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Sign up todayNo Apparent Distress
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Learn moreA brutally frank memoir about doctors and patients in a health care system that puts the poor at risk
In medical charts, the term “N.A.D.” (No Apparent Distress) is used for patients who appear stable. The phrase also aptly describes America’s medical system when it comes to treating the underprivileged. Medical students learn on the bodies of the poor—and the poor suffer from their mistakes.
Rachel Pearson confronted these harsh realities when she started medical school in Galveston, Texas. Pearson, herself from a working-class background, remains haunted by the suicide of a close friend, experiences firsthand the heartbreak of her own errors in a patient’s care, and witnesses the ruinous effects of a hurricane on a Texas town’s medical system.
In No Apparent Distress, she chronicles her experiences and the raging disparities in a system that favors the rich and the white. This is at once an indictment of American health care and a deeply moving tale of one doctor’s coming-of-age.
Rachel Pearson is an MD and PhD student at the University of Texas Medical Branch and the Institute for the Medical Humanities in Galveston. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in the Mid-American Review, the Texas Observer, and elsewhere.
Rebecca Gibel (a.k.a. Kasha Kensington) is a audiobook narrator and stage actress who has performed in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Camelot (IRNE Award nomination), Urinetown (Denver Post Ovation Award nomination), and Othello. She won the Denver Post Readers’ Choice Award for Best Year by an Actress. She is a graduate of the Brown University Trinity Rep MFA acting program, where she was the Stephen Sondheim Fellow.
Reviews
“Pearson’s vivid writing sometimes lulls you into the trance of a good story—character, voice, plot, conflict—but there’s always the sucker punch at the end to remind you of the gruesome endpoint of the American health-care system: If you don’t have money, you can be sent out to die…[Pearson’s] courage, honesty, and doggedness are evident on every page.”
“This timely, highly recommended title is for readers interested in medicine, public health, disparities in treatment, and the complicated politics of health care and poverty.”
“Passionate….one of the better doctor-in-training books.”
“The book takes on an intimate tone, even while the details veer toward the gruesome or the emotionally raw… Eloquently and briskly written, the narrative is moving and will be inspirational and particularly enlightening for pre-med students eager to discover and explore the real insider details found both in and out of school.”
“Filled with the moving stories of a medical student’s journey providing health care…Shines a spotlight on the brutal inequalities present within our health-care system.”
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