What happened to Bobby? Sure he was anaphylactic, but why would they say he had poisoned himself? He was a doctor, not a child. These questions and more nearly drove Prad out of his mind. He went searching for answers, and what he found may astound you, as others have been astonished.
What readers are saying about Medical Malady
“What a compelling and engaging rendition of what can go wrong in our medical system. The story line engaged me for a straight six and half hours. It is a must read for all patients involved in our medical system. It was quite an eye-opener, indeed.”
Maria P. Marchelletta, president of WEN
“This memoir is perfect example of stranger-than-fiction stories. I was gripped throughout and quickly became invested in the outcome. By page 52, I was compelled to peek at the end—I had to be sure Bobby didn’t die. The drama, mystery, and potential foul play made me read this manuscript more as a medical thriller than a simple memoir.”
Agent, name withheld.
“I have not read a book that demonstrates the passion, prose and parental purpose that this story brings to the reader. I know that as a physician, patients and families need to read a book as inspirational as this one that is written by and speaks to the layman.”
Physician, name withheld.
“I bought Prad’s book partly since I thought one should support ones colleagues. Unexpectedly, I couldn’t put the book down! With each turn of a page I became more outraged. I have been the grateful recipient of exceptionally fine care from the Ontario Health Care System. Of course I knew the potential for errors, they occur in every walk of life. When I read Prad’s book I could not believe the extent to which a noble and knowledgeable profession, that I had come to trust implicitly, went to hide its errors and mislead the public and its patients. These are intelligent, educated and well-trained people who had altruistic motivation at some point in their lives. In any industrial situation errors are specifically identified and dealt with to ensure that there is no recurrence. Just think of the Airlines. Why should the medical profession be any different? Prad’s book should be required reading for all patients and health care professionals”.
Jim Northover, Chemist, Retired Technical Director.
“An excellent book highlighting unethical behavior and system level fault in a noble profession—healthcare. Millions of Canadians have faith in their medical system, and come to rely on decisions that healthcare professionals make, for themselves and their loved ones. After reading this book I think everyone must be vigilant. I am curious about the moral compass and ethical behavior of some of the doctors during these events, and now as they are continuing to practice medicine. It would be a great service to the public if the system could expose these people, retrain them or weed them out altogether. It is recommended that this book be made a part of ethics curriculum in Medical schools. Medical Malady exemplifies the holes in the Canadian Medical system as witnessed firsthand.”
Bhawan Patel, Product Technology & Strategic Cost Group, PWC.
“Medical Malady is an easy-to-read book that clearly documents and publicizes all the unexpected pitfalls in the medical and legal communities that came Bobby and Prad’s way. Prad, congratulations for your determination and persistence to see this through to the conclusion. This book would make a good movie.”
Karsten von Richter, Division Merchandise Manager, Walmart Canada (Retired).
“This inspiring, frightening and heartbreaking book relates the story of a father and a son caught in a nightmare of misdiagnosis and mistaken treatment. Moving from Montreal to Calgary to Thunder Bay, the story unfolds as Mr. Chaudhuri, Dr. Bob Chaudhuri’s father, investigates the actions of several doctors who erred in the treatment of his son, resulting in damage to his brain and his nervous system. With courage and endurance, they pursue those members of the medical profession through legal channels to get restitution for the harm Dr. Chaudhuri endured. News reports during the past few years have had stories of other medical mistakes, but this book is a frightening close up of just how fallible medical practitioners can be, despite the trust and faith we are taught to have in them.
The book testifies not only to the author’s courage and endurance, but to the courage and determination of Dr. Chaudhuri himself to put together a productive life despite his disability. He was only twenty-two when he suffered a severe allergic reaction for peanuts—the misdiagnosis resulted in dangerous procedures to his system, at one point leading to the consideration that life support would be halted. The book is finely detailed, including images of the several people involved in the case. It takes the reader into the emotional trials involved in getting some recovery from the tragedy.”
Douglas Livingston, Author-Poet, Thunder Bay.
“This is a book every parent should read. A father desperately searches for the truth behind his son’s sudden descent into a medical emergency. Who or what has caused it? Is it his son’s own fault, the friends, the doctors or the hospital staff? The father’s true life experience recounted here helps us learn a lot about dealing with the legal and medical establishments when things go wrong in the treatment of someone we love.”
Paul Robinson, Mississauga.
“Medical Malady is a real but truly stranger-than-fiction happening in reputable Canadian hospitals, so the reader is eager to get to the end for the final outcome. Hence this story would make an excellent suspenseful real life movie. The writing is concise and clear and with an impressive grasp of the medical facts. The author could well be Father of the Decade with for all his faithful, persistent effort in excessive time and money and sacrifice for many years on behalf of his dangerously sick son. The book demonstrates there are many unscrupulous characters where money is involved. This recommended book also reveals other important lessons.”
