Negligence 

 AUTHOR: Shirley

 E-mail: sgoates2607@charter.net

 RATING: PG-13

 CONTEXT: This is a short story, second guessing the coming events
 of "Sacrifice" which has yet to air at the time this story is
 posted.

 DISCLAIMER: I have deliberately left the medical details vague
 because I don't have a medical background. My apologies, in
 advance, to those of you who are familiar with these situations and
 find my premise totally unbelievable. Some of the characters
 portrayed herein have been shamelessly taken directly from "The
 Guardian" – a CBS TV Series. Others are strictly figments of my
 imagination. The resemblance to any person(s) living or dead is
 purely coincidental. Any similarity of events, dates, or characters
 or the portrayal of events, dates or characters depicted in any
 FanFic previously posted by other authors is totally
unintentional.
 This is a work of FICTION.


 ~~~~~

 Nick knocked and entered the conference room.

 Oh, here's my son, Nicholas," Burton said, talking to the
 client. "Nick, I want you to meet Jerome Adcock. He's the
 Administrator for Pittsburgh County Hospital."

 Nick extended his hand and said, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Adcock."

 "That's `Dr.' Adcock, Nick. Not that it means much nowadays. I
 haven't practiced in years." He laughed. "This is my assistant,
 Lee Adams."

 "Mr. Adams," Nick said, reaching to shake hands with him.

 "Nick will be handling this for the Firm, Jerry." Burton stood and
 said to Nick, "Jerry will brief you on the particulars, Nick."
 Turning to leave, he said, "Nice to see you again Jerry. Just let
 me know if there's anything else we can do for you."

 Nick cleared his throat as he took a seat in the chair vacated by
 his father. He opened his note pad and pulled his pen from his
 inside jacket pocket. "Okay, what can I help you with, Dr. Adcock?"

 "The Hospital has been sued by the family of a man who died during
 surgery a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if you saw the story
in
 the paper or not."

 "No, I didn't." Nick thought it would have been nice if his dad
 could have given him a heads-up about the case. "Can you tell me
 about it?"

 "It was a routine gall bladder surgery; one with the usual risks
 involved, but the Hospital has never lost a patient during this
type
 of procedure. We conducted the usual preliminary inquiry post-
 mortem and found nothing out of the ordinary."

 "Can I get the name of the doctor?"

 "Oh, sure. Lee?" He turned to his assistant for the information.

 Mr. Adams consulted a folder, then answered, "He was one of our
 residents. Dr. Brian Olsen."

 Nick was immediately stunned to silence.

 Dr. Adcock noticed his expression and asked, "Is there anything
 wrong?"

 "No. No. I just know the doctor."

 "Will that be a problem?"

 Nick answered, "Not unless you have some objection."

 The Administrator and his assistant looked briefly at each other
and
 Dr. Adcock answered, "No. I see no problem with it."

 "Okay. Let me review the file. I assume an autopsy was conducted."

 "Yes. All that's in the file."

 "I take it that Dr. Olsen has also been named in the suit."

 "Yes, he has."

 "What is the usual procedure following something like this? Does
 the doctor continue to practice or…?"

 "In this case we didn't fine anything wrong with the way Dr. Olsen
 conducted himself, so we've allowed him to continue practicing."

 "I will need to depose all those on your medical staff who were
 involved with this patient. Will there be a problem?"

 "No. Lee will provide you with all the names and make the
 arrangements, as needed."

 "Great." Nick pushed back his chair and stood. "I'll be in
 touch."

 They all shook hands again as Dr. Adcock and his assistant left the
 room. Nick walked to the window and stared out. He wasn't sure he
 could be entirely objective about Brian. Dr. Adcock said they
 didn't find that he had done anything wrong but something had gone
 wrong. He just had to find out what.

 He rapped lightly on his father's door and entered.

 "Oh, Nicholas. How'd it go?"

 "Fine. Fine." He ran his hand down the back of his head and
 shifted his weight. "Uh..."

 "What is it, Nicholas?" Burton said, impatiently.

