Chapter 16
After another sleepless night, Abbey was back in the courtroom the next day for Robert's testimony. She tried to brace herself for the rough ride ahead. She kept telling herself it would be okay, but down deep she was petrified.
"I call Dr. Robert Nolan to the stand."
"I object. This witness is not on the witness list, your Honor."
"Your Honor, Dr. Nolan is replacing Dr. Ponder, who was called out of town for an emergency. He will present the same testimony as Dr. Ponder gave in his disposition."
"Objection overruled. Continue, Mr. Short."
"Dr. Nolan, what is your current position?"
"Chief of Surgery at Catholic Medical Center here in Manchester."
"Do you know the defendant?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"We attended medical school together over thirty years ago and we have remained friends through the years."
"Were you the Chairman of the New Hampshire Board of Medicine at the time that Mrs. Bartlet's case came up for review?"
"Yes."
"Please tell the court the circumstances of this case. This is a matter of public record so you are not breaking any confidentially rules."
"When it became public knowledge that Mrs. Bartlet had been giving the President shots of betaseron for dampening the effects of the Multiple Sclerosis, the Board recognized immediately that she had been prescribing and treating a family member, with is unethical and against the Medical Board rules and regulations. So, after careful discussion, the Board decided that Mrs. Bartlet's license to practice medicine should be pulled for one year. However, before that could become an official act, Mrs. Bartlet contacted the Board and voluntarily gave up her license for the length of her stay in the White House."
"Dr. Nolan, it's been almost two years since President Bartlet's term in office ended. In that time, has Mrs. Bartlet's license to practice medicine been reinstated?"
Robert turned to look across the courtroom at Abbey as he answered, "No. There has been no paperwork filed to reinstate Mrs. Bartlet's medical license."
Their eyes met. His full of regret and hers full of fear. They both knew how damaging his testimony was to her case.
"Dr. Nolan, did you ever talk with the President about his wishes for the end of his life?'
"Yes, we had many long, philosophical discussions on the topic."
"What were President Bartlet's feelings?"
"He once told me that he and Mrs. Bartlet had discussed it several times. As he put it, he didn't want a 'syringe in the nightstand'. Because of his Multiple Sclerosis, he knew it would get ugly but he wanted to let nature take its course. He told me that the question was a moral one, an individual one, a grappling with the nature of life and the purview of God."
"Dr. Nolan, what is the American Medical Association's position on euthanasia?"
"I object, your Honor. Dr. Nolan does not represent the AMA."
"Your Honor, Dr. Nolan is a practicing physician and as such has a professional responsibility to know his professional organization's official stands on a variety of topics."
"Objection overruled. Continue Mr. Short."
"Dr. Nolan?"
"The American Medical Association has defined euthanasia as the administration of a lethal agent by another person to a patient for the purpose of relieving the patient's intolerable and incurable suffering. Physicians must not perform euthanasia or participate in assisted suicide. Others have furthered defined voluntary euthanasia as being performed with the consent of the patient. Nonvoluntary euthanasia is performed without the patient's choice while involuntary euthanasia refers to performing euthanasia against the patient's wishes."
"Dr. Nolan, in your professional opinion, what did Mrs. Bartlet do?"
"She performed involuntary euthanasia, directly against her husband's wishes."
Abbey bowed her head, knowing what Robert had said was true. She had given Jed the drug against his wishes. But she had done it out of love.
"Thank you. Ms. Sawyer?"
"No questions."