How Greed in our Healthcare System Can Harm Patients

  Deborah Schwartz who has had a decades-long career as a healthcare attorney before becoming an author joins eHealth Radio and the Health News and Healthcare Channels. Her new book is EmmaCare.  Listen to interview with host Eric Michaels & guest Deborah Schwartz discuss the following: Why did you write this book?In EmmaCare, you focus on an industry you know firsthand: the healthcare industry. How did your experience as a healthcare attorney drive this story?Can you share why you decided to write this as a work of fiction?What do you think is the most concerning result of the healthcare industry focusing on profits?It seems like the toll on patients isn't always understood or focused on in the media. In your book a healthcare executive is the victim of a pretty serious (though thankfully not fatal) crime. It certainly has echoes in real life. I'm certainly not condoning the crime that took place, but were you surprised by the shooting of a United Healthcare executive?Can you talk about any situations you witnessed as a healthcare attorney that you think represent the state of the healthcare industry today?In your book there's a powerful through-line — that even the greediest executive is capable of redemption and changing their ways. Did you create that as a reflection of hope as to what could change in the healthcare industry?The conclusion of the book seems like a powerful, very real potential solution for righting a lot of the wrongs in the healthcare industry right now. Can you talk about how you came up with the idea of an organization focused on advocacy?What prompted you to leave an industry behind you were in for nearly three decades, and shift gears to become an author?  Deborah Schwartz had a decades-long career as a healthcare attorney before becoming an author. She obtained her J.D. from Boston University School of Law, a Masters in History from Columbia University, and is a graduate of Tufts. A New Yorker to the core, she reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2011. Her new book is EmmaCare. Social Media Links: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-schwartz  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deborah.schwartz.9   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deborahhschwartz   X: https://x.com/DSchwartzNY  People also listened to this: The Power of Music as Medicine with Sound Healer Jeralyn Glass