First Do No Harm (Benjamin Davis Book Series, Book 1) Read Online Free Page A
Author: A. Turk
surgery next week. It’s the perfect assembly line. I diagnose them, he cuts them, and we all make money.”
The conversation turned to the leases. Woody was unhappy about the terms, especially the rent increases. “I’m the one who set you up with both doctors. I know you’re getting a referral fee from them, Lars.”
My business relationships are none of your business. The hospital is benefiting financially from this arrangement, as are you personally
, thought Herman. He replied, “I’m the reason your income’s doubled. My ultrasound makes a lot of money for your hospital. It’s your job to make sure your pathology department keeps backing up my diagnoses of stones. Now just sign the goddamned leases, and let’s move on.”
Next he asked Douglas about Patel’s formal complaint concerning Herman’s care of Rosie Malone. The report had just come in, and the charges had been dismissed with no criticism of Dr. Herman or Dr. English. The findings concluded that during surgery, Dr. English had “inadvertently injured the patient’s bowel,” but that the “informed consent signed by Mrs. Malone had acknowledged that surgical problems, including puncture of the bowels and internal bleeding, were known risks of the procedure.” The Executive Committee report further stated that “the failure to transfer the patient to Saint Thomas until February 5th at 6:00 p.m. was within the standard of care because the patient was not stable and transport in an unstable condition had inherent risks.” The report concluded thatDr. Herman, the treating physician, was “in the best position to evaluate whether to transfer the patient and that Dr. Herman used his best medical judgment.”
The rest of the day went like clockwork. Herman performed seven ultrasounds, at $1,500 a pop. He ended the day at six o’clock, earlier than usual, and hurried home to take his beautiful wife, Alice, out for a Valentine’s Day dinner.
Alice was waiting by the door when her tired husband walked in. She threw her arms around him before he could even take his coat off. She could feel the exhaustion in his body but knew his weariness was not the result of a long day at the office. Valentine’s Day was always a difficult holiday, but usually Lars masked the sadness.
Valentine’s Day was an annual reminder of Lars’s mother, Margot. It was the day she was horribly disfigured during the firebombing of Dresden in 1945. It was also the day of his father’s death. He was one of the many German soldiers killed in that horrific air raid. Valentine’s Day was never a celebration in the Herman household; it was a day of remembrance. Every year of his childhood, his mother took him to the beautiful Iguazu Falls near their home in Misiones, Argentina.
After a few minutes of chitchat about the day, Lars turned to Alice and asked, “Will you be my valentine?”
“Who else would be, Sheila?”
They laughed at the thought.
“Seriously, you’re the only woman who’s ever loved me, other than my mother,” Lars said.
“I wish I had met her. From what you’ve told me she was an incredible person and a great doctor. She would be very proud of you, Lars.”
“I wish she had seen me pass the FLEX exam and seen our dream came true. All she got to see was how hard I struggled.”
He started up the stairs and noticed a rectangular-shaped shipping crate on the landing. “What’s this?”
“It’s from Argentina. The return address is Uncle Wilhelm’s.”
Lars got a hammer and carefully opened the crate. As he suspected, it was a painting. He read the note out loud:
Dearest Nephew,
I hope my note finds both you and Alice doing well on this Valentine’s Day. It has been forty-seven years since that tragic day when you lost your father, and your mother’s hospital was destroyed and she was injured. She’s gone but not forgotten by either of us.
I have enclosed a Renoir titled
La Femme au Puits
. I picked it up from an old Parisian Jew in
The conversation turned to the leases. Woody was unhappy about the terms, especially the rent increases. “I’m the one who set you up with both doctors. I know you’re getting a referral fee from them, Lars.”
My business relationships are none of your business. The hospital is benefiting financially from this arrangement, as are you personally
, thought Herman. He replied, “I’m the reason your income’s doubled. My ultrasound makes a lot of money for your hospital. It’s your job to make sure your pathology department keeps backing up my diagnoses of stones. Now just sign the goddamned leases, and let’s move on.”
Next he asked Douglas about Patel’s formal complaint concerning Herman’s care of Rosie Malone. The report had just come in, and the charges had been dismissed with no criticism of Dr. Herman or Dr. English. The findings concluded that during surgery, Dr. English had “inadvertently injured the patient’s bowel,” but that the “informed consent signed by Mrs. Malone had acknowledged that surgical problems, including puncture of the bowels and internal bleeding, were known risks of the procedure.” The Executive Committee report further stated that “the failure to transfer the patient to Saint Thomas until February 5th at 6:00 p.m. was within the standard of care because the patient was not stable and transport in an unstable condition had inherent risks.” The report concluded thatDr. Herman, the treating physician, was “in the best position to evaluate whether to transfer the patient and that Dr. Herman used his best medical judgment.”
The rest of the day went like clockwork. Herman performed seven ultrasounds, at $1,500 a pop. He ended the day at six o’clock, earlier than usual, and hurried home to take his beautiful wife, Alice, out for a Valentine’s Day dinner.
Alice was waiting by the door when her tired husband walked in. She threw her arms around him before he could even take his coat off. She could feel the exhaustion in his body but knew his weariness was not the result of a long day at the office. Valentine’s Day was always a difficult holiday, but usually Lars masked the sadness.
Valentine’s Day was an annual reminder of Lars’s mother, Margot. It was the day she was horribly disfigured during the firebombing of Dresden in 1945. It was also the day of his father’s death. He was one of the many German soldiers killed in that horrific air raid. Valentine’s Day was never a celebration in the Herman household; it was a day of remembrance. Every year of his childhood, his mother took him to the beautiful Iguazu Falls near their home in Misiones, Argentina.
After a few minutes of chitchat about the day, Lars turned to Alice and asked, “Will you be my valentine?”
“Who else would be, Sheila?”
They laughed at the thought.
“Seriously, you’re the only woman who’s ever loved me, other than my mother,” Lars said.
“I wish I had met her. From what you’ve told me she was an incredible person and a great doctor. She would be very proud of you, Lars.”
“I wish she had seen me pass the FLEX exam and seen our dream came true. All she got to see was how hard I struggled.”
He started up the stairs and noticed a rectangular-shaped shipping crate on the landing. “What’s this?”
“It’s from Argentina. The return address is Uncle Wilhelm’s.”
Lars got a hammer and carefully opened the crate. As he suspected, it was a painting. He read the note out loud:
Dearest Nephew,
I hope my note finds both you and Alice doing well on this Valentine’s Day. It has been forty-seven years since that tragic day when you lost your father, and your mother’s hospital was destroyed and she was injured. She’s gone but not forgotten by either of us.
I have enclosed a Renoir titled
La Femme au Puits
. I picked it up from an old Parisian Jew in
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