INVERNESS, Fla., December 6, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- In a timely new work that resonates with anyone who has ever served in uniform, Edward V. Esquibel, M.D., confronts the madness that is psychiatric care for America's veterans in his novel, Ticket to Nowhere: Toward Wiser Care of Veterans (now available through AuthorHouse).
Arthur J. Lyles is a young and promising physician in the 1950s whose hopes to work in psychiatry are fulfilled, but with unexpected effects. Frustrated with his failed attempts to find formal training in psychoanalysis, Arthur is drawn into the world of the Department of Veterans Affairs with its leviathan healthcare system. Over time, he comes to realize with growing conviction that this huge system is misguided clinically. Slowly but surely, he begins to rebel against it. He takes his argument to friend and adversary alike in the hopes of reform. To him, the psychiatrist's role in the VA is foolhardy.
Under the mythical guise of being provided effective treatment for the stresses of combat, too many veterans are sucked into a money-burning maze of care that drains taxpayers' contributions and fails to provide desirable benefits. Waste, fraud and abuse have been woven into the current model by politicians and a passionate public's desire for redemption for the consequences of war.
"Healthcare in the U.S. now finds itself where psychiatry historically has been from its inception: namely, paradigmatically all over the place," writes Esquibel. "Technology, increased scientific knowledge and capitalism, among other things, have transformed modern medicine, probably irretrievably, into a consumer product item; no more, no less."
A unique depiction of a physician battling the federally sponsored health care system from within, Ticket to Nowhere follows one stymied reformer's quest to enact change in American society.
After graduating from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1958 and completing a five-year residency, Esquibel became the first chief of forensic services for Colorado. He held a resident teaching position at Illinois State Psychiatric Institute, later directed the undergraduate training program for the Chicago Medical School and went into private practice in Chicago, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville, Fla. In the 1980s, he embarked on a more than 10-year partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs. He was a VA psychiatrist, and the experiences from his position inspired much of Ticket to Nowhere: Toward Wiser Care of Veterans, his first book. More information is available at www.TickettoNowhere.com.
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