Suggested Reading and Resources

In Life of Pi, Yann Martel wrote: “That’s what fiction is about, isn’t it, the selective transforming of reality? The twisting of it to bring out its essence?” So too it is with this book.

For those interested in exploring the real-world issues behind the story—corporatization of American healthcare, moral injury, and the harm it’s causing—these works offer insight, evidence, and hope for change:

An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back, by Elisabeth Rosenthal

Code Blue: Inside America’s Medical Industrial Complex, by Mike Magee

If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury in Medicine and Why It’s So Hard for Clinicians to Put Patients First, by Wendy Dean

Never Pay the First Bill: And Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win, by Marshall Allen

The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care – and How to Fix It, by Marty Makary

Support Free Clinics

Free clinics are real, vital places—and a lifeline for many. To find a clinic near you and support their work:

The National Association of Free & Charitable Clinics

Society of Student-Run Free Clinics

State-level resources (for example, the Virginia Association of Free and Charitable Clinics)