Earl William Fee, author of 100 Years Young the Natural Way and three other books.
“In the third week of February I was running a booth for Merit Travel at the Calgary Teachers’ Convention when I happened to meet Prad Chaudhuri. I had taught Prad’s son Bobby twenty five years ago who was one of my star debater’s when I was an English teacher at Western Canada. Bobby’s promising medical career was abruptly cut short when he suffered anaphylactic shock by unwittingly consuming food laced with peanuts that would cause him to be placed into a coma with devastating results . Prad Chauduri has recently published a book documenting the medical tragedy of Bobby’s treatment and the medical malpractice that is not as uncommon as one thinks. The book is called: Medical Malady Survival In A Minefield Of Medical Mistakes. ISBN 978-0-9919404-1-7
I read the book in one evening and it is written from the point of view of Bobby’s father who through thorough investigation has shown the backroom politics of the medical profession in collusion with legal professionals whose main goal is to profit from medical malpractice where the victim is further victimized. I read the book and knowing all the major players in this story was shocked of how our legal and medical system has failed Bobby. Am I surprised? No. I saw Bobby after the convention who was speaking at the Convention about his condition. Although now confined to a wheel chair, he was in good spirits. The lesson, I learned from this book, is that if you ever become a victim of medical malpractice don’t trust the doctors who do not want to pay civil damages and who will quickly get a lawyer. And finally, get yourself a reputable lawyer with integrity or you will get sold down the river. Justice is achieved by those who have the most money and can afford the best legal counsel.”
Ronald Lee, Calgary.
Mr. Lee’s Blogsite Blogspot.ca
“As we grow older in life, our stories become more complex, and we come to trust medical people implicitly. They are the caregivers of life for all of us. The Hippocratic oath gives doctors the right to care for us to the best of their ability with the assurance they will do no harm to anyone who they care for. Prad’s book offers us every reason to question just how much faith we can give. Any parent will go to extremes to help their own child. This book is the ugly truth of just how much a parent must endure in making every personal sacrifice that is ganged up against him. My stomach was in constant turmoil as I delved deeper into each chapter until the grisly end. How can any parent find the resolve to keep fighting the system in his/her defense of their child? The sacrifice made here is one of Herculean proportion. Mental strain. Physical pain (how many times did Bobby fall on his face in the course of this narrative?). Financial disaster. Our wonderful legal society rubbing, grinding, terrifying, with never ending self-righteous conspiring? Need I say more? What are we left at the end of this book? Yes, we are taught that we must be ’PRO active’ with our health issues.
Now sit down and read this story all over again. The question begs to be asked. Where does one turn at the end of the book to find the real justice? Talk about loaded dice. Egawds, I cannot imagine how anyone can endure the ugliness of Medical Maladies! Prad, you are a most amazing author of this story. Your hardened guts, your amazing detail of the endless saga here, your tempered will to persist and drag on in spite of the odds of true justice is unreal by any measure. Your personal and financial sacrifice you have documented this for all the world to digest. ’Hopefully we will be better prepared if any such tale should unfold itself again to any of us. Your are a fighter of dogged determination. You are an amazing example of endurance. Yes, I agree, a full-scale movie of this story would be an unchallenged blockbuster academy performance for any producer. How do you manage to keep a persistent smile on your face every time we meet? I hold you as a model of human dignity to the ’Nth’ degree! Well-done sir!”
George Cox, Oakville, Ontario.
“A powerful narration that leaves the reader aghast as to how this can happen in this day and age. Despite all the available technology, it is still the human factor that largely determines positive or negative outcomes of medical maladies. What would have happened if Bobby’s parents couldn’t have been as engaged and committed to his welfare must give us pause. The emotional, financial and time sacrifice to confront the medical and legal system is heart rendering. Thank you for sharing your experience Prad.”
Gerhard Stefely, Teacher, Mississauga.
“Your book fascinated me as I read it. I had a very rare tumour removed from my left temporal lobe in 1993 in Thunder Bay. I am just as frustrated as you were, as the doctors here still cannot understand. My saving grace was Mayo Clinic in Minnesota who saved me from death in Thunder Bay.
I was impressed by your effort to take on the doctors in a court of law, as my family did not. I want to thank you again for a wonderful book to read (which is now being read by my family and relatives all over Canada).”
Anne Marie Guerard, Thunder Bay
“Prad Chaudhuri, who personifies the indie author: driven to write by a life-altering experience and refusing to tell the story in any way but his. It’s a fascinating yet frightening true tale of medical mistakes involving his son, and the cover-up and legal dispute that followed. His book, Medical Malady: Survival in a Minefield of Medical Mistakes, reads like a mystery and a thriller, with the action all the more chilling because it really happened to him and his family.”
