Disclaimer: I do not own these characters

Chapter Sixteen: One Story, Two Sides

Three days later Lu waked into the Rittenhouse conference room. She glanced around the room.

On one side of the table were Bryan and Miranda Kollier and their attorney. On the other side of the table was Dr. Jackson and her attorney, Micah Scott-Baldwin. At the head of the table sat a woman she didn't know. Dr. Jackson stood as she entered.

"Come in, Dr. Delgado. I'd like you to meet Hillary Doran. She has been asked to be a mediator. The board would like to try to settle this without going to court if at all possible." Lu nodded as she sat down at the table.

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Delgado." Hillary said. "Like Dr. Jackson said, I've been hired by the Rittenhouse board to act as a mediator. As with every story, there are two sides. My job is to hear both sides, and then determine a settlement that would be agreeable to both sides. I..."

"There is only one settlement suitable here," Bryan interrupted angrily. "And that is that this so called doctor be held responsible. She needs to pay for this. She's not fit to practice medicine in the state of Pennsylvania or any other for that matter."

"Mr. Kollier, I can see that you are very angry towards Dr. Delgado." Hillary said in a calm voice, hoping to calm the angry man down.

"How about we start with you telling me your side?"

"Fine." Bryan answered. "My wife went to Dr. Delgado for her prenatal examination. Dr. Delgado said that everything was fine, and she should deliver in eight weeks. That same day, my wife went into labor and was taken by ambulance to the ER. She begged Dr. Delgado to stop the labor, but she refused. She..."

"You weren't there, Bryan." Lu said, interrupting. "You..."

"You'll have your turn, Dr. Delgado." Hillary told Lu. "Please don't interrupt again."

"Sorry." Lu said as she sat back in her chair.

"Please continue, Mr. Kollier." Hillary said.

"My wife told me that she pleaded with Dr. Delgado not to let the baby be born now. She wasn't due for another two months. But she wouldn't listen. She delivered her anyway. Against my wife's wishes."

"Is this true, Mrs. Kollier?" Hillary asked Randee, who was sitting quietly beside her husband.

"Uh...yeah." Randee said softly, staring down at the table, unable to look at Lu."I...I told her it was to soon."

"I see." Hillary wrote down some notes in her notebook. "So you feel that if your daughter hadn't been born this early, she may not have been born with these serious medical issues?"

"Yes, that's right." Bryan answered before his wife had a chance. "If Dr. Delgado had done what my wife asked, our baby would not have been born this way."

"I see." Hillary answered. "Dr. Delgado, would you please tell me your side of what happened?" Lu nodded.

"Randee came in that morning for a prenatal exam. Everything was fine. The ultrasound showed no sign that the baby was in distress. I told Randee that if all went as planned, she would deliver in about 8 weeks."

"Well, obviously you missed.." Bryan started, but Hillary interrupted.

"Mr. Kollier, you had your turn. Now it's Dr. Delgado's turn. Please continue, Dr. Delgado."

"Randee came into the ER that afternoon, and she was in labor. She asked me to stop the labor because the baby wasn't due for another two months."

"Is it possible to stop labor?" Hillary questioned. Lu nodded.

"Yes, there are medications that will stop labor."

"And yet, you refused to administer these medications to Mrs. Kollier?" Hillary asked. Lu took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.

"Upon further examination, I discovered that the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck. I had no choice but to deliver her. I had no idea how long the baby had been without oxygen."

"I see." Hillary said, writing in her notebook again. Hillary glanced around the room.

"Does anyone have anything else to add?"

"My clients child was born with many problems and I believe they are due to this doctor's poor judgement. Because of this, they face a lifetime of high medical expenses and a severely disabled child. I think a malpractice suit is in order here." The Kollier lawyer stated firmly.

"I disagree," Micah Scott-Baldwin argued. "My client did what she had to do to save this child's life. She had to make a split second decision."

"And what about the fact that the baby has Down's Syndrome?" The Kollier attorney questioned. "I've heard that there are tests that you could do before a baby is born to determine whether or not the child has it." Lu nodded. "Yes, amniocentesis. I offered the test to Randee, but she refused."

"Is this true, Mrs. Kollier?" Hillary asked.

"Y...yes. I told...I told Lu that it wouldn't matter if my baby had Down's. She would still be my baby."

"I see. And has that changed at all?" Hillary questioned. Before Randee could answer, Bryan spoke up. "Maybe we could have accepted the fact that our daughter has Down's Syndrome, even if we had found out before she was born. But it's more than that. She has more serious problems, and I believe those problems are caused by this doctor's decision to deliver her two months prematurely. She has lung and heart problems. This so called doctor needs to be accountable for what she did to my baby."

"Mrs. Kollier, do you agree with your husband?" Hillary asked Randee. Randee was silent for a moment, not knowing what she should say. If she took her husband's side, she would hurt and betray a good friend. But if she took Lu's side...

"I begged Lu to stop the labor. If she had, none of this would have happened." Randee said softly, her eyes cast downward.

"I see." Hillary wrote more notes in her notebook. "Dr. Jackson, is there anything you would like to say?"

"I have known Dr. Delgado for almost three years. And even though there are times when we are on opposite sides of an issue, there is one thing that I have learned about her."

"And what's that?" Hillary asked.

"She cares about her patients. She goes above and beyond the call of duty to help them. And she would never do anything to hurt them. I know that she would not have delivered that child if she felt that there was any other way to save her life." Lu stared at Dr. Jackson, almost unable to believe that he was speaking in her defense.

"The fact still remains," Bryan said. "If she hadn't delivered her this early, we would have a child that does not have heart and lung problems."

"You're right, Bryan." Lu said angrily as she stood, pushing her chair back as she did so. "If she hadn't been born this early, she wouldn't have heart and lung problems. She would be dead." With that, Lu stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her, leaving the others staring after her.