{"id":315,"date":"2016-09-10T13:40:42","date_gmt":"2016-09-10T17:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.herbheineman.com\/?page_id=315"},"modified":"2024-07-26T09:28:42","modified_gmt":"2024-07-26T13:28:42","slug":"chapter-27","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/edensgarden\/chapter-27\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 27: Grief and Resilience"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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PART III<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cI thought we should let you know,\u201d Karen said, \u201cwe\u2019ve decided to go back to work. Everything\u2019s taken care of. Sitting around with nothing to do is driving us crazy.\u201d<\/p>

Esther did a quick calculation: Five days of mourning \u2015 three or less if the plan for ending it had the psychological effect of the end itself. She thought of her late brother.\u00a0 Milt\u2019s health had been failing for months, so Shirley, his wife, was prepared for his death. Yet she\u2019d taken her time. A full week of shiva; a month without entertainment; a year without a man. The phased ritual had eased her gently through her bereavement, all the while she understood \u2015 and accepted \u2015 the purpose of her sacrifice. At the end she was ready to go on living unimpaired.<\/p>

The Averys did not have an established rite of mourning to fall back on. However, that did not preclude them from going through stages. In the immediate aftermath of Eden\u2019s death, their pain had been paralyzing. But human tolerance for such pain is limited. By noon next day they had become numb, and in the shelter of their numbness they had been able to deal with practical matters like death notices, cremation, and the question of a memorial service.<\/p>

Now denial had served its purpose. What struck Esther was not the Averys\u2019 going back to work but their reason: It\u2019s driving us crazy.<\/em> They seemed to be looking to work as a way to anesthetize themselves. Had she known that Karen would shortly unsheathe an even more powerful weapon against mourning, she would have realized the futility of comparing her to Shirley. Esther worried but knew not to interfere. \u201cI understand,\u201d she said.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s just that you\u2019re having all this food brought over so we don\u2019t have to do anything for ourselves. But we need to take care of ourselves. Would anyone be offended?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOf course not. The idea is to make contemplation possible, not stifle you with it.\u201d<\/p>

As Karen began to turn her thoughts outward, they wandered in a number of directions.<\/p>

Long ago she had made a difficult decision. For the umpteenth time she weighed what she had got and what she had given up. Now she felt cheated. At forty-four she had no interest in starting parenthood all over again; neither did she see any possibility of recapturing her promising future in law. She felt lucky to have a job at all. She did also have a marriage. But try as she might, she had never been able to separate her career from Alan\u2019s part in curtailing it. Surely he could have waited a few years, but he had called her debt even before it was technically due. Equally damning, the thought kept gnawing at her that Alan bore the blame for Eden\u2019s medical problems. She could not confront Alan on this issue \u2015 not now, not ever. Either she was right, and the accusation would devastate him but otherwise change nothing; or she was wrong, and he might never forgive her for her mistrust.<\/p>

But if she was powerless to retrieve her loss and barred from sharing her feelings, she was not reduced to meek acceptance of her lot. She was, after all, a plaintiff\u2019s lawyer, and she knew beyond reasonable doubt that they had a viable case of medical malpractice. Urgency of treatment notwithstanding, one simple, routine question would have made the difference between life and death, and that question had not been asked.<\/p>

For the first time since she had begun to practice law she was experiencing pain and suffering, that much maligned category of damages responsible for the most outrageous jury awards. She became possessed by an irresistible urge to exact payment from someone. She didn\u2019t need to sort out the components of her pain and suffering. If it came to a trial, naturally she would not demand compensation for the judicial appointment, law professorship, or even partnership that she had forgone. Her adversaries would call that delusions of grandeur. But make the jurors feel the loss of a seventeen-year-old only child, and they would weep for her.<\/p>

Thus, within a week of Eden\u2019s death the seed of the avenging lawsuit was germinating. Here was a path in which Karen could take the initiative and fight her battle unimpeded by the demands of others. It was the one thing she could salvage from the broken pieces of her life.<\/p>

~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>

Karen ran the gauntlet of condolences and well-meaning questions about Eden\u2019s death with as much grace as she could, until rescued by a summons from Frank. \u201cWe\u2019re glad to see you back,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what else to say. All the customary stuff seems so useless.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThanks for being honest. Your welcome back is worth more than sympathy.\u201d<\/p>

Frank acknowledged the compliment with a silent nod. \u201cUnder other circumstances Eden would have had one more year at home before going to college. Then your responsibilities as parent would have been over. It\u2019s been a long time since we talked about that subject. I know we didn\u2019t see eye to eye, but you did what was right for you. I respect that. Now you\u2019re in your early forties. By all estimates you have at least thirty good years left. I\u2019d like you to think of what you could do in that time. We\u2019ve never stopped thinking of you as one of us, and nothing would please us more than to have you full-time \u2015 you know how I mean. You don\u2019t need to hurry, but I want you to know that, and of course I\u2019m speaking for Leslie too.\u201d<\/p>

Karen\u2019s eyes were brimming as she looked at him. \u201cYou can\u2019t imagine how comforting those words are. It\u2019s not as if I came in here worrying about my future, but at least the future is what you\u2019re talking about. Believe me, I prefer that to all the condolences and questions.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m in the fortunate position of being able<\/em> to talk about your future. Don\u2019t be hard on those who offer only condolences; it may be all they have.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThere is one thing I want to talk about, if you have time.\u201d<\/p>

