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A True Story of Medicine Gone Awry
Scribner
January 2007
On Sale: January 9, 2007
320 pages
ISBN: 0743267540
EAN: 9780743267540
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
A chilling real-life medical thriller, Coronary chronicles
the story of two highly respected heart doctors who violated
the most sacred principle of their profession: First, do no
harm. In the summer of 2002, fifty-five-year-old John Corapi, a
Catholic priest with a colorful background, visited Dr. Chae
Hyun Moon, a celebrated cardiologist in Redding, California.
Corapi had been suffering from exhaustion and shortness of
breath, and although a physical examination and a
conventional stress test revealed nothing abnormal, Moon
insisted that the calcium level in Corapi's coronary
arteries called for a highly invasive diagnostic test: an
angiogram. A chain-smoking Korean immigrant known for his
gruff bedside manner, Moon performed the procedure briskly
and immediately handed down a devastating diagnosis: "I'm
sorry; there is nothing I can do for you. You need a triple
bypass tomorrow morning." He then abruptly left the room. Several hours later, however, Moon inexplicably decided the
surgery could wait until Corapi returned from a previously
scheduled cross-country trip. Unnerved by the dire diagnosis
and also by Moon's inconsistent statements, Corapi sought
other opinions. To his amazement, a second, third, and
fourth doctor found that his heart was perfectly healthy. In
fact, for a man his age, Corapi's arteries were remarkably
free of disease. Sensing a cause more disturbing than human error, Corapi
took his story to the FBI. As local agent Mike Skeen soon
discovered, Corapi was one of a number of people who had
suspicions about Moon and Moon's go-to cardiac surgeon, Dr.
Fidel Realyvasquez, an equally respected member of the
close-knit northern California community. Working at a
hospital owned by Tenet Healthcare, Moon would make the
diagnoses and Realyvasquez would perform the surgeries.
Together, these leaders of the Redding medical establishment
put hundreds of healthy people at risk, some of whom never
recovered. Soon Skeen launched a major investigation,
interviewing numerous doctors and patients, and forty
federal agents raided the hospital where the doctors worked. A timely and provocative dissection of America's
medical-industrial complex, Coronary lays bare the financial
structures that drive the American healthcare system, and
which precipitated Moon's and Realyvasquez's actions. In a
scheme that placed the demands of Wall Street above the
lives of its patients, Tenet Healthcare rewarded doctors
based on how much revenue they generated for the corporation. A meticulous three-year FBI investigation and hundreds of
civil suits culminated in no criminal charges but a series
of settlements with Tenet Healthcare and the doctors that
totaled more than $450 million and likely put an end to
Moon's and Realyvasquez's medical careers. The case's every
twist and turn is documented here. A riveting, character-rich narrative and a masterpiece of
long-form journalism, Coronary is as powerful as it is
alarming. This is a hair-raising story of the hundreds of
men and women who went under the knife, not in the name of
medicine, but of profit and prestige. Brilliantly told,
Stephen Klaidman's Coronary is a cautionary tale in the age
of miracle medicine, and a shocking reminder to always get a
second opinion.
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