won’t stay up. There’s talk about bringing him back into the OR to open him up again and see if something’s bleeding.”
“That’s terrible,” Donna said.
“You’re damn right it is. If he doesn’t make it, his family could end up owning this place.”
“I doubt they’d want it. Well, go on in there. We haven’t given him anything for a while, so he should be pretty light.”
Will kept his eyes closed but sensed Silverman approaching his bed. He pictured the man glaring down at him, his paunch stretching the vest of his trademark three-piece suit.
“Welcome to the ICU, Sid,” he said keeping his eyes shut for a few more seconds, then slowly opening them. “I don’t suppose it matters to you, but I didn’t take any fentanyl.”
“It was in your blood and in your urine,” Silverman said flatly. “Do you have any explanation that I can give to the executive committee when they meet in an hour?”
“I didn’t take anything. Listen, can you crank me up halfway? I don’t like lying flat like this. I feel like I’m on a slab getting ready to be sacrificed.”
Silverman hesitated, then raised the head of the bed.
“And while you’re at it, Sid, could you please tell the nurses to take these restraints off? I’m not going to cause any trouble. Promise.”
“I’ll send the nurses in when I’m finished,” Silverman said. “I asked if you had any explanation for how the fentanyl got into your body.”
“Maybe someone put it in my breakfast. Everyone knows I have OJ and a jelly stick on the days when I operate. Maybe someone injected it in there.”
“Maybe. You’re also going to have to explain how two unopened vials of the stuff got into your locked locker in the surgeons’ lounge.”
“That’s absurd.”
“The locker was opened and there was the fentanyl, wrapped in a washcloth.”
“The same person who poisoned me put them there. Can’t you see that? And, Sid, not that I have anything to hide, but you had no right to open my locker without my permission.”
“I didn’t open it, Will. The police did. They got a warrant very quickly. Your locker and your office, and maybe your condo as well.”
“Jesus. Sid, can’t you see that this is all a setup? Someone’s doing this to me. Someone who knows me pretty damn well or has made it their business to learn about me.”
“Like the evil managed-care companies?”
“Don’t be snide. I haven’t the strength or the inclination to deal with it right now.”
“Okay, then, here’s the situation. I’m recommending to the executive committee that you be suspended from the staff immediately until this matter can be resolved. I actually have the authority to do this myself, but I want their support.”
“Why don’t you just ask me to take a week’s leave or something? I promise I won’t work until I get clearance from the executive committee. Besides, don’t suspensions have to be reported to the Board of Registration?”
“Any change in privileges gets reported. Will, you should use the time off to check yourself into a treatment center someplace. Get in touch with the physician-health people at the medical society and have them recommend a good one.”
Will sensed himself about to blow. Fists balled, he forced his hands upward until the broad restraints cut into his wrists.
“I didn’t take anything,” he said through nearly clenched teeth. “I have never taken anything, and I’m not going to any goddamn treatment center.”
“Suit yourself,” Silverman said, his stubby fingers wrapped around the bed rail. “You’re going to have a day after you’re discharged from here to get your strength back, then twenty-four hours to wrap up your dictations and any other business here. After that, until you’re convicted or cleared of drug charges, I don’t want you near this hospital. I’m sorry, Will. I had hoped you’d be more forthcoming.” He turned and strode to the doorway, then turned back. “Our PR people are together right now working on damage control, but there’s no way we can keep this from becoming a media circus as soon as the press gets word of what happened. And believe me, they
Silverman left, and a few minutes later Anne Hajjar came in and removed Will’s restraints.
“Dr. Millstein will be up in a little while,” she said.
“I want to sign out.”
“Please wait and speak with him.”
“It won’t matter. He can discharge me or I’ll sign out AMA. I didn’t take any drugs and I want out of here.”
“Dr. Grant, please. Just don’t do anything crazy until Ken gets here. We have a security guard right outside.”
“I won’t cause any trouble. Anne, you’ve known me for years. Do you think I’m someone who would take drugs and then go into the operating room to do a complicated case?”
“I only know what I hear,” she said. “I hope it turns out you didn’t, but I admit it sounds like you did. By the way, your wife called from the lobby. She’s on her way up.”
Maxine, stylishly dressed as always, today in a floral print silk blouse, navy blazer, and gray slacks, knocked on the doorway and nodded gravely to the nurse as they passed.
“You all right?” she asked.
“Physically I’m fine. How’d you know I was here?”
“Gordon called and told me, then a few minutes after that, Karen Millstein called.”
“I could win the Nobel Prize and news wouldn’t travel any faster.”
“In case you don’t know it, you didn’t win the Nobel Prize.”
“I didn’t take any drugs, either.”
“Gordon said it was in your blood and urine.”
“I didn’t take any drugs.”
Will wondered how many times he would say the phrase over the hours, days, and weeks ahead.
“I thought you’d been acting strange lately.”
“You came to tell me I’ve been acting strange?”
“I came to see if you’re all right.”
“I’m not all right. I didn’t take any fentanyl and nobody believes that.”
“You passed out in the operating room and then stopped breathing and then had the drug in your blood and urine. What are people supposed to think?”
“I didn’t take any drugs. Sid Silverman was just here. I’m about to be suspended from the staff.”
“What else could they do?”
“He says the media is going to be all over this. We’ve got to try our best to protect the kids. Maybe you should go away for a week until the firestorm blows past.”
“Maybe we will. Listen, Will, Mark and I talked and decided that until this business is resolved, I’m going to limit your visitation with the twins-no visits for the next week, then once a week in the playroom or yard at our place, three hours maximum, supervised. That is, provided your psychiatrist says it’s safe.”
“I don’t see a psychiatrist.”
“You will now.”
“That’s ridiculous. You can’t do that.”
“Can and will. Don’t make me go to court for a restraining order. Besides, if our situations were reversed, you know you’d do the same thing.”
Will sank back and stared at the ceiling. This wasn’t the time or place to battle Maxine, especially when he was totally outgunned. He lived for his medical practice and time with his children. Now, in a matter of just a few hours, he had lost both.