Howard Lovy, Executive Editor, Foreword Reviews newsletter http://bit.ly/1mKaUle
“L’erreur médicale. Ce n’est pas un roman. C’est une quête de vérité, poursuivit par un père, pour savoir ce qui a pu arrivé à son fils. Jeune homme promis à un brillant avenir, il est victime d’une erreur médicale qui le laissera handicapé après avoir passé à un cheveu de la mort. Le récit ressemble à une enquête criminelle au début, mais se révèle par la suite être une longue et ardue bataille juridique dans le système médico-légal canadien.
L’auteur est un ingénieur, il n’épargne aucun détail dans sa démonstration des évidences. Les émotions font éruption malgré tout mais elles doivent être jugulé pour ne pas perdre le contrôle dans ce « champ de mines ». On ressent une grande déception, désillusion au fil de ce récit. Une noble cause devient l’objet de convoitise de tout un chacun. Il y a une fin heureuse mais les grands gagnants ne sont pas du côté sympathique.
Un livre à lire et une histoire à connaître pour améliorer le traitement des erreurs médicales dans une société qui se respecte.”
Dr René Ducharme, psychiatrist, Ottawa.
“Medical Malady. Here is a non-fiction book. This is a quest for truth by a father about what happened to his son. This young man, who was promised to a bright future, was victim of a medical error that left him handicapped and almost killed. The story looks like a criminal investigation at the beginning but ends up to be a long and hard battle into the Canadian medico-legal system.
The author is an engineer so he did not spare any detail of evidences he gathered. Here and there emotions came close to outbreak but that should be repressed in order to survive in this « minefields ». But the reader could not escape from a deep disillusion and disappointment. One and the other coveted a noble cause. There was a happy ending but the bigger winners were not on the likeable side.
This book must be read and this story known in order to improve the treatment of medical malady in a respectful society.”
Dr René Ducharme, psychiatrist, Ottawa.
“Prad Chaudhuri has worked tirelessly to bring to life this heartfelt account of the medical misfortunes that befell his beloved adult son. The book tells a fascinating real-life story, informed on every page by Prad’s passion for his subject and dedication to his cause.”
Kim Moritsugu, Author, Toronto
“I stayed up to finish Part 1 of the book and had to force myself to put the book down so that I could get some sleep =). The book has a lot of suspense as I kept wondering whether Bobby would make it. The change between timelines where you go through various scenarios/times engaged my mind further as I was trying to piece everything together. The suspense of what happened to Bobby got the best of me as I took a quick peak at your website and saw the words “near-death” experience and was happy to hear he is alive.
You captured the feelings of an engineering parent quite well. I too would be on a fact-finding mission to uncover the truth. Not knowing the full truth is what would kill me most. I can’t wait to read the rest of the book and would be happy to write a review when I finish the book. I still thought I should send you an email to capture my thoughts after Part 1.
[Overall] This book was a medical thriller captivating my attention as to what happened to Bobby. I found myself staying up to read it. I am a bit of a novice when it comes to medical jargon but the suspense in the book kept me going.”
Jibsy Varghese, Project Manager, Petro-Canada / Suncor Energy
“The majority of us Canadians put our total trust in the medical system, in getting the best help, diagnosis and truthfulness in the results being conveyed back to us by all of the providers.
This book has been a shocking awakening in what actually happens in our treatment by the medical personnel. I applaud the Chaudhuri family in their fight to bring to us all of the details of what they went through with their ordeal. I am sure that there are many incidents happening in our Canadian society similar to what the Chaudhuri family have experienced.”
Nunzio Carnovale, Finance Manager, Lamenza Investments Corporation Inc.
“I found the book difficult to finish. I could only read a few pages at a time because the feelings of anxiety and frustration were so powerful. I have worked 35 years in health care and you do hear about mistakes. But the extent of the fraud perpetrated on all of you is horrifying. I attended “Encounters in Bioethics, Jan 25 & 26, 2017 – Learning from Mistakes: Commitment or Cliche?” here in Thunder Bay, where Bobby was a member of the panel discussion and where I heard about your book. I hope change comes.”
Dawna Lockhart, Thunder Bay
The book Medical Malady takes you on a tour through the medical system in a way the is eye opening, thought provoking and concerning. The author paints a true picture of the system today and the pitfalls we are likely to experience in the future based on our trends. It is a read for those who want to know what the truth looks like.
I would and do recommend everyone to read this book and understand what is really happening.
Diane Makarowski, Toronto