Read Online It's Nothing Personal by Sherry Gorman MD - Free Book Online

Immediately, Jenna turned
her back and logged into the Accudose machine.   She resented being forced to neglect her
patient while she drew up drugs.   It
placed her in the uncomfortable position of having to rely too heavily on the
nurses.   Too many things could go
wrong, and Jenna was powerless to defend against it.
    With her drugs ready, Jenna was now able to
focus.   Everything the nurses did
needed to be rechecked.   EKG leads
were in the wrong location, the oxygen saturation probe was on the wrong hand,
and not one of the nurses had bothered to provide supplemental oxygen to the
patient.   Jenna silently went about
the business of correcting their mistakes, trying to mask her frustration.
    Dr. Jon Miner, the surgeon, entered the room
as Jenna was in the process of intubating.
    “Hey, Jenna,” Jon said as he watched her
carefully tape the endotracheal tube in place.
    Jon and Jenna had a friendly relationship,
but as Jenna glanced up, she noticed that the usual warmth in Jon’s brown eyes
was missing.
    Jenna forced herself to paste on a
convincing smile.   “Hey, Jon.   I see you must have survived the madness
of the lobby.   Congratulations.”
    The two doctors waited for the nurse to prep
the patient for surgery.   With the
nurse preoccupied with her task, Jon moved in close to Jenna and said
discreetly, “It’s crazy around here.”
    Jenna crinkled her forehead and frowned as
she replied softly, “Yeah.   It’s
getting scarier by the minute.   Personally, I worry about how we anesthesia doctors will be impacted.”
    Not one to mince words, Jon told Jenna,
“Honestly, I think you guys could be in a lot of trouble.   Aren’t you supposed to be responsible
for your drugs?   If that scrub tech
was able to somehow steal narcotics because anesthesiologists weren’t securing
them, I think that opens you guys up to lawsuits.”
    Jon’s words intensified Jenna’s premonition
that she might end up with an infected patient.  
    Jenna was defensive.   “I guess it might all depend on how you
did or didn’t secure your drugs.   I
mean, if you left them sitting on the top of your cart in plain view, in an
unoccupied room where anyone walking in could easily see them and take them,
that would be one thing.   But if you
hid them somewhere, or took other measures to keep them out of sight, that
seems to me to be a different story.”  
    “Well, I’m not trying to scare you, but I
had an interesting conversation with one of my neighbors last night, who just
happens to be the father of Lyle Silverstein.”   Jon’s words sounded foreboding, but the
name meant nothing to Jenna.
    “Who is Lyle Silverstein?”
    “I can’t believe you don’t know,” Jon said,
somewhat condescendingly.   “Obviously, you haven’t faced a lawsuit yet in this town.   Lyle Silverstein is one of the most aggressive,
nasty, ruthless, and vindictive malpractice attorneys in the state.   He also happens to be one of the most
successful.   So anyway, I ran into
his father while grabbing my mail last night, and, naturally, this topic came
up.   His dad actually said with
pride that Lyle is already representing several infected patients, and he
expects to get more.   According to
Silverstein senior, Lyle is calling this his ‘retirement package,’ and he is
gearing up for huge settlements.   What probably matters most to you is that Lyle plans to go after both
the hospital and the anesthesiologists.   Like I said, if you end up with an infected patient, you could be in
some serious trouble.”
    Jon sensed the nurse was eavesdropping.   He shifted closer to Jenna and lowered
his voice.   “Jenna, do you think you
could be at risk?”
    Jenna’s fear escalated.   A headache started to sweep over her,
along with a wave of nausea.   She
answered Jon in a secretive whisper, “I don’t know.   I mean, I never left my drugs just sitting out.   Anyway, I just don’t see how they could
pin this on the