Dr. Joseph Popura-Code Crisis

Our guest today is Joseph Purpura, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist, patient safety expert, and award-winning faculty member at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. He lives in Santa Barbara, CA. He has also been an Associate Vice President and Executive Director-Head of Medical Device Safety with Allergan for the last 11 years. Joe is AAMI Certified in Quality Systems and is known as an approachable, authentic and inspiring leader, developing and perfecting risk-based patient safety oversight for a wide variety of basic and complex medical devices and drug-device combination products. On top of all that, he is a licensed, board-certified OB-GYN with surgical and primary care clinical experience and a Master’s degree in Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality. I don’t know how he found the time, but Joe recently branched out to writing novels—he recently released his first novel, Code Crisis, a medical thriller, now available in ebook and hardcover. It’s a fast-paced thriller that follows a lonely gynecologist who risks everything for love and his country. Dr. Joseph Purpura, welcome to Justice Counts. MARK: Welcome, Joe. My own fictional character, attorney Zachary Blake, features a bit of me in his personality. Your protagonist is, like you, an Ob-Gyn. Tell us about your character, Dr. Vince Deluca. How much of yourself did you put into the character?

BOB: What motivated you to jump from medicine to fiction? Have you always been a fan of thrillers?

MARK: The medical expertise showcased in the book helps ground the story in reality, but was it difficult to limit the science for the benefit of the reader's understanding?

BOB: How did you strike the right balance between being true and accurate to your expertise, but also create fictional entertainment for all to enjoy? Was that difficult?

MARK: The book is more than just a thriller. You also deal with subjects like trauma and grief. Was there any particular reason you decided to tackle those subjects in Code Crisis?
BOB: Did anyone in particular inspire you in your career, either as a doctor and as a writer?

BOB: I understand that Code Crisis received a glowing endorsement from author T.C. Boyle. Many of our listeners might remember his novel and the movie adaptation, The Road to Wellville, starring Anthony Hopkins as a doctor who had, shall we say, unusual methods of maintaining patient health. He also wrote the PEN/FAULKNER winning novel, World’s End. How did you get on Boyle’s radar? MARK: Talk to us about medical device safety Obviously, there have been mistakes made with certain medical devices, defective hips and breast implants come to mind, that have resulted in class action litigation. How does the industry deal with these mistakes and how do we prevent them going forward? MARK: Same question as to women’s health— In the book, DeLuca experiences a ruptured ectopic pregnancy nearly flatlines a patient. Much of the medical mistake cases I saw when I practiced were in that field. How is the profession doing these days, and how does it improve? BOB: Is there too much red tape or not enough? Thanks everyone for listening. If you haven’t done so already, please check out Mark Bello’s ripped-from-the-headlines legal thrillers, all available online at Amazon and other major online booksellers. He has quite the hero in Attorney Zachary Blake, who fights for justice on all fronts. His books are Betrayal of Faith, Betrayal of Justice, Betrayal in Blue, Betrayal in Black, Betrayal High, Supreme Betrayal, Betrayal at the Border, You Have the Right to Remain Silent and his latest, and his latest, “The Final Steps – A Harbor Springs Cozy Legal Mystery. Also, he’s written a wonderful children’s book about bullying, “Happy Jack, Sad Jack.” For more info, just check markmbello.com. Until next time, this is Bob Gatty for Mark Bello signing off from Justice Counts.