Coma - book vs film

At the moment I am reading Coma, a brilliant medical thriller by Robin Cook.

I've read the book a few times, and find it interesting with the right amount of mystery and suspense. Today I watched the film version of Coma, and noticed that there are differences with the book.

The main difference is that in the book, the main character, Susan Wheeler, is a medical student about to start a surgery rotation in a top Boston hospital. In the film, Susan Wheeler is an established doctor at the Boston Hospital. The book features her growing relationship with Mark Bellows, a surgery resident at the hospital who is partly responsible for her training. In the film they are already linked.

As well as changing some of the character's names (for instance, the Chief of Surgery in the book is Stark and in the film it is Harris - Harris is the Chief of Anaesthesia in the book) the initial character in the book - eventual coma victim Nancy Greenly - is first encountered by Susan Wheeler in intensive care after suffering an anaesthetic complication - in the film Greenly and Wheeler are best friends since school.

The film would have been better had it stuck more rigidly to the book - featuring the encounter in the medical school accommodation block with the hitman and the main character being a medical student instead of an established doctor - but overall it is a very watchable film.

I have read several books by Robin Cook - Brain, Contagion, Acceptable Risk, Vector and Shock.

For me, Shock was most like Coma. For Jefferson Institute read Wingate Clinic.

I aim to read more Robin Cook books in the future. The medical aspect makes them very interesting.