I have been working like crazy on the final draft of my manuscript which had to be all gone over again after some rather drastic advice by a barrister I had to hire to look it over. Doctors sue more of us than the other way around I was informed - its just not widely known.
So one more final sweep through for typos and by Monday I should be ready to send the amended manuscript out. It has been the hardest and biggest task I have ever or ever hope to undertake and wrung out of me. But as I go over and read through I an convinced as is my editor that this book can bring about some much needed change.
A friend said "why not make it fictional" If it was fictional no one would believe the story. You wouldn't make up the catalogue of errors and attitude, filth, etc which brutalised my husband Don for five weeks and directly caused his death.
I am stuck for a title. I have one called
"Conveyor belt medicine - An Australian Hospital horror S
tory" but it doesn't grab.It needs to have the words Australian and Hospital in it and to maybe also point to the fact that Don's treatment in hospital was made so much worse because of his severe disability and inability to defend himself when were not there.
All severely disabled people and their relatives will know what I am saying is true. If the rest of us think we are doing it tough they do it much tougher...everything is harder for them...and you wouldn't believe the attitude of many doctors and nurses to the extra workload involved in caring for a Quadriplegic as don was.
So I am throwing this in the blogosphere to all my mates out there who have follow the saga over the past two plus years. This is the photo I hope publisher will put on the cover. It was taken just before he began to have difficulty breathing. I absolutely love this photo.
8 comments:
The System - Horrors in an Australian Hospital.
Well done on getting to this point Therese.
Bit early for thinking, I'll mull it over as I work through the day. Andrew's title sounds pretty good.
INhospitable: no place for a sick person.
You have run much better photos of The Don on this blog.
Choose one with broader appeal - smiling is good.
Purgatory's Waiting Room:Falling through the cracks of Australian medicine
I am not creative at all......Down the Rabbit Hole of Bad Medicine.
I like Sling's suggestion a lot. another would be, Don's Journey Through the Nightmare of Australian Medicine.
Thanks all of you - I have put them all into the list and see which one grabs - but then if I do get a publisher they most likely will make the decision.
I am using the working title "An Australian Hospital Tragedy" suggested by my daughter. And studying the fronts of similar books, unlike novels which have just two or three words in the title - non fiction often has the heading up to four words and then down the bottom of the front cover in smaller writing a short (about ten words) blurb. Nearly all medical and other expose books are like this - so gives more scope.
"Purgatory's Waiting Room:Falling through the cracks of Australian medicine" from Sling - close though there is a chance of getting out of Purgatory - hell would be the word...and in NSW its not cracks but great gaping holes. Maybe "Hell's Waiting room. Falling through the holes of Australian medicine"
We are trying to bring in the idea that disabled people suffer much worse than able bodied people do - and as any relative knows this is truth.
Once again thanks
I like the "Hell's Waiting Room" option. The picture is perfect.
Sorry, no suggestions from me though. I'm not too creative most of the time and tonight I'm sick and sniffly and feeling too sorry for myself to think much.
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