Arthur Hailey - Strong Medicine

An operator's voice. "Who's calling her?" A different female voice came on the line.”Mr. Seth Feingold of Felding-Roth, New Jersey.”

"Does Mr. Feingold know what time it is out here?" "Yes, sir. He does.”

Celia was sitting upright, awake now also.”Is it Seth?" When Andrew nodded, she said, "I'll take it.”

He handed her the phone. After another operator exchange, Celia heard the elderly comptroller's voice.”Is that you, Celia?" "Yes, it is.”

"I've just been told we awakened you, and I apologize. But it's noon here. We simply couldn't wait any longer.”

She said, puzzled, "Who is 'we'? And wait longer for what?"

"Celia, what I have to tell you is exceedingly important. Please listen carefully.”

Feingold's voice sounded strained. She told him, "Go ahead.”

"I'm calling you on behalf of the board of directors, and at the board's request. I am instructed, firstly, to inform you that when you resigned-for reasons which we all know-you were right, and everyone else...”

The voice faltered, then continued, "All the rest of us were wrong.”

She wondered, with bewilderment, whether she was hearing correctly, or was truly awake.”Seth, I don't understand. You can't be speaking about Montayne.”

“Unfortunately, I am.”

'But from what I've read and heard, Montayne is a spectacular success.”

She remembered the positive report, relayed only yesterday by Andrew, from Tano, the Felding-Roth Hawaii manager. "That's what we all thought, up to just a short time ago. But everything has changed-a sudden change. And now we have a terrible situation here.”

"Wait a moment, Please.”

Covering the phone mouthpiece, she told Andrew, "Something important has happened. I'm not sure what. But listen on the extension.”

There was one in the bathroom. Celia waited while Andrew went to it, then said, "Seth, go on.”

"What I just told you was the first thing, Celia. The second is this: The board wants you to come back.”

Still, she could scarcely believe what she was hearing. After a pause she said, "I think you'd better start at the beginning.”

"All right. I will.”

She sensed Seth organizing his thoughts and, while she waited, wondered why he was calling, and not Sam Hawthorne. "You remember the reports of damaged babies. Vegetable babies -that awful word. The reports from Australia, France and Spain?" “Of course.”

"There have been many more-from those countries and others. So many more, there can't be any doubt Montayne has been the cause.”

"Oh, my God!" Celia's free hand went to her face. Her shocked f irst thought was: Don't let it be true! This is a bad dream and isn't happening. I don't want to be proved right, not this awful way. Then she saw Andrew through the open bathroom door, his face set grimly, and noticed the increasing light of dawn outside, and she knew that what was happening was no dream, but real. Seth continued, reciting details.”

...began two and a half months ago with some scattered reports... cases similar to those earlier ones... then the numbers increased... more recently, a flood... all the mothers had taken Montayne during pregnancy... nearly three hundred defective births worldwide, so far... obviously more to come, especially in the United States where Montayne has been on sale only seven months...”

Celia closed her eyes as the tale of horror grew. Hundreds of babies who could have been normal. but now would never think or walk, or sit up unaided or, through their lifetimes, behave in any normal way... And still more to come. She wanted to weep bitter tears, to cry aloud in anger and frustration. But whom to cry to? No-one. And weeping and anger were useless and too late. Could she, herself, have done more to prevent this grisly tragedy? Yes! She could have raised her voice after resigning, gone public with her doubts about Montayne, instead of keeping silent. But would it have made any difference? Would people have listened? Probably not, though someone might have, and if one baby had been saved, her effort would have been worthwhile. As if reading her mind from five thousand miles away, Seth said, "All of us here have asked ourselves questions, Celia. We've had sleepless, conscience-ridden nights, and there isn't one of us who won't carry some guilt to his grave. But your conscience can be clear. You did everything you could. It wasn't your fault your warning was ignored.”

Celia thought: It would be so easy and comfortable to accept that view. But she knew that to the end of her days she would always have doubts. Abruptly, a new and troubling thought occurred to her. "Is everything you've told me, Seth, being made widely known? Is there urgent publicity going out? Have there been warnings to women that they should stop taking Montayne?" "Well... not exactly in that form. There's been some scattered publicity, though-surprisingly-not much.”

That would account, Celia thought, for the fact that she and Andrew had heard nothing adverse about Montayne while on their tour. Seth went on, "Apparently no one among the news people has pieced the whole story together yet. But we're afraid it will happen soon.”

"You're afraid Obviously, she realized, there had been no attempt to create massive publicity, which meant that Montayne was still being sold and used Again Celia remembered Andrew's report yesterday; in quoting Tano he had spoken of Montayne "selling like crazy.”

A shiver ran through her as she asked, "What has been done about withdrawing the drug and recalling all supplies?" Seth said carefully, "Gironde-Chimie have told us they'll withdraw Montayne in France this week. I understand the British are preparing an announcement. And the Australian government has already stopped sales there.”

Her voice rose to a shout.”I'm talking about the United States.”

"I assure you, Celia, we've done everything the law requires. Every bit of information coming into Felding-Roth has been passed on promptly to the FDA in Washington. Everything. Vince Lord attended to that personally. Now, we're waiting for a decision from FDA.”

"Waiting for a decision! In the name of God, why wait? What other decision can there be but to withdraw Montayne?" Seth said defensively, "Our lawyers advise us strongly that at this stage it will be better to have the ruling from FDA first.”

Celia was close to screaming. Holding herself in, she replied, "The FDA is slow. Their machinery could take weeks.”

"I suppose that's possible. But the lawyers insist-if we make the withdrawal on our own, it could be an admission of error and therefore of liability. Even now, the financial consequences...”

"What does finance matter when pregnant women are still taking Montayne? When unborn babies - . .”

Celia stopped, realizing that argument was useless, that the conversation was going nowhere, and wondering again why she was talking with the comptroller and not Sam Hawthorne. She said decisively, "I must speak with Sam.”

"Unfortunately, that isn't possible. At least, not now.”

An uneasy pause. "Sam is... well, not himself. He has some personal problems. That's one of the reasons we want you-need you back.”

Celia snapped, "Double-talk. What does it mean?" She heard a long, deep sigh.

"I was going to tell you this later because I know it will distress you.”

Seth's voice was low and sad.”You remember... just before you left us, Sam had a grandchild.”

"Juliet's baby. Yes.”

Celia recalled the celebration in Sam's office in which she had shared, though she dampened it later with her doubts about Montayne. "It seems that when Juliet was pregnant, she suffered a good deal from morning sickness. Sam gave her Montayne.”

At Seth's last words, Celia went icy cold. She had a horrible foreboding of what was coming next. "Last week the doctors established that Juliet's baby was adversely affected by the drug.”