Cost of Living

Essays

By: Emily Maloney

Narrated by: Emily Maloney

This program is read by the author.

The searing intimacy of Girl, Interrupted combined with the uncomfortable truths of The Empathy Exams in a collection of essays chronicling one woman’s experiences as both patient and caregiver, giving a unique perspective from both sides of the hospital bed.

What does it cost to live?

When we fall ill, our lives are itemized on a spreadsheet. A thousand dollars for a broken leg, a few hundred for a nasty cut while cooking dinner. Then there are the greater costs for even greater misfortunes. The car accidents, breast cancers, blood diseases, and dark depressions.

When Emily Maloney was 19, she tried to kill herself. An act that would not only cost a great deal personally, but also financially, sending her down a dark spiral of misdiagnoses, years spent in and out of hospitals and doctor’s offices, and tens of thousands owed in medical debt. To work to pay off this crippling burden, Emily becomes an emergency room technician. Doing the grunt work in a hospital, and taking care of patients at their most vulnerable moments, chronicling these interactions in searingly beautiful, surprising ways.

Shocking and often slyly humorous, Cost of Living is a brilliant examination of just what exactly our troubled healthcare system asks us to pay, as well as a look at what goes on behind the scenes at our hospitals and in the minds of caregivers.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company.

©2022 Emily Maloney (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Honest and Inspiring

I graduate med school next month - how easy it is for us in the profession to stay siloed within ourselves. This was a great reminder to look beyond ourselves, the EMR, our notes to write, authorizations from insurance companies, and not least of which, our own biases. Such a fantastic book. I’m better for hearing it

Everyone needs to read this book

Emily's story illuminates from every angle our broken healthcare system. Her story as a patient, healthcare provider, biotech / pharamceutical PR communicator and journalist, is informative, moving and demonstrates why all of should care and become invovled in evolving our health and wellness. We are all patients and if these issues haven't affected one personally, someday they will.