Frank looked at her calmly. He knew what was coming. \u201cGo on.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI want to sue those bastards. They killed my daughter as sure as I\u2019m sitting here.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cShe\u2019d been in that hospital before, hadn\u2019t she, with a bad allergic reaction?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cLess than a year ago. She almost died then. Either the allergy flag was all over and no one paid attention, or it was never put on the chart. Either way it\u2019s a violation of standards.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019d think so,\u201d Frank said. \u201cMy guess is that it was<\/em> on the chart. It has to have been the primary diagnosis, not an incidental finding. Any way they could defend not seeing it?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOnly that it was an emergency. OK, so the old chart wasn\u2019t up. It takes time to get it out of the records department. But, my God, aren\u2019t they supposed to ask anyway?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYes, but the case could get soft there. Suppose she was so sick that she wasn\u2019t quite with it. Let\u2019s say delirious, or confused. They might claim she mumbled no or just shook her head, and they had to act without delay. Emergencies are tricky.\u00a0 Doctors get a lot more leeway.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cShe was sick, but she was not delirious or confused. I\u2019m convinced they didn\u2019t ask.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cConvinced, you say. Does that mean you weren\u2019t in the room with her?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThis Doctor McCrae, the intern, he seemed to know what he was doing and he had me convinced that it would be just as well for me to stay out of the way for a while. So that\u2019s what I did. Besides, he was talking about using Prostaphlin, which I didn\u2019t even know was a penicillin-type antibiotic till our pediatrician explained it to me. So I might have assumed that no questions about penicillin allergy were necessary because he wasn\u2019t going to use any.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYeah,\u201d Frank said, \u201cbut he<\/em> knew it was related to penicillin, and you\u2019d remember whether or not he asked. Anyway, you weren\u2019t there. Was anybody else?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNow you did say intern, didn\u2019t you? Is that an assumption or do you know for sure?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s how he introduced himself.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cDid you meet any other doctors there, for example a supervising resident?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOnly after her death. There was this Doctor Cross, who got permission for the autopsy.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBut no resident at the time of admission?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNot that I remember. I see what you\u2019re getting at. I should have thought about that.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cPlease, Karen, nobody\u2019s going to hold it against you that you were thinking like a mother, not a lawyer. Checking up on their staff wasn\u2019t your responsibility. But now we have to look at that. This intern had been on the job less than two weeks; July\u2019s when their service begins. He had no business practicing medicine without supervision. Even more seasoned interns have to have their orders countersigned because they aren\u2019t licensed; they\u2019re trainees. Now maybe someone did. It could have been this Doctor Cross. In any case, that would only shift the blame.\u201d He stroked his chin. \u201cOK, we don\u2019t need to speculate. Let\u2019s get the records. Alan should be able to help expedite that, being on staff.\u201d<\/p>

Karen looked down silently for a moment. \u201cI haven\u2019t discussed this with Alan. I don\u2019t know how he\u2019ll feel about suing his own hospital or any of the doctors.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s the problem with being a doctor. It\u2019s hard enough to get one doctor to testify against another, never mind sue him. But how do you<\/em> feel about that? Are you comfortable suing? Doesn\u2019t some of that brotherhood feeling wear off on you, being married to a doctor?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cAll I can say is that I don\u2019t feel a thing. I\u2019ve never identified with medicine, never felt whatever is good about being a doctor\u2019s wife \u2015 if there is such a thing. And lest you should think it\u2019s because of the work we do here, it\u2019s not. It\u2019s personal and I don\u2019t want to go into it.\u201d<\/p>

Frank sat in respectful silence. What did she mean by \u2018the work we do here\u2019? Was it the relationship between plaintiffs\u2019 lawyers and physicians, which tended not to be cordial? Or just how personal was it? He hated these ambiguities.<\/p>

\u201cThen how do we get the chart? Without it we can\u2019t do a thing.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019ll sign for it. We have power of attorney for each other. I don\u2019t have to involve him.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cForget it, Karen. Unless you and Alan agree, this firm won\u2019t have any part in it. Why not just ask him? I mean, is it fair that a father\u2019s legal rights have to be abridged just because he\u2019s a doctor? Put it to him that way. It\u2019s almost like denying a doctor the best in medical care.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cLegal care is what we\u2019re talking about now.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s the same thing.\u201d<\/p>

Karen drew back her head. \u201cWhat do you mean, the same thing?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019ve spent many an hour thinking about that. To me, legal protection is an extension of medical care. As a stretch, I\u2019d even call it a medical specialty. Take your typical diabetic with his foot problems. When the foot doesn\u2019t heal, internal medicine has failed, so surgery takes over. The patient loses his foot but he gets along. Now the surgeon isn\u2019t in a category off by himself \u2015 certainly not the internist\u2019s adversary.\u00a0 He\u2019s part of the team, he performs a needed service. Now look at the patient who\u2019s hurt by his doctor\u2019s negligence. For him, medicine as a whole has failed. So we get him, or his survivors, something to ease the loss, may get them functioning again. The lawyer\u2019s a backup for the doctor \u2015 like the surgeon is for the internist.\u201d<\/p>

Karen had walked over to the window during Frank\u2019s exposition. \u201cDamn!\u201d she muttered.<\/p>

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI don\u2019t know how, but I damn well will. You\u2019re right, I\u2019ll never get back what I lost. But I\u2019m going to get something. Whether Alan likes it or not.\u201d And she was gone.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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<< Chapter 26<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Chapter 28 >><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PART III \u201cI thought we should let you know,\u201d Karen said, \u201cwe\u2019ve decided to go back to work. Everything\u2019s taken care of. Sitting around with nothing to do is driving us crazy.\u201d Esther did a quick calculation: Five days of mourning \u2015 three or less if the plan for ending it had the psychological effect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-315","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":833,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/315\/revisions\/833"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}