Sudden yelling interrupted his thoughts, and he straightened up. The disturbance was coming from an obviously inebriated individual who’d stumbled into emergency with his business attire askew. Uniformed hospital security personnel responded immediately by emerging from their windowed enclave overlooking the ED entrance and the waiting room. The man was efficiently corralled and escorted to a separate section of the ED. After that, an expectant peace returned.
Brian tried to go back to his bargaining, but he found he couldn’t after the drunken disruption. His growing worry about Juliette’s condition was crowding out the possibility of any other thoughts. Twenty minutes later, Jeanne dashed into the waiting area, searching for Brian. He stood up and waved. The moment she spotted him, she hurried over. Despite the social distancing protocols and their short friendship, they embraced, holding on to each other to the point that Brian began to feel self-conscious.
“Sorry,” he managed as he released her.
“No need to apologize,” Jeanne said as they both sat down. “Have you heard anything?”
“Nothing at all,” he responded. “I don’t know why they’re keeping me in the dark like this. It’s torture. They could have at least come out and told me the seizure’s been controlled but that they want to do X, Y, and Z. Hell, I’d understand. I’m all for testing. For all I know, they’re doing an MRI or some other test that takes a long time. I just wish they’d let me know.”
“We should hear soon,” Jeanne said, trying to be encouraging.
“With her having a seizure like this, I’m concerned she got infected with EEE just like Emma, even on that same night. I read someplace that mosquitoes prefer female hosts.”
“You’re joking,” Jeanne said.
“No, I’m serious. It’s true. Female mosquitoes, which are the ones that bite, prefer human female type O blood. If Juliette does have EEE, it would explain all the complaints she’s had over the last week or so, including the fever. What irks me to death is that when we brought her in here, not once, but twice, they never thought of testing her for it.”
“That does seem surprising in retrospect,” Jeanne admitted.
“It’s more than surprising,” Brian said. “To me it smacks of malpractice, especially when there’s a good chance they didn’t do any testing because I owe them so damn much money and they were afraid they’d not get paid. And that’s on top of treating us like second-class citizens, making us wait for so long.”
“Maybe it’s best if we talk about something else while we wait,” Jeanne said, seeing Brian’s face flush and sensing his anxiety.
“As if I can think of anything else.”
“How about talking about our upcoming investigation,” Jeanne said. “I spent some time looking at your friend Grady’s list. I counted the cases and there are almost five hundred Inwood families that have been sued or are being sued. Can you imagine?”
“Now I can. I used to think we as a community were lucky to have MMH here, but not any longer.”
“It should be an asset,” Jeanne said, “and it could be again.”
“Maybe if...” he started. He wasn’t so sure, not with Kelley and company in charge, but he didn’t finish his thought. At that moment, both he and Jeanne saw two doctors emerge from back in the treatment area and head in their direction. They were both dressed in scrubs, although the male doctor was wearing a long white coat. As they got closer, Brian recognized the woman despite her mask. She was the one who’d called out orders back in the Trauma 1 room. Both had grave looks on their faces.
A new burst of worry propelled him to his feet, and Jeanne followed suit as the two physicians halted about six feet away from them. The male doctor, with a name tag that said dr. anish singh, chief of emergency medicine, spoke with a lilting subcontinent-Asian accent. He identified himself and asked if Brian was the father of Juliette Murphy.
“I am,” Brian managed as his pulse raced. He could feel Jeanne clutch his arm.
Dr. Singh cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable. “I’m very sorry to have to report that despite our efforts, your daughter didn’t make it. We tried—”
With lightning speed and before the doctor could finish his sentence, Brian lunged forward, grabbed a handful of Dr. Singh’s scrub shirt and coat from the front of his chest, and practically lifted the slightly built doctor off his feet. He yanked the man’s masked face within inches of his own, all the while yelling over and over: “No! No! No!”
Jeanne tried to pull Brian’s arm away without success. She was shocked by the suddenness of the assault and overwhelmed by his strength. Several security guards burst out of their windowed alcove and came running over. Everyone in the waiting room, clerks and patients alike, stopped whatever they were doing and stared at the sudden ruckus like a freeze frame in a movie.
“You people let her die!” Brian snarled through clenched teeth behind his face mask. “You could have made the diagnosis yesterday, but no, you didn’t, you wouldn’t! All because of money.”
The two security men arrived, and they, too, tried to break Brian’s iron grip on Dr. Singh’s clothing, but it wasn’t until he let go that they succeeded. “Easy now!” one of the guards said.
While Dr. Singh calmly rearranged his shirt and jacket, he told the security guards that he was fine and that they should back off. Reluctantly, they let go of Brian, who was continuing to eye Dr. Singh with barely controlled fury. Jeanne regrasped his arm, although she, too, was aghast at the news and had trouble finding her voice.
“We tried very hard to save your daughter,” Dr. Singh said. “I don’t know what you are implying about money, but I can assure you that concerns about cost do not influence one iota of what we do with patients here in the Emergency Department, and they certainly didn’t in regard to your daughter. We pulled out all the stops.”
“I don’t believe you,” Brian snapped, causing the two guards to step forward once more.
Dr. Singh motioned for the guards to stand down. “You don’t believe in the last hour we tried everything possible for your daughter? Is that what you are saying?”
“She was seen here yesterday and the day before,” Brian blurted. “No diagnostics were done. Nothing, and it was probably because the hospital believes I owe hundreds of thousands of dollars. It should have been determined that she possibly had EEE like her mother, who died from it days before right here in this Emergency Department. And if that had happened like it should have, we would have known there was a risk for seizures. But no! Charles Kelley and his profit culture reigns supreme and no testing was done on either occasion.”
“We have no idea of who owes the hospital money,” Dr. Singh said. “I can assure you of that. We take all comers and treat them equivalently. As for a missed diagnosis, that concerns me, and I have already planned to look into it. Meanwhile I have to ask... do you want to view your daughter’s body?”
Brian felt the strength suddenly drain out of his body. The instantaneous rage that had overwhelmed him moments earlier was replaced by a paralyzing sense of loss. There was no way that the daughter who’d become the bedrock of his life and lifeline of his emotions with Emma’s passing could be taken from him, too.
“What do you think?” Jeanne asked softly. “Do you want to see her?”
“I don’t know,” he said weakly. “I don’t know if I can take it, but I suppose I should.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”