Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

First Do No Harm

Rate this book
Recently retired, A. Turk has embarked on a second career, writing fiction inspired by the remarkable stories and events from his personal and legal experiences. This first novel in the book series features A. Turk’s fictitious alter ego Attorney Benjamin Davis, a young New York transplant seeking to make a name for himself in the Nashville legal community. After miscalculating the huge risks involved in accepting ten medical malpractice cases at one time, Davis discovers that a hospital and several of its personnel, including doctors, had conspired to provide unnecessary tests and surgeries on innocent patients…for years. With small town physicians pushing all the ethical and legal boundaries, Davis decides he has no alternative but to protect an entire community and quickly finds himself caught up in a high-stakes courtroom drama. Davis could never have anticipated his decision to right a wrong could risk his legal career, marriage, financial security, and personal safety.

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 20, 2013

About the author

A. Turk

5 books9 followers
A. Turk was born in 1954, in Brooklyn, New York, and he grew up on Long Island. He earned a BA from George Washington University, an MBA from the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Business, and a JD from Vanderbilt School of Law. He was licensed to practice law in Tennessee in 1980. In 1983 he also was licensed, but never practiced, in New York because of a promise he made to his mother.

A. Turk for more than thirty years was a prominent Nashville attorney and a veteran of fighting courtroom battles. He garnered national media attention in 1994 when he won a unanimous US Supreme Court decision, which held that 2 Live Crew's parody of Roy Orbison's song "Pretty Woman" did not require a copyright license. With the support of NBC, HBO, Time Warner, Mad Magazine, and others, A. Turk won this landmark case preserving the right of commercial parody under the Fair Use Doctrine.

A. Turk recently retired to begin his second career as an author of courtroom dramas based upon his personal experiences. First Do No Harm is A. Turk’s debut novel, where he introduces his fictitious alter ego, Benjamin Davis. The Benjamin Davis Book Series will explore and address the same legal issues and moral dilemmas that A. Turk faced during his legal career.

A. Turk has been married to his wife Lisa for 33 years and they have two adult children, Jessica and Ben, as well as three pugs. A. Turk currently splits his time between Nashville, Aspen, and Highland Beach.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
377 (31%)
4 stars
415 (34%)
3 stars
274 (22%)
2 stars
89 (7%)
1 star
44 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 125 reviews
Profile Image for La Tonya  Jordan.
333 reviews88 followers
February 25, 2018
First I must say, I love how the author named the chapters of this book. It made me anticipate what will come next. Some chapter titles are Message Sent, The Hook Friday, Flip A Coin, and Attempted Division of Labor Friday. It made the novel more exciting to read.

The main character is Benjamin Abraham Davis, an attorney, in Nashville, Tn. He made a reputation for himself with the motto he takes from his mentor "Always try to do the right thing." With the help of his mentor Morty Steine, his neice Sammie, and office manager Bella, he presents in trial court the largest malpractice lawsuit of his career and the town of Plainsview, TN. He repersents ten clients who are suing Plainview Hospital, Dr. Herman, and Dr. English for negligence and recklessness for their standard of care.

What took me by surprise is how unethical the hospital, doctors, and attorneys for the defense were against Benjamin Davis and his team. The drama went from chapter to chapter and kept the reader engaged enough to wonder if this was not a true case vs a fictional case. The story sounded real. You the reader could relate to all the charaters and the rule of law with its points of interest without getting bored. An excellent first novel from the author. I look forward to reading more of this series.

Quote

"My ultrasound makes a lot of money for your hospital. It's your job to make sure your pathology department keeps backing up my diagnoses of stones. Now just sign the goddamned leases, and let's move on."

"Ben, you have my word." "Forget your word. I'll draw up a contract."

Davis's statements hadn't registered with Littleton. All he could see were dollar signs. Davis should have stopped right there, but greed is a terrible thing and clouds one's judgment.

"We're in a hospital," Davis said. "I wouldn't let my dogs be treated in this hospital. You've got to be kidding me, Ben."

"I was forced to quit." "Who held the gun to your head?" "I had to quit; it wasn't a safe place. My license was in jeopardy every day."
Profile Image for Jean.
1,774 reviews774 followers
June 30, 2016
This is Alan Turk’s debut novel. It is to be the first in a series about Benjamin Davis, attorney at law. The author is a retired attorney who draws on his legal experiences and cases to write the series. The book is more about the law than about medicine, in-fact it goes into great detail about legal procedures particularly in the courtroom scenes.

