can do that in 2010. He also peppers the book with compelling examples of real people he has treated - patients whose health he should have been able to improve, but who became stuck in a system that made their lives worse.Heath care is an incredibly emotive topic, which everyone has an opinion on. With the release of Prime Minister Rudd's proposed reforms at the beginning of 2010, this book is a timely reminder of how they may or may not help resuscitate a system in crisis.