Read Online As You Wish by Belle Maurice - Free Book Online

patient.” The tension stretched out between them. She wished she could just say, Let’s go home , but she’d already given her word. “If you don’t want to go with me, I can get a cab.”
    “I’ll go with you.” David almost but not quite pouted.
    At the hospital, David hung back at the nurses’ station, talking to the duty nurse who, to Patricia’s relief, was male. Mrs. Magyar and her husband sat watching television grimly in her room.
    Patricia glanced up and recognized Seinfeld reruns. “Hello, Mrs. Magyar, how are you feeling?”
    “Dr. Whitmer, I didn’t expect you tonight.”
    “I was passing by, so I thought I would stop.”
    “Will someone tell us what’s going on?” Mr. Magyar stood up. According to his wife’s file and their conversations, he’d spent most of his adult life working as a machinist until he was laid off three years ago. He was still built like one.
    “Bill,” Mrs. Magyar scolded.
    “I’ll be happy to answer any questions I can, but I’m afraid Dr. Radesku is really the expert here.”
    “I don’t like him,” Mr. Magyar snarled.
    “Bill! I’m sorry, Dr. Whitmer, my husband—”
    “He’s rude to my wife,” Mr. Magyar continued.
    Patricia folded her hands together, trying to appear calm and professional. “In what way?”
    “He says she wouldn’t understand what he’s doing, and he won’t answer our questions.” Bill Magyar had what are you going to do about it stamped on his forehead.
    Patricia thought about David waiting impatiently at the desk and her early morning today. She sighed. It had taken two months of minor complaints from Mrs. Magyar to earn her trust enough to get to the real issue. Two months too long in her case.
    Just because she’d had a long day, Patricia couldn’t walk out on the frightened woman and her equally frightened husband. She reached back for a chair. “Why don’t you tell me what your questions are, and I’ll see if I have any answers for you. And if not, I’ll see if I can locate Dr. Radesku.”
    Over an hour later, Patricia walked out of Mrs. Magyar’s room. Mr. and Mrs. Magyar felt better. Patricia felt much worse. The minor aches and bloating Mrs. Magyar had been experiencing for six months before confessing them to Patricia were ovarian cancer. In that time, the cancer had spread. Dr. Radesku felt there was little hope of cutting it out and doubted Mrs. Magyar’s ability to survive chemotherapy due to her age and general health. Patricia hadn’t told her that. She’d said Radesku found a few things he wanted to take a closer look at in his exploratory surgery. She’d given a shortened explanation of what cancer was and how it happened, ignoring Mr. Magyar’s nicotine-stained fingers.
    When Mrs. Magyar had walked into Patricia’s cubicle at the clinic two months ago, she’d complained of headaches. Patricia had taken her history and attributed it to stress and general poor health. She had not done a complete physical despite the fact that the woman obviously hadn’t had one in years. If she had done the physical that day, Mrs. Magyar might not be in this mess now.
    “Finally. I didn’t think you were ever coming out.” David unfolded himself from the hall couch. “Can we go now?”
    “I may have killed that woman,” Patricia murmured.
    “What? Is it malpractice? Could she sue?”
    Patricia frowned. “No. I don’t want to talk about this. Can we just go home?”
    “Sure.” David took her arm and led her to the parking garage. “She couldn’t sue you, could she?”
    “Not if she’s dead, David.”
    David growled. “Her estate, then.”
    “She doesn’t have an estate. She’s a clinic patient.”
    “All the more reason for her heirs to sue you. You’re a big fat target in this town.”
    “David, I told you I didn’t want to talk about this.”
    “Yeah, but if you need legal—”
    “I don’t. I didn’t misdiagnose anything. I merely didn’t do everything I could have done. All right?”