Doctors English and Herman have devised a scheme where Herman tells the patient they need their gallbladder out and sends them to Dr. English who performs the surgery. Along comes Dr. Patel who suspects something is going on when Dr. Herman will not refer a very ill post op patient onto the tertiary hospital. The two physicians arrange to have Dr. Patel fired from the hospital. She obtains an attorney and the pursuit of justice begins.

The book is well written and mostly moves at a brisk pace. The characters could use more development but I assume that will occur in upcoming stories. The book provides an insider view of medical malpractice law. This all makes a nice change from a typical murder mystery legal thriller.

I read this as a audiobook downloaded from Audible. J. D. Hart does an excellent job narrating the story. I was amazed at the wide range of his voice. Hart started out at age 18 on the radio and was an MCA recording artist. When he obtained the job as spokes person for Chevrolet he turned to acting. He has been in 24 films as well as many commercials. He has developed a talent as a voice over artist and for narrating audiobooks. He lives in Nashville as does the author of the book. The book takes place in Nashville.

Profile Image for Linda Galella.
786 reviews67 followers
June 23, 2023
Excellent!

Well written, characters you’ll care about, great feeling of time and place and a believable story. What more could a reader ask for?

“First Do No Harm” is courtroom procedural about medical malpractice, two of my favorite genres packed into one fine novel. There is a great balance between prose and dialogue and the text flows quickly despite being in excess of 400 pages.

Relationships between characters are rich and enjoyable or fraught with tensions that propel the various storylines. This is a stand alone novel where after it concludes the primary story (no unsolved threads), an epilogue 15 years in the future shows Ben and his niece (along with a minor character), involved in a new courtroom conundrum.

Book 2? Yes, please📚
Profile Image for Tulay.
1,202 reviews2 followers
June 14, 2016
Excellent novel.

First chapter pulled me into the story, understand and relate to some wonderful characters. Parts of the book read like a Tennessee tourism booklet, giving the detailed descriptions of the historical markers. After this story I will be checking out the any new doctor I see carefully. Loved the ending, will be reading next book and all the books written by this author.
Profile Image for Scott Parsons.
353 reviews15 followers
February 22, 2015
I was impressed by this debut novel by retired lawyer A. Turk who has embarked on a second career writing novels based on his legal career. I think we are to take Benjamin Davis as Turk's alter ego. This novel focuses on medical malpractice at a small hospital in Tennessee. That there is malpractice is evident to us from the start but proving it proves to be a challenge as Davis, with the help of his "retired" mentor Morty, takes on the lawyers for the doctors, the hospital and the insurance companies. Fast-paced this novel is not. We get too much detail of the legal proceedings. Turk needs to use his metaphorical eraser more. But I enjoyed this novel despite that shortcoming.
Profile Image for Patricia Ibarra.
777 reviews9 followers
October 3, 2016
A. Turk was a practicing attorney for many years and when he retired, he decided to start writing using his experience as source of inspiration. His main character is the attorney Benjamin Davis, who accepted taking 10 medical malpractice cases, not realizing what a daunting task it would be, seriously threatening his finances and even his marriage. Davis discovers that a hospital and mainly two of its its doctors are performing unnecessary surgeries (can you believe it?), reaping huge amounts. Things take a turn to the worse when one of the patients dies. In this book, the experience of the author is one of his main assets, as all the action is very clearly explained and is well supported. His presentation of the medical problems is also believable and well researched. What I loved of this book is that it always maintained my interest and the outcome was difficult to predict.
5 reviews1 follower
May 24, 2015
I wanted to like this book because I am a critical care nurse. It constantly irritated me that the medicine was portrayed so simply. It just made me crazy. The law is probably spot on, but so terribly detailed to be distracting. Characters were not developed in a seamless way. I kept hoping it would get better...I also found it chauvinistic. The little ladies cleaned up Thanksgiving while the men folk talked about law and smoked cigars. I could go on and on. It's a good read if you want to become a lawyer but please don't use your new found knowledge to become a malpractice attorney. Or a writer.
Profile Image for Kelvin Reed.
Author 7 books14 followers
July 23, 2016
"First Do no Harm" is quality legal fiction from A. Turk. This novel follows attorney Benjamin Davis, who files a complicated and financially draining set of malpractice lawsuits against a Tennessee hospital and two doctors who performed unnecessary surgeries that eventually resulted in the death of a patient. The tale held my interest but I believe the author made a major mistake by not providing more ink to Dr. Patel, the initial whistleblower. A little more ethnic diversity among the characters would have made the story more inclusive and more interesting. Still, solidly recommended.
Profile Image for Bill Davis.
Author 3 books4 followers
March 1, 2015
A recommended read for first year law students-- ordinary shmucks not so much.
Profile Image for Thom Swennes.
1,822 reviews56 followers
January 8, 2018
Primum non nocere
The Hippocratic Oath dating from the fourth or fifth century BC serves as guidelines for physicians and medical employees. Although it isn’t legally binding, it is universally accepted that following them would eliminate most malpractice charges. The first rule of this oath is Do no harm, simply meaning, don’t expose the patient to any unnecessary risk.
Dr. Lars Herman and Dr. Charles English use their position at Plainview Community Hospital to perform unnecessary tests and surgeries indicated by spurious diagnoses. Because these surgeries were extremely lucrative financially, for both doctors and the hospital, all questions and complaints were promptly whitewashed or dropped by the hospital’s executive board.
Dr. Laura Patel, a doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, served on the Plainview Community Hospital staff and lodged a formal complaint against Dr. Herman for malpractice. The hospital administrators berated her for her formal complaint and put her on non-active status, without pay; consequently exonerating Dr. Herman of all charges.
This appears to be the makings of an extremely lucrative class action suit. Unfortunately, everything isn’t what it seems. The reader can witness, first hand and ringside, a feeding frenzy of lawyers and doctors, completely overshadowing the suffering clients and their families.
Like many of the stories written by the acclaimed author, John Grisham, are situated in the Deep South. This one too takes place in the Volunteer State, Tennessee, but any other similarities are hard to find. There is a common public mistrust of lawyers. This story adds to this suspicion. In addition, the trustworthiness of the medical community is also brought into doubt. A lawyer is required to navigate the quagmire of motions, affidavits, and depositions. Law isn’t a static, inert, motionless world. It continues to change each year as advancements in science, technology, and new litigations. I am an avid fan of the works of Erle Stanley Gardner and his legal maverick, Perry Mason. The legal novels of today are vastly different from the mid-twentieth century. Upon completion of this story, it will probably leave an unpleasant aftertaste in the reader’s mouth. For a first novel, I give Mr. Tuck high marks and look forward to reading more of his work.
Profile Image for Dawn Thomas.
1,079 reviews5 followers
September 25, 2023
First Do No Harm (Benjamin Davis Book 1) by A Turk