 "Uh... the doctor involved is Brian Olsen."

 "Yeah, so?"

 "Lulu's husband."

 "Oh. I see." Pensive, he leaned back in his chair. "Is that
gonna
 be a problem?"

 "I don't know."

 "Does Jerry know?"

 "Yeah. Yeah. I told him. He didn't think there'd be a problem."

 "Okay. So handle it." Burton returned his attention to the file
on
 his desk.

 Taking this as a dismissal, Nick turned and walked out the door,
 closing it quietly behind him.

 ~/~/~/~

 "Nick, I got a message you wanted to see me." Connor Owens entered
 Nick's office. He was a fairly new member of Fallin & Fallin.
They
 had hired him primarily for his medical background. He had started
 out as a doctor but after a year of practice had opted to go to law
 school and practice law instead of medicine. He was about 38 years
 old and was a definite asset to the Firm since they were taking on
 more and more cases for their new client, Pittsburgh County
 Hospital.

 "Yeah, take a seat, Connor."

 "I'm working on a case for Pittsburgh County Hospital and I'd like
 you to look over the autopsy and medical reports and give me your
 take on it. Would you have time?"

 "Yeah, sure, Nick. I'd be happy to. When do you need it back?"

 "No rush. How about tomorrow?" He grinned and shrugged.

 Connor laughed. "Well, I'm finding out you have to be a workaholic
 to keep your head above water at this Firm. Is that the file?" he
 asked, indicating the file open on Nick's desk.

 "Yeah." Nick folded the file and handed it to him. "This is just
 the medical data. Thanks, man."

 "Don't mention it." Connor saluted and made his exit.

 ~/~/~/~

 As instructed, Connor had completed his review of the Hospital case
 for Nick. The office was quiet. It was after seven o'clock and
 most everyone had gone home already.

 "Sorry, it took so long, Nick." Connor had done a thorough review
 of the medical findings and had presented his analysis.

 "So, you think the doctor was negligent?"

 "Yeah. It appears the patient had a fatal reaction to one of the
 drugs administered just before surgery. The attending physician
 should have noticed this allergy to the drug in the medical
 profile. Granted, that information was buried pretty deep in the
 guy's medical history, but still..."

 "So he wouldn't have died if they had used a different drug... in
 your opinion."

 "That's right."

 "Okay. I just need to find out if this was simple human error or
 deliberate disregard. Thanks for your help."

 ~/~/~/~

 Nick had made arrangements to depose all persons having any medical
 knowledge of the deceased. Lee Adams had arranged for him to use
 the Hospital Administrator's meeting room and had scheduled
 appointments for most of the day. He had enlisted the help of
 Dottie Edwards as the court reporter.

 "Well, thank you for coming, Miss Welch."

 "I hope I didn't get Brian in trouble." She stood to leave.

 "No. No. You just told me the truth, right?"

 "That's right."

 "Okay. I wouldn't worry about it."

 Nick had one last deposition scheduled; that of Dr. Olsen himself.
 Brian was represented by Attorney Hayden Young, who would be
sitting
 in on the deposition.

 Brian knocked and entered the room with his lawyer in tow. He
 smiled and walked to where Nick sat at the end of a long conference
 room table and extended his hand. "Hey, Nick. How have you been,
 man?" Brian was obviously trying to cover-up his nervousness about
 the purpose of this meeting.

 "Good. Take a seat." Nick perfunctorily endeavored to get the
 meeting back on a professional level.

 Hayden said, "Nick," in acknowledgement, as he took the seat to
 Brian's left.

 "How have you been, Hayden?"

 "No complaints. Yourself?"

 "Good. Thanks. Okay, Brian, I have a number of questions to ask
 you about your treatment of the patient, Bill Patterson. Dottie
 Edwards, here, will be recording your testimony. Do you have any
 questions before we get started?"

 Brian nervously squirmed in his chair. He took a deep breath and
 said, "No. I have no questions. Shoot."

