Rosie Sorenson, MA, MFT

 

“The book is an adventure story, tracking the travails and eventual successes of a liver transplant patient from the perspective of the patient’s wife and caregiver. It is all true while at the same time reading like a medical thriller. I don’t know how the author survived all these harrowing events and kept her sanity and sense of humor. She’s one tough cookie.”

 

                          —Robert A Nozik, M.D., Professor Emeritus,

                             University of California, San Francisco

 

 

“Highest praise for the author’s compelling medical drama, If You’d Only Listen: A Medical Memoir of Gaslighting, Grit and Grace. She shares a cautionary tale of love and advocacy through her eyes as a life partner whose sweetheart is undergoing a liver transplant. 

 

Her strengths of compassion, brilliance and humor fortify her and shine through as she describes the experience of being vulnerable and mortal amidst the unpredictable course of major surgery and rehabilitation.  Her skilled and colorful prose transports you into the immediacy of this frightening odyssey. I recommend this book for patients, family members and professionals involved in healthcare today. The Addendum is especially helpful.”

                           

                             —Susan Bartlett, LCSW, CCM, CBIS 

 

“The phrase ‘Do No Harm,’ has been attributed to Hippocrates, 4th Century BCE. In 2001, the book To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System was published by the Institute of Medicine, USA. For the first time, errors in the medical health system were dealt with, stating that the problem is not bad people in healthcare, but good people working in a system that needs to be made safer to avoid preventable medical errors. As the author painfully discovered and demonstrates in her book, sadly, this goal has not yet been accomplished.”

 

                           —Benedicte Dahlerup, M.D., Neurosurgeon, Denmark                  

   

“The author’s work is both gripping and instructional, a hard feat for any author. But it’s also a warning. Sorenson writes not from the viewpoint of a doctor or a patient, but from the mostly unheard viewpoint of the loved one suddenly forced to single handedly take on the healthcare system in matters of life and death. She has turned her horrific experience with medical error into a fine literary account of the ordeal.”

 

                        —Jonathan Odell, Author of The Healing and Miss Hazel and the Rosa  Parks League

 

 “If You’d Only Listen” is a finely written cautionary tale. A red alert for facing life-saving surgery—our own or that of a loved one. The author’s intensity and humor make it a surprisingly delightful read. The love and caring are inspiring. The information about medical error at the end as well as recommendations for mitigation are invaluable.”

 

                        —Carolyn Ingram, EdD, PCC, Psychologist and Coach

                            Author of The Not-So-Scary Breast Cancer Book: Two Sisters'           Guide  from Discovery to Recovery, with Leslie Gebhart, M.A.

 

“The author has spared no one, not even herself, in this engaging saga of saving her husband’s life from hospital medical errors associated with his liver transplant. When it became clear that he could die as a result, she had to push through her midwestern Nice Girl conditioning to fight aggressively for him.

Her husband eventually made an excellent recovery, but the author paid a steep physical and emotional price. She is determined to save others from a similar fate.

In the Addendum, she discusses research on medical errors in the U.S. as well as recommendations for readers about how to prevent mistakes from ending the life of someone they love.

 Her information was very helpful to me personally when my husband needed surgery.”

                        —Deborah Joy, PhD

                            Counseling Psychologist

 

“Despite the difficulties she went through, it's easy to be on this journey with the author. Her story of her struggle to save her husband’s life after his liver transplant is personal and heartfelt, with the pacing of a medical thriller. Reading her work is like reading the work of a friend, along with resources at the end of the book for readers who may one day need to advocate for their loved one.

               

                        —Brooke Warner, CEO of She Writes Press and author of Greenlight Your Book and others others