The 5th Horseman

Chapter 51

YUKI LEANED FORWARD in her seat, scrutinizing the plaintiffs’ witness, Dr. Chen, who spoke with the controlled fervor of an intelligent person who didn’t want to come off as sounding too smart. She knew all too well how that felt. Hell, it was practically her life story.

Chen listed his credentials — an MD from Berkeley, followed by twelve years in the emergency room at San Francisco Municipal.

In response to O’Mara’s questioning, the serious-looking doctor in black-framed glasses told the court about a night when he was the attending physician in the ER and a thirty-year-old woman named Jessica Falk was brought in by ambulance.

“Ms. Falk had been swimming in her pool,” said Chen. “She felt woozy and dialed nine-one-one. She was in ventricular fibrillation when she came into the ER. We defibbed her, got her heart back into normal sinus rhythm so she was stabilized. She was doing just fine,” Chen told the jury. “Then she was transferred to the ICU.”

“Please go on, Dr. Chen,” said O’Mara.

“I knew Ms. Falk pretty well — our daughters go to the same day care center — so I stayed on top of her case. I looked in on Jessie about six hours later, when I was going off my shift. We talked for a while, and she was okay. She missed her little girl was all. But when I checked her chart the next day, I learned that she’d had irregular heartbeats, probably the result of conductive disturbance — and she died.”

“Doctor, did you find that unusual?”

“I thought it was unusual for a woman of Jessica’s age and physical condition.”

“And so, what did you do?”

“I called for a postmortem and a board review.”

“And what were the findings of the autopsy?”

“Somehow Jessie Falk had received epinephrine. It was not prescribed.”

“And what would be the effect of epinephrine on that type of cardiac patient?”

“Epinephrine is a synthetic form of adrenaline for God’s sake. She should have gotten lidocaine, an antiarrhythmic. That would have smoothed out her heart rate. Administering epinephrine was like giving her cocaine. It would be lethal for a cardiac patient.”

“So that’s a pretty big mistake, isn’t it, Dr. Chen? What happened when the hospital board reviewed Ms. Falk’s case?”

“Actually, no action was taken,” the doctor said, biting off his words.

“No action?”

“Well, nothing with respect to Jessie Falk, anyway. I was terminated two weeks later.”

“Because you blew the whistle?”

“Objection! Counsel is leading the witness,” Kramer said, coming to his feet.

“I’ll rephrase, Your Honor. Dr. Chen, why was your employment terminated after twelve years?”

“I was told it was for ‘budgetary reasons.’”

O’Mara dropped her head, letting the power of the doctor’s words stand without embellishment. Then she lifted her face to the witness.

“I only have one more question, Dr. Chen. Who was the doctor who admitted Jessica Falk through the emergency room?”

“Dr. Dennis Garza.”

“To your knowledge, did he conduct a follow-up exam of Mrs. Falk when she was in the ICU?”

“His signature was on the chart.”

“Thank you. That’s all I have for you, Doctor.”