 Thanks to Connor's excellent recommendations in the file, the
 deposition didn't take all that long. When it was over, Brian
 heaved a sigh of relief.

 "Is that it?"

 "That's it." Nick stood up to signal the end of the
session. "Good
 to see you, Hayden."

 "Yeah. Hey, say hello to your father for me." He patted Nick on
 the arm.

 "Sure."

 Nick watched as they left the meeting room. Brian had essentially
 incriminated himself. He had admitted, after considerable hemming
 and hawing, that he had noted the allergy to the drug in
Patterson's
 medical history but it had slipped his mind, blaming the pressures
 of his work schedule. However, in the deposition of Nurse Welch,
 she had stated that she reminded Dr. Olsen just before preparation
 for surgery that the drug he was planning to administer was listed
 in Mr. Patterson's records as one to avoid because of a known
 allergic reaction. This turn of events could have a devastating
 effect on Brian's medical career. Nick was torn as to what to do.
 He owed it to his client, Pittsburgh County, to reveal this
 exculpatory evidence in their case. With any luck, Nick could get
 the Hospital dismissed from the lawsuit. But, how would this
 affect Lulu?

 ~/~/~/~

 It was a few days before Nick had the deposition transcripts to
 study. He wanted to go over all the evidence before he made his
 final decision as to what to do. He gathered together all the
case
 data in one box to take home and study. He had promised Dr. Adcock
 he would tell him of his findings by tomorrow at the latest.

 Nick was stopped in quitting-time traffic. He kept going over the
 case in his mind. He had to tell Dr. Adcock everything.

 His cell phone rang and he answered, "Yeah."

 "Nick."

 "Lulu?"

 "I need to talk to you."

 He detected stress in her voice. "Okay."

 "Can you come by the house?"

 "Sure. It might give the traffic time to clear. I'll be there in
 about ten minutes."

 "Okay, thanks."

 ~/~/~/~

 Nick parked at the curb and walked to the door and rang the bell.
 He noticed Lulu's car but didn't see Brian's.

 "Oh, thanks for coming, Nick. Come in." She moved aside to permit
 his entry.

 Nick looked around. "The place looks different than the last time
I
 was here." He remembered, fondly, the intimate little kiss they
had
 in this very house. Then she had chosen to marry Brian.

 "Nick." Lulu stood wringing her hands. "I... uh..."

 "Yeah. What is it?" He frowned at her obvious distress.

 "Brian tells me that you're representing Pittsburgh County Hospital
 in this lawsuit he's involved in."

 "That's right."

 "He also told me that he thinks you might have some information
that
 could hurt his career if you report it to the Hospital."

 "Lulu. You know I can't talk about the case."

 She turned away from him, ashamed at what she was doing. "Nick. I
 hate to ask you but..."

 "But, what, Lulu?" He stepped closer to her.

 She turned to face him. "I know you never liked Brian, but this
 could ruin our future." He could see tears well-up in her eyes.

 "Lulu. I..." He didn't know what to say. He hated seeing her
like
 this. He stepped closer and put his hands on her shoulders.

 She looked into his eyes and pleaded with him. "Please, Nick."
She
 wiped at her face to brush away the tears but they continued to
 stream down her face. She sniffled.

 Nick reached for his handkerchief and handed it to her. She wiped
 her eyes and nose to no avail. Tears kept coming. She leaned into
 him and he enveloped her in his arms. She sobbed against his chest
 then pulled her head back to peer into his eyes, again pleading.

 He bent to kiss her. She responded by kissing him back, relaxing
in
 his arms.

 Suddenly they were aware they were not alone. A wide-eyed Brian,
 having seen Nick's car parked out front, had quietly let himself in
 the house to find Nick and his wife in an embrace.

 He reached out and grabbed Nick by the arm. "So, you wanna sleep
 with my wife, huh?!" he ranted.

 Through clenched teeth, Nick said, "Take your hands off me!"

 Lulu stood in stunned silence. She had never seen Brian this
 angry. Finally she said, "Brian. What's the matter? What
 happened?"

