< comics/x >
MAULED! #2: True Stories of Surgical Malpractice
by various
(32pp b&w comic, $3.75 from
Manual Comics)
Review by Alan Rankin
Mauled is similar in structure, if not format, to the
Big Book series and other recent comics nonfiction: short vignettes by artists of diverse styles, each focusing on a different true story. The content of
Mauled #2 will confirm your worst fears about modern medicine, as you might expect from the hilarious cover by Dave Savage. But what
really comes off smelling like Stink River is the vast corporate industry that’s grown up around the medical field.
Sure, you’ll read about the East Coast doctor who carved his initials into a patient’s abdomen after a C-section. Or the kid whose penis was mutilated (okay,
more mutilated) during circumcision. But you can tell yourself that these are rare cases, and still feel okay the next time you have to go under the knife.
But
then you read about the guy who was accidentally blinded during his glaucoma operation. The focus of the story is on the insurance adjuster who deliberately keeps postponing his claim until the state’s 180-day filing deadline runs out. He is left with no money, no eyesight, and no recourse to legal action. Inept quacks are one thing, but malicious greed is something else – and that’s what you have to deal with if you want medical care in the 21st century.
My only complaint about
Mauled is that all the names have been changed or removed. I see the legal reasons for doing this, but it puts the stories into the category of “anecdotal evidence” that is just a step or two removed from urban legend. A bibliography or list of source material (like the
Big Books include) would have rooted the stories more firmly in the real world. It would increase the book’s weight and urgency, and make it seem less like a Fox special:
When Surgeons Attack.
[ Link to this review ]