343 Pages
Publisher: A. Turk LLC, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members’ Titles
Release Date: October 19, 2013

Fiction, General Fiction (Adult), Mystery, Thriller, Legal, Medical

Ben Davis is an attorney in Nashville, Tennessee. A patient becomes septic and dies as a result of complications caused by a botched gallbladder surgery. Two doctors have a scam going with unnecessary surgeries. They do not stop when the patient dis. Now the family is mad. Their mother died and the doctors did not do anything to prevent it. She could have been transferred but then the doctors’ mistakes would be known. Ben, with the help of his mentor, Morty Steine, and his niece Sammie Davis, take the case for the families in multiple trials.

The book has a steady pace, the characters are well developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. Ben is an ordinary guy that eats when he is stressed. Morty is older and retires to spend the as much time as he can with his dying wife. There are so many things going on in this book. I could not stop reading it and immediately when to the second book. If you like legal or medical thrillers, you will enjoy this book.
Profile Image for Angela.
48 reviews
July 6, 2018
It's clear by the style of writing as well as the content of this book that the author was once a lawyer. Only a book written by a lawyer could contain this much drama without going over the top or ending up with the reader having to suspend disbelief.

The "good vs evil" aspect of this book was very well written and played out. The characters were all very real, as was the way the hard work of the cases wore on everyone and how long it took for everything to be settled.

I liked how all the legal stuff was explained in a way that pretty much anyone could understand, and without using legalese that would have had many people having to interrupt their reading with google searches to understand what something means. The entire book is all about medical malpractice with out being boring or dry.

I don't generally read this type of book, but I'm glad I read this one. I would go as far as to say that I will probably read more of this author.
Profile Image for Alan Marston.
183 reviews5 followers
September 28, 2018
This one is a bit of a slow burner. Certainly a chance to relax after my previous two reads, which could only be described as hurtling along. I must admit that I do enjoy stories that involve court proceedings, and this draws upon the author's own experiences.
The issue centres on claims that two doctors were negligent and reckless in the way in which they dealt with a number of patients, and that the hospital, in Tennessee, was also culpable in allowing them to work as they did. Quite a complex issue that stretches over a number of months, is very expensive, and requires many hours of work to draw up cases on both sides.
Whilst it is quite a strong story, it does come to an end which, whilst very satisfactory, actually falls into place a little too easily. There is no surprise revelation that alters the course of what is happening, so the case just works out, although the epilogue is really quite interesting.
A good read, but not one that says that I must read more by this author.
Profile Image for Susan Tietjen.
Author 10 books37 followers
February 28, 2017
I really wanted to love this book. John Grisham was one of my favorites before he wrote so many books they got mediocre. I had no difficulty believing A. Turk was an attorney, and I admit I learned a lot from the book. Doesn't make me an expert, but I do write, and I do read, and I felt the story TOLD me what the author wanted me to know, he didn't show me. I got bored more than once. He began with one character, a middle eastern female doctor, who was hardly in the book after the first chapter. He broke lots of writing rules with the book, and despite the fact that he seems popular, I still think he could have done it so much better.
Profile Image for Joy.
274 reviews1 follower
December 30, 2018
Excellent book

