The J Factor

By Stephen P. Kanar

Book Overview

The business of medicine has taken a deadly turn.... What is your J Factor? In the not so distant future, big business and big medicine have a new definition of managed care.??It's called the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553580795
• ISBN13: 9780553580792
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Reconciliation with "Seven Pounds?"

This is one of the most thought provoking books I have ever read. And as a medical professional, I see evidence of this issue frequently. It is enough to scare all of us. This week, I enjoyed a wonderful evening with one of my best friends. I took her some books off my shelf for her summer reading. I suggested the _J Factor_ as one of my all-time favorite books. We decided to get a movie and not knowing what it was about, chose "Seven Pounds" with Will Smith. While one of the movie's characters receives a transplant coincidently on UNOS' list, the entire movie's premise is based upon the fears represented in Kanar's brilliant work. In the movie, the concerns are hidden. In fact, they are totally bypassed! But Kanar exposes these same deadly directions to which we are heading and celebrating in the movies. Someday, this book will move to the non-fiction shelves. If it hasn't already.

The New Tom Clancy

Steve Kanar has started a new genre of thrillers very like Tom Clancy's books. This one is different in that the cold war is over and the new 'war' is between health care provider and private citizen. A Benevolent Government (much like the Soviet Union) decides who does and does not get health care. For pre-boomers, this is a cautionary tale, entirely believable. Brings up The Question: if you had a life-threatening illness, would you subjugate yourself to a 'benevelant' government for a cure?

A Frightening Concept

A pharmaceutical company, IORC, has become so powerful it can control the life or death of a person by implementing a J(Justification) Factor system which it keeps track of by a records crystal in a person's earlobe. IORC manufactures and dispenses transplant organs with a power that supersedes government control. Dr. David West, transplanting an unauthorized IORC heart, learned of their power first hand when IORC caused the patient to die.Janette Compton, a UNILAW attorney also discovered their power. Fighting for compensation for the dead man's family she found herself fired through IORC intervention. Joining forces, David and Janette put their lives on the line to stop their powerful company from taking other lives. Their task was a frightening one but with the help of other dedicated people, they just might reach their goal.This was a well written book with a good story line and strong characters. It has a frightening concept which kept the story moving. Must admit it took a couple of chapters before I felt it all fell into place and then I found I did not want to put it down. Worth the read.

A good read

As he starts his new assignment at Government Hospital in Orlando, heart surgeon Dr. Adam West is already considered a dangerous maverick by the medical hierarchy. As a resident at Yale Medical School, Adam had the audacity to save a life without following procedures that would have left the person dead.Adam conducts open-heart surgery on a patient, Martinez, without waiting for the delayed UNIMED authorization because he knows his patient cannot wait. When Martinez's heart fails, Adam hooks him up to a mechanical heart. UNIMED's Virginia Pruitt, already angry with Adam, goes ballistic because her company did not pre-approve the emergency surgery. She also knows that Martinez has a very low J Factor, which means he will not obtain a transplant from the International Organ Replacement Corporation (IORC), which has a near monopoly on organs.A heart is found and Adam completes the transplant not realizing until he finished that the organ belonged to IORC and he illegally placed it inside Martinez. Adam will soon learn how far IORC will go to keep its monopoly intact, even to the point of preventing doctors from sticking to their Hippocratic Oath.THE J FACTOR is a frightening medical thriller that centers on how extreme centrally managed healing can go. The story line is exciting but scary as the insurance company or the organ replacement company makes all medical decisions. Adam and his romantic interest attorney Janette Compton are intriguing idealists. However, it is characters like Virginia and her cohorts who steal the show with their actions like pressuring patients to sign death warrants and forcing administrators and doctors to adhere to Catch 22 procedures. Stephen Kanar has written a tale that will quickly make him a fan favorite.Harriet Klausner