Read Online The Society by Michael Palmer - Free Book Online
Authors: Michael Palmer
Tags: Fiction
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brought against several of the largest HMOs by the Hippocrates Society in conjunction with a number of state medical associations and some individual physicians. The case, which had been plodding forward for almost five years but was now gaining some momentum, charged the HMOs with extortion and with violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Other legal actions from around the country were also reviewed, including a lawsuit in California accusing the health plans of interfering with physicians’ ability to make independent medical decisions. The plans threatened physicians with economic loss, the suit was charging, in an effort to deter them from fulfilling their duty owed their patients and encourage them to place unreasonable and often unsafe restrictions on the level of medical services that might be delivered to their patients.
The legal team’s presentation was interrupted a number of times by applause. In the analogies to the Nazi takeover of Europe, the lawyers and physicians of the legal team were the resistance—sniping at the enemy, disrupting them wherever possible. When they had finished their presentation, there was an almost palpable drop in energy throughout the hall.
“So,” Lemm announced, perhaps sensing the same thing, “before we do new business, let’s hear from our illustrious publicity and public relations chairman, Will Grant. What do you have for us tonight, Will?”
There was a smattering of applause as Will took over the microphone. He had been painfully shy as a child, and as an adult had never been that comfortable speaking in public. But over time he had managed to convince himself that looking or sounding like a fool wasn’t that big a deal. After two years, reporting to the Society each month held no great stress—especially when he had material such as he did tonight.
“Before I present a couple of cases,” he began, “I want to say that advance ticket sales for our forum with Boyd Halliday of Excelsius Health are brisk, and we already may have sold out Faneuil Hall. When I’m finished, Tom has some announcements to make regarding that event, which is going to be held despite the recent managed-care murders.
“As many of you know, my writing is about as dynamic as a snail derby. Thankfully, our committee has Randy Harrington, who continues regularly to submit wonderful letters to the editor and op-ed pieces to both papers as well as some suburban publications. This past month two of them have been published, one in the
Globe.
I hope you’ve had the chance to read them. If not, they are on our web site. Randy, could you take a bow?”
Harrington, a slightly built pediatrician with a pediatrician’s penchant for colorful bow ties, did as he was asked.
“Will Grant is a much better writer than he would have any of us believe,” Harrington said after the applause had quieted, “especially for a surgeon.”
“Roughly translated,” Will replied, “that means I know several words with more than one syllable and own at least five books that don’t require crayons.”
Tom Lemm laughed loudest of all.
“So,” Will went on, “as you know, your crack publicity and public relations committee members are constantly casting about for stories we might submit to the papers or at least present to you all. Tonight I have two of them in which our friendly neighborhood HMOs combine medicine and mathematics to give the best possible care to their constituents.
“A Newton psychiatrist writes:
I admitted a twelve-year-old boy from orthopedics to our inpatient adolescent unit. He had bilateral ankle fractures sustained after jumping off the peak of the roof of his family’s garage. It was no challenge to diagnose the boy with major depressive illness and to conclude that his leap was a bona fide suicide attempt. I contacted the medical director of his HMO and requested a two-week hospitalization to do intensive family work in an attempt to provide
Other legal actions from around the country were also reviewed, including a lawsuit in California accusing the health plans of interfering with physicians’ ability to make independent medical decisions. The plans threatened physicians with economic loss, the suit was charging, in an effort to deter them from fulfilling their duty owed their patients and encourage them to place unreasonable and often unsafe restrictions on the level of medical services that might be delivered to their patients.
The legal team’s presentation was interrupted a number of times by applause. In the analogies to the Nazi takeover of Europe, the lawyers and physicians of the legal team were the resistance—sniping at the enemy, disrupting them wherever possible. When they had finished their presentation, there was an almost palpable drop in energy throughout the hall.
“So,” Lemm announced, perhaps sensing the same thing, “before we do new business, let’s hear from our illustrious publicity and public relations chairman, Will Grant. What do you have for us tonight, Will?”
There was a smattering of applause as Will took over the microphone. He had been painfully shy as a child, and as an adult had never been that comfortable speaking in public. But over time he had managed to convince himself that looking or sounding like a fool wasn’t that big a deal. After two years, reporting to the Society each month held no great stress—especially when he had material such as he did tonight.
“Before I present a couple of cases,” he began, “I want to say that advance ticket sales for our forum with Boyd Halliday of Excelsius Health are brisk, and we already may have sold out Faneuil Hall. When I’m finished, Tom has some announcements to make regarding that event, which is going to be held despite the recent managed-care murders.
“As many of you know, my writing is about as dynamic as a snail derby. Thankfully, our committee has Randy Harrington, who continues regularly to submit wonderful letters to the editor and op-ed pieces to both papers as well as some suburban publications. This past month two of them have been published, one in the
Globe.
I hope you’ve had the chance to read them. If not, they are on our web site. Randy, could you take a bow?”
Harrington, a slightly built pediatrician with a pediatrician’s penchant for colorful bow ties, did as he was asked.
“Will Grant is a much better writer than he would have any of us believe,” Harrington said after the applause had quieted, “especially for a surgeon.”
“Roughly translated,” Will replied, “that means I know several words with more than one syllable and own at least five books that don’t require crayons.”
Tom Lemm laughed loudest of all.
“So,” Will went on, “as you know, your crack publicity and public relations committee members are constantly casting about for stories we might submit to the papers or at least present to you all. Tonight I have two of them in which our friendly neighborhood HMOs combine medicine and mathematics to give the best possible care to their constituents.
“A Newton psychiatrist writes:
I admitted a twelve-year-old boy from orthopedics to our inpatient adolescent unit. He had bilateral ankle fractures sustained after jumping off the peak of the roof of his family’s garage. It was no challenge to diagnose the boy with major depressive illness and to conclude that his leap was a bona fide suicide attempt. I contacted the medical director of his HMO and requested a two-week hospitalization to do intensive family work in an attempt to provide
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