Read Online The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Charles Graeber
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he said. “And, maybe we should defer… maybe what we should do is maybe kind of, end this call at this point, so that we can confer with our legal counsel and, uh, get some advice—just lay out all the facts and, um, make sure we do the… right thing.”
Marcus sighed wearily. “Well I…. sure. We’d be more than happy to come look at it. My gut reaction, having been doing this for, you know, a number of years, being involved with the police investigation of several, other… situations over the last twenty years, is that, yeah, you need to get your legal people on board—but I would not waste time .”
Marcus knew of several cases in which hospital staff members had poisoned patients, some in the literature, others that he had worked on personally. They called these killers Angels of Death. All of those cases shared a simple but disturbing pattern; each time, the doctors treated the rash of crashing patients like a disease to be studied, while the administration and the lawyers treated them as a potential lawsuit. The institution dragged its feet before calling in the cops. And while they dragged, people died. That was the pattern he saw repeating itself at Somerset.
“I would make sure you go to the authorities, and make sure that they know that there is this question. And then it’s in their hands, and if they decide not to do anything, then that’s their problem.”
“Oh, I understand,” Cors said. He sounded tired of being scolded, and ready to end the call.
“We do hear you,” Lund added.
“And also including the Department of Health!” Ruck reminded them.
“I mean, this is certainly a sentinel event,” Marcus said. 2 He knew the effect of those words on a hospital administrator. A sentinel event is any event in which patient safety is threatened. Marcus had thrown the gauntlet; by law, Somerset had to report such an event to authorities. “They need to know about it,” Marcus added.
“All right,” Lund said… finally, using the singsong tone that signals the end of a phone call.
“Well, we surely appreciate your input,” Cors said. “And, we will, um, indeed get back to you… so… you’ll hear from us one way or the other…”
“Hopefully it was nothing, inappropriate ,” Ruck said, trying to lighten the murder thing, keep them moving. “Hopefully just an error or whatever.”
“I know!” Cors said. “I just wish somebody would come forward and say, ‘Hey, I screwed up.’ I’d sleep a lot better.”
“Well, you’ve got two patients with dig and two patients with insulin,” Marcus said. “That doesn’t sound to me like it’s going to be a simple screwup.”
B ruce Ruck knew he was pushing his luck, especially after the bomb Dr. Marcus let off at with the last call, but he needed to check on Nancy. He dialed the number for the Somerset Medical Center pharmacy again, figuring if he got Vigdor, he’d make something up. A female voice answered on the second ring. This time, he didn’t identify himself.
“Hey,” Ruck said. “I’m trying to get in touch with Nancy—”
“Yeah hold on, she’s right here.” The phone at the other end was muffled. “That’s for you.”
“Nancy Doherty, can I help you?”
“Nancy, it’s Bruce.”
“Um, hi,” Nancy said quickly.
“Look,” Bruce said.“I know you can’t talk about the case, and that’s fine…”
“Um-hmm,” Nancy said.
“Nancy,” Bruce said, “the only thing I want to tell you is, if they’re going to try and get you in trouble in any shape or form…”
“Um-huh.”
“The medical director, he and I have talked about it. We will back you five hundred percent, ’cause you did nothing wrong.”
“Okay,” Nancy said.
“Are they giving you a hard time?”
“Ah, there’s some…” Nancy picked her words. “There’s a lot of… issues . Floating around…”
“Okay.”
“A lot of issues,” she said. “Floating around.”
“Okay,” Bruce said. “But Nancy,
Marcus sighed wearily. “Well I…. sure. We’d be more than happy to come look at it. My gut reaction, having been doing this for, you know, a number of years, being involved with the police investigation of several, other… situations over the last twenty years, is that, yeah, you need to get your legal people on board—but I would not waste time .”
Marcus knew of several cases in which hospital staff members had poisoned patients, some in the literature, others that he had worked on personally. They called these killers Angels of Death. All of those cases shared a simple but disturbing pattern; each time, the doctors treated the rash of crashing patients like a disease to be studied, while the administration and the lawyers treated them as a potential lawsuit. The institution dragged its feet before calling in the cops. And while they dragged, people died. That was the pattern he saw repeating itself at Somerset.
“I would make sure you go to the authorities, and make sure that they know that there is this question. And then it’s in their hands, and if they decide not to do anything, then that’s their problem.”
“Oh, I understand,” Cors said. He sounded tired of being scolded, and ready to end the call.
“We do hear you,” Lund added.
“And also including the Department of Health!” Ruck reminded them.
“I mean, this is certainly a sentinel event,” Marcus said. 2 He knew the effect of those words on a hospital administrator. A sentinel event is any event in which patient safety is threatened. Marcus had thrown the gauntlet; by law, Somerset had to report such an event to authorities. “They need to know about it,” Marcus added.
“All right,” Lund said… finally, using the singsong tone that signals the end of a phone call.
“Well, we surely appreciate your input,” Cors said. “And, we will, um, indeed get back to you… so… you’ll hear from us one way or the other…”
“Hopefully it was nothing, inappropriate ,” Ruck said, trying to lighten the murder thing, keep them moving. “Hopefully just an error or whatever.”
“I know!” Cors said. “I just wish somebody would come forward and say, ‘Hey, I screwed up.’ I’d sleep a lot better.”
“Well, you’ve got two patients with dig and two patients with insulin,” Marcus said. “That doesn’t sound to me like it’s going to be a simple screwup.”
B ruce Ruck knew he was pushing his luck, especially after the bomb Dr. Marcus let off at with the last call, but he needed to check on Nancy. He dialed the number for the Somerset Medical Center pharmacy again, figuring if he got Vigdor, he’d make something up. A female voice answered on the second ring. This time, he didn’t identify himself.
“Hey,” Ruck said. “I’m trying to get in touch with Nancy—”
“Yeah hold on, she’s right here.” The phone at the other end was muffled. “That’s for you.”
“Nancy Doherty, can I help you?”
“Nancy, it’s Bruce.”
“Um, hi,” Nancy said quickly.
“Look,” Bruce said.“I know you can’t talk about the case, and that’s fine…”
“Um-hmm,” Nancy said.
“Nancy,” Bruce said, “the only thing I want to tell you is, if they’re going to try and get you in trouble in any shape or form…”
“Um-huh.”
“The medical director, he and I have talked about it. We will back you five hundred percent, ’cause you did nothing wrong.”
“Okay,” Nancy said.
“Are they giving you a hard time?”
“Ah, there’s some…” Nancy picked her words. “There’s a lot of… issues . Floating around…”
“Okay.”
“A lot of issues,” she said. “Floating around.”
“Okay,” Bruce said. “But Nancy,
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