When is a hospital a place of healing and when is it a business, looking out not for the patient's well being but for its own bottom line? When is a star spinal surgeon a shimmer of hope for a patient in pain, and when is he a moneymaker for his department? And how defined are the lines that delineate these dualities, after all? Inappropriate spinal fusion - fueled by financial incentive rather than strict medical need - is the subject of Spines of Steel, Gold and Rubber, a satirical work of fiction by William A. Stewart, M.D. While this procedure relieves a great many patients of their pain...