Failure to Atone—The True Story of a Jungle Surgeon in Vietnam

As a young medical doctor, Allen Hassan volunteered to treat Vietnamese civilians injured near the front lines of war-torn Vietnam. A humanitarian mission sponsored by the American Medical Association to save the lives of Vietnamese civilians turned into a life-changing experience for Dr. Hassan. The atrocities and brutality he saw and experienced left the former U.S. Marine forever opposed to the horror and tragedy of war. As a doctor treating the civilians of South Vietnam, Dr. Hassan battled tropical diseases, primitive sanitary conditions, and all varieties of war wounds from an endless stream of civilians wounded by the war. Performing emergency surgeries deep into the night, in unspeakably primitive conditions in a hospital in the jungles of South Vietnam, he worked night and day to save lives, only to see many slip away. Failure to Atone is Dr. Hassan’s graphic memoir of the trials and tribulations of a medical doctor on the front lines of a no-holds-barred war, and of a courageous people’s battle to survive. Also contains 45 B&W pictures, maps of Vietnam, the written testimony of more than two dozen other volunteers physicians who ministered to civilians in Vietnam, and the only available complete listing of all 774 US-licensed medical doctors who participated in the Volunteer Physicians for Vietnam program.

ALLEN HASSAN, MD, JD, DVM A native of Red Oak, Iowa, Dr. Allen Clarence Hassan is a physician, a surgeon, an attorney, a veterinarian, and an educator. As a doctor/surgeon, the author of Failure to Atone: The True Story of a Jungle Surgeon in Vietnam served two tours of duty in Vietnam -- the first as a representative of the American Medical Association’s Volunteer Physicians for Vietnam program, and the second as a representative of the Committee of Responsibility. After two tours in Vietnam witnessing civilians wounded and traumatized by war, Dr. Hassan has devoted much of his life to humanitarian service. Dr. Hassan is an active member of the Flying Samaritans. A diplomate with American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, Dr. Hassan is an expert evaluator of post traumatic stress disorder and other war-related injuries that afflict American veterans. The only person in the United States to hold degrees in medicine, law, and veterinary medicine, Dr. Hassan served as president of the local Academy of Family Physicians in 1977, and president of the Academy of Law in Medicine in 1983. He is a diplomate with the American Board of Family Practice, the American College of Legal Medicine, the American Board of Forensic Examiners, and the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. Dr. Hassan is also board-qualified in sports medicine. He was a clinical instructor in family practice at the University of California-Davis medical school in Davis, California from 1976-1986 Dr. Hassan received a DVM from Iowa State University in 1962, an MD from the University of Iowa in 1966, and a JD from Lincoln University in 1978. He served in the US Marine Corps from 1954-1957, and became a full Commander in the US Coast Guard in 1986. Dr. Hassan has returned to Vietnam several times, and currently practices law and medicine in Sacramento, California.DAVID DRUM Health and business writer David Drum is the author or co-author of six health books and more than 1,000 magazine articles, speeches, corporate videos, brochures, and other writing projects. An independent writer since 1978, Drum has been a general assignment reporter for a daily newspaper, an advertising copywriter, and a contributing editor and correspondent for major newspapers, national trade magazines and wire services. His trade books include: ‧ The Type 2 Diabetes Sourcebook, Third Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Co-written with Terry Zierenberg, RN, CDE.‧ Failure to Atone: Memoirs of a Jungle Surgeon in Vietnam. Failure to Atone Press, 2006. By Allen Hassan, MD, JD, DVM, As Told to David Drum.‧ What Your Doctor Might Not Tell You About Uterine Fibroids. New York: Warner Books, 2003. Co-written with Scott Goodwin, M.D., and Michael Broder, M.D.‧ Alternative Therapies for Managing Diabetes, Chicago: McGraw Hill/Contemporary Books, 2002.‧ The Chronic Pain Management Sourcebook, Los Angeles: Lowell House, 1999.‧ Making The Chemotherapy Decision, Los Angeles: Lowell House, 1996.Magazine and newspaper writing credits include Advertising Age, Barron’s, California Business, Dow Jones Capital Markets, Electronic Media, Men’s Health, HealthBeat, The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles County Medical Association Physician, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Los Angeles Lawyer, New West, LA Business Journal, People, The San Francisco Chronicle, Variety, Sunset, and USA Today. Writing assignments of various types for public relations agencies, colleges, and private companies.Born in Wichita, Kansas, David Drum has a B.A. from the University of California, and an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He was president of the Independent Writers of Southern California from 1993-1995.