 "I've been suspended, thanks to your lover, here!"

 "Brian! Nick is not my lover."

 "Tell that lie to somebody else!"

 "Lulu, I think I should leave." Nick started towards the door.
 Brian lunged at him again.

 "If you touch me again, Brian, I'll have you arrested for
assault."
 He glared at Brian's hand, clutching at his sleeve. Brian dropped
 his hand and stepped back.

 Lulu started to sob anew. Nick went to her and took her
arm. "Will
 you be all right?"

 "What the hell! Don't mind me!" Brian raged. "I'm leavin'
 anyway!" He stormed out the door.

 "Brian?" Lulu called weakly after him.

 "It's all right, Lulu. Just let him go. He'll cool off and be
back
 before you know it. I should go." They heard the squeal of tires
 as Brian raced off in his car.

 Lulu wiped her nose with Nick's handkerchief once more and handed
it
 back to him. "Thanks, Nick."

 "Sure. Call me if you need anything."

 "Okay." She stood, still sniffling, while he made his way slowly
to
 the door. With one last look back, he made his exit.

 In the car, Nick wondered who had tipped off Dr. Adcock. It must
 have been Nurse Welch. She had been worried about her own job
since
 she had failed to report Brian's deliberate oversight to the
 Hospital earlier.

 ~/~/~/~

 Nick had been home about an hour after fighting the traffic. He
had
 managed to grab a quick bite, a cold ham sandwich he slapped
 together, and had just unloaded the box of files in the Patterson
 case when his phone rang.

 "Yeah," he said, impatiently into the phone.

 "Nick." It was Lulu and she was crying.

 "Lulu. What is it?"

 "Brian's dead."

 "What?!" he said, stunned. "What happened?"

 "It was a car accident. He crossed the center line and hit another
 car head-on. It killed the other driver, too."

 "I'll be right over."

 "No. No. Nick. Please don't come," she sobbed. "Brian's parents
 are coming. I just thought you ought to know."

 "Are you sure?"

 "Yeah." She hung up the phone without giving him a chance to say
 another word.

 ~/~/~/~

 Nick stood a respectful distance from the graveside. Lulu was
 seated between her in-laws while the preacher droned on about
 Brian's stellar qualities. There was a brisk breeze and the hint
of
 a snowflake or two. Nick turned up his topcoat collar against the
 cold.

 The police report had indicated that Brian's blood-alcohol level
 was .19 at the time of the collision. He had apparently been
 drinking a good part of that fateful day, after being suspended by
 the Hospital. Fortunately, Brian carried large liability limits on
 his auto insurance which should cover his liability for the death
of
 the other driver. And, Nick had been able to get the Hospital
 dismissed from the malpractice lawsuit in favor of Brian's private
 malpractice insurance. Fate had helped him with his decision in
 this case. He would never know now whether he would have turned
 Brian in or not.

 ~/~/~/~

 Nick had expected to hear from Lulu after her in-laws left town but
 not a word. It had been three days since the funeral. He was
 beginning to wonder if he should make the first call. He got off
 the elevator at Legal Services and immediately saw Lulu go into her
 office and close the door.

 He stood outside the door and finally got his nerve up to knock.

 "Come in."

 He peeked in. "How are you doing?"

 "Oh, hi, Nick. I'm fine, thanks."

 He pushed the door open and entered, shutting it behind him.

 She looked up from her desk. He noticed she was still wearing her
 wedding rings.

 "I, uh... I wondered if you might like to have a drink later."

 She looked directly at him. "No. I don't think so, Nick."

 He was immediately taken aback by the finality of that
 statement. "Oh. Well... uh... well, maybe another night."

 "Now's just not a good time, Nick. If you'll excuse me, I have a
 lot of work to do to get caught up."

 "Sure." He backed his way to the door, opened it and turned to
 leave with a quick glance back at Lulu. She had already returned
to
 the work on her desk.

 He leaned back against the door with his eyes pinched shut. If he
 lived to be a hundred, he would never figure her out.

 THE END