Compromised, page 37
part #1 of MetroGen Forbidden Love Duets Series
“Quite enough, Ms. Borenstein,” Collier said.
“Sir, you have fourteen publications as first author, twenty-eight as second, fifteen as principal investigator. Your first publication was when you were an undergraduate student related to original testing in the fireflies’ photoluminescence—”
“Fine, please testify to the locations of Mr. Harper and Perkins.”
“Which time? Dr. Perkins and Medical student Harper crossed paths in the hospital for the first time in October at the coffee cart. They never directly shared any patients in Mr. Harper’s 1,547 individual patient encounters beyond on OB patient in February, where Dr. Perkins was a consult for peripartum cardiomyopathy.”
The audience was transfixed, and Angela noticed more faces who had not been there before. Nurses in navy blue scrubs were trickling in, two or three at a time.
“Furthermore, on the night in question, Dr. Perkins and Mr. Harper had no contact. She was on call and did not appear in the ICU. Mr. Harper had eighteen separate patient encounters, including an emergency marriage for a patient performed by the hospital chaplain. If he slept at her place, she was certainly not present. However, it is very likely he did not intend to sleep at her place at all.”
Every head snapped around in the room.
“What are you saying?” Collier asked.
“Yes, what are you saying? The wife said the Fire Chief Harper had slept at Angela’s place,” Pegg protested, having returned again.
His pager went off again, and he made no motion to answer it.
Raj said, “Aren’t you going to get that?”
Pegg waved his hand. “No. I’ve gotten ten pages about a fake patient. Somebody called in a fake consult on a patient. It was an animatronic sex doll.”
One of the nurses in the back cracked, “Is that why you’re always late returning my pages?”
A nurse, most likely from OB, said, “You didn’t show up the day our patient died, and it was only Dr. Perkins. I don’t see why we’re harassing our best cardiologist.”
A whole chorus joined in, each voice getting louder.
Angela smiled pleasantly. “Maybe you should return the page.”
“It’s probably your girlfriend!” a different voice catcalled.
Collier banged his gavel. “Order. I will have order. Ms. Borenstein, explain to me why this was a case of mistaken housing.”
Nora responded, “Michael Harper is a friend of the Fire Chief’s wife. On the last day in February, he slept at Firehouse 15 post call, as he often gets confused when sleep deprived. The wife is Dr. Perkins’s next-door neighbor, and also confused her door with Dr. Perkins’s in the past when she had appendicitis. Mr. Harper was her medical student on surgery and was present for her resuscitation and surgery. It was most likely Mr. Harper was attempting to crash at the wife’s house, not Dr. Perkins’s.”
“To be clear, you mean Mr. Harper tried to sleep at this firefighter’s house?”
“I can attest that sleep deprived Michael is the worst,” Raj said. “Gets grumpy and prone to make confused choices. Still gives 110 percent.”
“I have spent approximately 3227 hours with Michael Harper and can say I’ve never seen him interact with Dr. Perkins outside of the care of our single OB patient in February.”
Pegg came back again. “This is ridiculous. Harper obviously knows Dr. Perkins well. He sought her out over the beta blockers. They stole a defibrillator and wandered the streets with it. I bet he knows her cell phone number.”
Nora said, “I KNOW her phone number. Who else has her cell phone number?”
Raj raised his hand, and so did half the nurses in the audience. The seats were full now, and a line of nurses ringed the back rows.
A woman in a suit said, “As the mayor’s representative, the city is quite thankful for Dr. Perkins’s and Mr. Harper’s efforts to capture the gunman.”
“I fail to see how this has any relevance,” Pegg spat. “Can’t you see the problems of this ‘could have, might have.’ The medical student slept at her house and has yet to deny any part of this. Neither of them are denying anything!”
“I think this has gone on long enough.”
The room went quiet.
Chief Feldsher had arrived.
Chapter 68
Chief Feldsher came down the steps. She wore scrubs and still had the booties from the OR. “Was it necessary to schedule this during my morning C-section?”
This finally roused Marshall, who had been silent thus far. “Now see here, Feldsher. This isn’t your department. We are investigating an ethics violation, not a clinical sentinel event. We cannot allow our attendings and fellows to mingle with the medical students. It’s unprofessional.”
“Unprofessional? What I see here is a group of old fogies trying to stomp out a bright young cardiologist’s career because your favorite boy almost let the Fire Chief die. He was bordering on clinically negligent, and we were lucky she was in-house doing other work to pitch in.” Pegg’s pager rang again, and Feldsher grinned. “Don’t let pages interrupt your agenda.”
“We cannot have attendings taking advantage of staff in lower positions,” Collier protested.
“Oh, you can’t? Weird, Benjamin Collier. Jog my memory. Where did you meet your wife?” Feldsher challenged.
Heads turned as Collier was silent. Slowly and grudgingly, he said, “I met her here.”
“Really? Patient or staff?”
“She was a nurse on the general medical floor.” The audience ‘ahhed.’ “It wasn’t like that. I was never her direct supervisor, and she transferred to a new unit when we got serious.”
