Richard Mabry - Diagnosis Death

As Elena hurried down the hall toward the hospital exit, she thought back to the time when she prepared herself to take care of Mark, no matter how severe his impairment. Would she have been so eager if she'd known about his unfaithfulness? Was it even possible that she had some inkling of it before his stroke? And could that have affected her taking him off life support? Perhaps it was a case of I was prepared to take care of you forever, no matter the cost to my own life-but no more. Better for both of us to end your life right now. Was that how it went down?

She shrugged without slowing her steps. Tomorrow afternoon she'd know more about what she'd actually done. Until then, no need to worry about it.

Her car was in the ER parking lot. She was halfway there when tones from her cell phone told her she had a voice mail message. Maybe there was something she could do-maybe get a different phone or change carriers-to allow calls to reach her inside the hospital. Meanwhile, it was a real inconvenience.

She stabbed at the button to retrieve the message and beeped her car unlocked as she waited. When she recognized the voice of her caller, she rolled her eyes and looked skyward. How much more did she have to suffer at the hands of this megalomaniac?

"Doctor Gardner, this is Doctor Godwin. Please come by my office as soon as you get this message. I'll be here until six this evening."

That was it. No explanation. Not a request. A command.

Elena scrolled down the numbers on her phone and put in a call to Will's cell. Maybe she could catch him and not disturb Cathy. She counted five rings, and was about to end the call when he answered.

"This is Will."

"Elena here. I was on my way to your house when our administrator issued a summons to his office. Sorry, but it looks like I'll be a little late."

"No problem," Will assured her. "We'll save you some food. I'd offer to delay eating until you get here, but Cathy's in that 'I'm pregnant and if you don't feed me I can't be responsible for the consequences' mood."

Elena managed a brief smile. "I'll call you when I'm on my way."

Five minutes later, she tapped on the door of Godwin's office.

"Come." In that one-word response, Godwin managed to convey the image of a man wrestling with the problems of the world, resigned to interrupting his important work to deal with a supplicant.

She advanced and stood before his desk. He looked up and motioned her to sit.

"What's so important?" Elena heard the irritation in her voice. Then again, that's how she felt.

"I've been advised today that during your residency training you were suspected of irregularities in the death of two critically ill patients. Is that correct?"

Wham! Where did this come from? Who could have done it? She started to go down a mental checklist, but Godwin interrupted her.

"I asked you a question, Doctor."

"Your information appears to be flawed," she replied in a cool voice. "My husband was in a coma from which there was no hope of recovery. I was involved in the decision to remove him from life support."

"And the other instance?"

"A patient in a similar circumstance was taken off life support. I was assisting in that patient's care. I left my residency without any blot on my record. My chair released me two weeks early because Dr. Sewell needed me." She paused a beat. "And, since she's now on bed rest and I've taken over her practice entirely, that was probably a good thing."

Godwin sat silent for a moment. "I'll be looking into the circumstances of those deaths. Meanwhile, to prevent any such incidents at this hospital, I'm going to suggest that the chief of staff temporarily suspend your privileges in the ICU." He picked up his pen and pulled a stack of papers toward him. "That's all."

Will did what he'd learned to do best. He listened, filed away information, and waited for the speaker-in this case, Elena-to run down.

"More shrimp fried rice?" Cathy asked.

Elena shook her head. She chewed, swallowed, and said, "No, that's plenty." She turned to Will. "What can Godwin do? Can he suspend my ICU privileges?"

"With the usual lawyer's disclaimer that I don't have all the facts, it seems that Godwin's within his rights to investigate a complaint against a physician. He should, and probably will, consult Marcus Bell. I don't know how those lines of authority are drawn now." He saw Elena's mouth open and stopped her with an upraised palm. "But I'm betting that he can't curtail your ICU privileges. First, I'm pretty sure the Credentials Committee would have to be involved, and any action would require a hearing. If I were representing you-and I'd be happy to do that if you like-I could make a pretty compelling case that Godwin is interfering with your right to practice."

Elena shoved her plate aside and folded her napkin. "So, what should I do?"

"I'd call Marcus Bell and give him a heads-up. It's better that he hear your side before Godwin gets hold of him." Will leaned back in his chair. "And I'd call him now. Don't embellish. Don't do too much explaining. Simply tell him what you told Godwin."

Cathy pushed her chair back from the dining room table. "I agree with Will. You can call from our bedroom. Meanwhile, we're going to move to the living room, where it's more comfortable."

Will helped get his wife settled into an armchair. "Shouldn't you go back to bed?"

"Milton said I could be out of bed. I just can't exert myself." She wiggled in the chair. "Don't make me more of an invalid than I am." Another wiggle. She looked down at her bulging belly. "But I'm sure ready for our offspring to make an appearance. It's like carrying around a medicine ball inside me-a medicine ball that kicks."

In a couple of minutes, Elena joined them. "You were right, Will. Marcus said not to worry. He thinks Godwin's flexing his administrative muscles."

Will retrieved a legal pad from the end table beside him. "Why don't we get down to the business I wanted to discuss?"

"I'm sorry," Elena said. "I got so involved in my problems I forgot that you asked me here."

Will waved that away. "Five days ago, I engaged an investigator to look into your Tuesday night phone calls." He held up the legal pad. "He called me today and gave me a verbal report."

"He actually traced those calls?"

"Yes. He's identified your caller." Will consulted his notes. "The calls came from-"

"Wait." A flush painted Elena's face crimson. "Slow down. I'm not sure I'm ready for this. How did he get this information?"

"I asked my investigator not to be too specific when he reported. After all, I'm an officer of the court."

"You mean he may have done something illegal?"

"More likely he got someone to bend the rules a bit." Will waited to be sure there were no more questions. "I gave him your former home number in Dallas and your cell phone number. What I suspect he did was search the call logs of your carriers until he found the calls to those numbers at midnight on the dates in question. If they all came from the same number-and apparently they did-he had his answer."

"The number, but what about who made the call?" Elena asked.

"Once he had the number, it would be simple to identify who owned the phone. The only problem would be if the call were made from a so-called disposable cell phone. Fortunately, your caller wasn't that devious."

"But every time my Caller ID showed the number as 'private,' or 'anonymous,' or something like that."

Will smiled. "That means you, as the party on the other end, can't see it. But nothing is hidden from the phone companies."

"The first calls were to my home phone. That's an unlisted number. Then, after I arrived here, she called my cell phone. How did she get those numbers?"

"There are several ways, but I suggest you ask her that the next time she calls." He noticed that Elena's high color had faded a bit. "Are you ready to know the identity of your midnight caller?"