Ibought this book initially because it's medical and I'm a nurse. Those are the reads that interest me. I want sure if I wanted to actually even read it but after 2 years of learning it I finally found time to open it. It immediately grabbed my attention by staring in an icu setting, which is where I work. The medical detail is very nice abgs keep me interested but the legal aspects made me curious to continue in the book. I love how this played out. Turns and twists where you don't think there will be. Im pleased to see this is #1 of 4. I'll be looking more into this author. His writing style flows nicely and keeps you on ther edge. Very well done.
111 reviews
May 21, 2023
Read this in my college health care ethics class. I wouldn’t have read this for leisure, I don’t think many people would read this for leisure. I found the book to be very practical and informative though fiction it is fiction examples of real situations one may come across in health care. Confronting hard situations one may find the self in one day, and decisions they may have to make either professional or personally with ones own family. Professional one must be reminded to have compassion and that people are individuals. It was also very educational as a young adult, one may say a reality check on how things really work, like living wills.
99 reviews1 follower
June 19, 2022
Loved this book even though some courtroom descriptions were a bit long winded and I skimmed a couple. A loose end for me was that I was waiting for Laura Patel to play a bigger part in the narrative because a chapter was devoted to her early on when she looked in on the patient. My four stars became five on deeper thought and I very rarely give a book five stars. Sammie seemed superfluous in this first book although I see she plays more of a part moving forward. Am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
8 reviews
June 20, 2017
Having worked in a law firm as a secretary/assistant to attorneys in the medical malpractice field, I was nonetheless mesmerized by this book It is a must read page- turner.

Enjoy! I really, really loved this book (as if you couldn't guess that by now.)










I 'm looking forward to reading the next one.

July 16, 2017
Good read

I started reading and couldn't put it down . Informative and seemed accurate in the legal process of a trial about malpractice . However , became too drawn out at the end of the trial with the redundant testimonies. Learned a lot and felt the characters had substance.
Profile Image for Shirley Shaffer.
86 reviews1 follower
February 7, 2018
Compelling and Engrossing

This book was a delightful journey into the world of lawyers, lawsuits and malpractice. It carried me along and I found myself cheering for Davis as he delicately wound his way through the minefield of lies, deceit and personal injury.
260 reviews
March 17, 2020
Enjoyed the story but it was heavy on the courtroom proceedings. I felt like the drama could have easily been improved with a little more flair added to the writing, court was rather dry. I've read too many Grisham books I suppose.
90 reviews
April 12, 2020
This was one of the best books I've read in months. It had everything you want in a story: good, evil, mystery, suspense, informative. Reminds me of Perry Mason novels. I would definitely recommend this book.
Profile Image for Beverley.
452 reviews
February 21, 2021
I received a free copy from NetGalley. A legal thriller that is heavy on the legal and light on the thriller. You know that the law moves slowly because it takes so many pages to get from part to part. That said, it isn't a bad story, just very slow moving.
6 reviews
September 4, 2021
Boring

Wow. Sorry. It just went on and on. Not very interesting. No twists or turns. I couldn’t wait for it to end so I could start a more interesting book. I got no joy from reading this long book.
Profile Image for Tammy.
175 reviews
March 11, 2017
Interesting story line and a legal one. Got a little tedious at times, but overall not a bad story. I'm glad that the justice system ultimately worked.
Profile Image for Carolyn Sanders.
16 reviews2 followers
May 5, 2017
Legal for days.....

This was a long read, folks. Some parts intriguing but not enough of them! Depositions go on for pages, pleadings, some suspense although even that was dry.
4 reviews
April 1, 2018
A little too much

An entertaining read. Too much truth in exposing the ineptitude of some physicians and unwillingness of hospitals to take action
Profile Image for Dave Terry.
13 reviews
January 8, 2019
Great candid read from a humble brain surgeon. Very interesting and informative.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 125 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.