“No, she only took your orders and obeyed your commands. Who feels doctors are in a superior command position to the nursing staff?” The rest of the audience, including Kayla, Nora, and Raj raised their hands. “Fisher, if I remember, you were on the hospital professionalism committee tasked with reviewing hospital relationship cases.”
“Yes,” the other chief said reluctantly.
“You voted to confirm Dr. Manika Carver as chief of the ER despite her husband being a fellow ED physician, placing her in a direct supervisory role over him.”
“Yes, except they were both attendings and married. Our hands are tied over marriage.”
“Ah, that’s true, though you also let her suspend and fire him afterward. Weren’t you also on the hospital committee that allowed Dr. Elizabeth Kandal to transfer out of my department, join general surgery, and marry the division chief of cardiothoracic surgery? Even though it lost me my MFM chief in his ex-wife?” Feldsher said.
“That’s different.”
“And you approved Dr. Elizabeth Kandal to receive permission to date a dermatology resident.”
“She went through the proper channels. There are no proper channels to date a medical student. It’s completely unprofessional,” Fisher said.
Feldsher flicked her eyes to Nora. “Let me settle this. Borenstein-Perez. Did you ever witness our so-called illicit lovers interact beyond in a professional capacity?”
“No.”
“Did they ever even eat lunch together?”
“Not that I witnessed.”
“Was he ever on the cardiology service?”
“No, our group was on pulmonary and renal for internal medicine.”
Feldsher shrugged her shoulders, “See, obviously she had a huge amount of power over him.”
Collier sputtered, “We can’t have physicians taking advantage of younger medical students. They get favors and advantages. It’s not level.”
“As no doubt, your wife’s colleagues felt your relationship was level.” She addressed Michael. “Allow me a moment to address this young, nubile medical student.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Michael swallowed hard.
“Nice to see you can talk. How old are you?”
“Thirty-five this month.”
“Practically ancient. Did you have a previous life or job?”
“Yes, I am an accountant.”
“How white collar of you. Dr. Perkins, how old are you?”
“Thirty,” Angela answered.
“I see. Young man, are you any good at cardiology?” she returned to Michael.
“No, ma’am. I almost failed that section of the shelf.”
“Did you receive honors in internal medicine?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Are you going into internal medicine?”
“No, ma’am. I am considering emergency medicine, surgery, or pediatrics.”
“Well, from what I’ve seen, and delivering the baby in a parking lot, that would be a good fit.” She softened for a second, but hardened to address at the panel. “I believe you can take that as confirmation that no relationship occurred at your hospital and the medical student did not receive any benefit from a fellow who was never in an advisory capacity to said medical student.”
“No. The ethics committee has not yet cleared her,” Fisher said.
“Ridiculous. We’ve established Dr. Perkins wasn’t present at her own home when Mr. Harper supposedly tried to sleep there. Or was it her neighbor’s house? We can’t be sure because, frankly, Mr. Harper had been awake a long time and then beaten up. I can’t expect much coherence from any medical student after a night shift. Right?” The audience was nodding along with Feldsher.
“You are interfering with an internal Department of Medicine matter here,” Marshall warned her. “Perkins is in danger of losing her fellowship position over this.”
“It’s about time someone interfered. If you fire her, I will make you very sorry.” Feldsher walked up to the table and placed her small hands on it. She dropped her voice so only the committee and Angela could hear. “Don’t you bluster at me. My department and my birthing center are the new hospital moneymaker. It won’t look pretty if you make our new perinatal cardiologist for the high risk OB patients finish her fellowship in Akron or Columbus or Toledo. If she still wants to put stents in fat people’s hearts, she can do it on the weekends. Lose her, and we will make you lose even more.”
“You can’t threaten us,” Collier stammered.
“Actually, I can. It’s not only OB. The hospital and fire department have been desperate to forge an alliance. They built Rescue Alpha from the ground up on the shoulders of the Fire Chief. How will they perceive the situation if you fire the TWO people who saved his life after your golden boy almost killed him?”
“But—"
“Wake up. Count the staff. They didn’t come here for Pegg. They came for her. They’re making his morning a living hell today. Think about what they’ll do to you.”
The ethics committee was counting the faces in the crowd. The audience included doctors from OB, surgery, anesthesia, internal medicine, and emergency medicine, and nurses from every single department in the hospital.
The numbers spoke for themselves.
Faber est quisque fortunae suae. Each man is the maker of his own fortune.
“Don’t make me lose my temper. I’ll be honest. I don’t care if this hypothetical liaison occurred between these two consenting adults in the privacy of their own outside lives. This medical student’s hypothetical stability is much better than the nurses ten years young you’ve pursued. Kindly reinstate the good doctor.”
The committee looked past her at Angela. She could practically see them radiating waves of resentment at Feldsher. A woman from OB was telling them what to do, and they couldn’t find a way out. They resented her and were being forced to knuckle under.
No one became Chief of Medicine without accepting the politics of the hospital. Fisher took the gavel away from Collier and banged it. “I agree. This entire report is based on a statement by one relative of one patient. Fortunately, no one tried to bring her in here and open us to more HIPAA issues. Without any actual evidence, we can’t act. I will dismiss the report, and Dr. Perkins can return to her regular duties. I will inform the medical school of our decision.”
