Theme: When you are unable to sustain your faith during a difficult season, others can help you bear the burden. God is always there, ready to assist you.
In Diagnosis Death, by Dr. Richard Mabry, Dr. Elena Gardner’s comatose husband, Mark, dies shortly after she signs a DNR (do not resuscitate) order on his behalf. His respirator had been turned off. The way she handled the DNR order was a breach of protocol and ethics, but the whole situation would be overlooked by the medical staff in charge as long as she doesn’t stop the respirator again. She adamantly claims that she doesn’t remember doing it. Shortly after Mark’s death, in her grief and anger, Elena stops praying, finding it useless.
A second death occurs shortly thereafter, and she was reported to be the last person in the room before the patient died. Again, they found a DNR with her signature and the respirator shut off. Suspicion grows about her involvement, though the signature on the DNR didn’t match hers. Due to office politics, she is released early from her training, with recommendations, to take on a position in Dainger, Texas. When a death occurs at this new position in a similar pattern, she comes under suspicion once again.
During this whole timeframe, she has been harassed by weekly phone calls with a sobbing woman on the line, and then receives threatening letters stating, “I know what you did and you’ll pay.” In the midst of all these suspicious deaths, she meets acquaintances and strangers who tell her, “I’ll be praying for you.”
Dr. Mabry does an excellent job keeping you guessing who was involved and why in each of the deaths. Elena lists all the possible suspects who could be involved along with possible motives and opportunities. As she questions each one mentally, she also questions herself as to whether she did it and forgot. To complicate the dilemma of exposing the suspect, she is also dealing with more romantic opportunities than she feels she’s ready for.
About the time Dr. Mabry has you and/or Elena convinced about a possible culprit, circumstances change and you’re both left hanging because another possibility arises. Stalking, harassing phone calls and letters, and suspicious behaviors up the ante throughout the book. The fear is palpable, particularly when she finds herself being followed, leaving her safety questionable. Throw in an attorney and an investigator, and you find some issues resolved, while others multiply and become more dangerous.
Dr. Mabry brings about the issues of faith and prayer throughout the book. It’s the quiet faith and prayers of others that eventually encourages Elena’s desire to rekindle her relationship with God. It reminds me of ‘bearing one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.’ It’s a great reminder of God’s grace and love in your life during the difficult times when you feel abandoned by Him.
My only negative in this book is the use of hypnosis; something that is very questionable in the Christian realm. Other than this issue, the book definitely keeps you captivated, reluctant to put it down to go to bed! I’ve read other books by Dr. Mabry, and if you enjoy a good medical mystery, I would highly recommend his books.
