Jo Hamilton

Back in 1983, Jo Hamilton had a younger brother named Scott. Scott Hamilton. That was the year he died, of an overdose of drugs meant to treat his cancer. Only in his early 20s, this Scott had been diagnosed with testicular cancer – the same cancer that the ice skating Scott Hamilton would be stricken by years later.

The author writes of her childhood on an Iowa farm with her family. They were not rich by any means, but they were happy and very close. When Scott became ill, it was a huge blow to them all. But the short book was not written just to tell the public what a great person the world had lost and what it had meant to them; it was to warn the public about medical errors. The last part of the book is about how to protect yourself and your loved ones from experiencing the same type of horrible error.

The book is valuable for this lesson. Too many errors are made in hospitals and pharmacies- my late FIL had that experience and it nearly killed him and certainly shortened his life. Sadly, the writing does not match the message. The author has a great fondness for exclamation points that gives the book the feel of a blog rather than a memoir with a purpose. A good editor could make this story much more powerful than it is. But despite this fault, I sat down to read for 10 minutes and ended up finishing the book in one sitting.… (plus d'informations)