Collier sputtered, “But…”
His comment was covered by loud cheers from the audience.
Fisher accepted his defeat with more grace. “I would also like to thank everyone for attending this meeting. And we will check on the average time it takes our fellows and residents to return pages.”
“Excellent,” Feldsher said.
“Though I would recommend Dr. Perkins be careful about her interactions with Mr. Harper in the future. He’s still a year from being a doctor,” Fisher said.
“Oh, about him. There is one more thing.” Angela calmly took a piece of paper out of her pocket.
“What’s this?” Collier asked.
“It’s my department of Internal Medicine request for a name change. Angela Harper.” She set the piece of paper on the table.
“Name change?” Collier asked.
“My new last name. H A R P E R. It’s traditional to take on your husband’s last name.” She unclipped the diamond solitaire and wedding band from underneath her badge and put it on her left finger.
Collier glanced at Michael, who took his left hand from the pocket of his short white coat, revealing a plain gold wedding band.
Further discussion was unnecessary. Married couples gained special status at MetroGen. They didn’t require disclosure forms and were immune from punishment related to their relationships.
If they’d tried to suspend them, the wedding would have made the entire situation moot.
But they wouldn’t have gotten to face the reports.
“But you said…” Collier sputtered.
Fisher held up his hand. “We are not allowed to make inquiries about married couples of any type. So, congratulations.”
“Congratulations,” Marshall said, expression clear he was happy this was at an end.
“Thank you, sir.” Angela took Michael’s hand and went up the stairs with him.
Their friends were waiting in the hallway to celebrate.
“Congratulations on beating the rap, and the wedding,” Raj said.
“Thanks,” Michael put his arm around Angela—in public. Angela couldn’t stop grinning at his action.
“Next time, though, could you have let us in on it? Nora and I would have put a lot less work into this. We went full def con, code black for you.”
Michael laughed, not moving his arm off Angela’s shoulder. “Code Black is a bomb threat, which I know you didn’t do.”
“What were you doing exactly? They did their best to time it to keep Angela’s biggest supporters absent,” Eliza asked.
“We have a confession, and please don’t dock our surgery grades. Nora crashed Dr. Magi’s baby shower,” Raj explained.
“Why?” Eliza was mystified.
“Nora’s memory isn’t an act. She circulated as one of your caterers and soaked up tons of gossip.”
“It wasn’t gossip. It was reconnaissance,” Nora protested. “By listening, I memorized which nurses have the best opinion of Dr. Perkins and would be most likely to help her. We invited them when we found out they’d moved the meeting.”
“And since I have good relations with the nursing staff on several floors, I got them to harass Pegg all morning long.”
“The sex doll?” Kayla asked.
Nora turned red because Raj said, “Also Nora’s idea. We had one lying around and put it to good use.”
Angela cracked up, imagining Pegg showing up to examine the sexbot. The pages worked perfectly, undermining his authority and professionalism. “Job well done.”
“You could have told us you were married and saved us the trouble,” Raj said.
“I wanted to win on my own merit, not because there was a backdoor loophole,” Angela said.
“Tell me more—” Raj broke off mid-sentence because a red-headed nurse waved to him.
“Thanks for the coffee, Raj.” She hung back about twenty feet from the group.
“Whatever I was going to say, forget it.” Raj made a beeline for the nurse.
Michael chuckled. “So much for shrinking his harem.”
The woman who’d thanked them on behalf of the mayor approached them. “Hello, I’m Maura Hightower, Mayor Duncan’s aide.”
“Nice to meet you.” Michael inclined his head toward her.
“I have news for you, Mr. Harper. I’ve been to the medical school, and they agreed to allow you to continue your studies without further investigation if you cooperate by doing the city a favor.”
Angela startled. “A favor?”
Hightower had an interesting smile. “Yes, you’re both invited to be in the wedding party of Noah Baker and Erin Hudgens.”
“Their wedding?” Michael said, “I thought they were already—”
“In light of the recent incidents, they’ve agreed to solemnize their union publicly at a to be determined date. In the interest of strengthening bonds between the hospital, the medical school, the city, and the Cuyahoga Combined Fire Department.”
Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Angela internally mused. Invited sounded more like ‘ordered.’
“And if I’m not certain?” Michael asked.
“Everyone loves weddings. People tend to forgive misdeeds, and this would be mutually beneficial for all parties involved. While refusing might be the opposite. Here’s my card. I’ll be in touch with you and your friends. Have a good day.”
She walked off.
Angela put the card in Michael’s scrubs pocket. She supposed she ought to have been more distressed by whatever the Mayor’s assistant meant.
It was a problem for another day, because this one was shaping up to be pretty damn good.
“Med Student Harper, would you like to accompany me to Doctor Row?”
“Any day, Dr. Harper.”
Chapter 69
“Why are new parents so exhausting?” Eliza complained four days later. Alex Casserty had taken the past week off to be full-time next door at Stella’s.
Which also meant full-time at Eliza’s. He’d brought the baby over to get its tiny diaper rash checked for the third time five minutes ago.
