In the spirit of Oliver Sacks Awakenings and the TV series House, Dr. Eric Manheimer's Twelve Patients is a memoir from the medical director of Bellevue Hospital that uses the plights of 12 very different patients - from dignitaries at the nearby UN, to supermax prisoners from Riker's Island, to illegal immigrants, and Wall Street tycoons - to illustrate larger societal issues.
Manheimer is not only the medical director of the country's oldest public hospital, but he is also a patient. As the audiobook unfolds, he is diagnosed with cancer and is forced to wrestle with the end of his own life - even as he struggles to save the lives of others.