Chapter Fifty-One
"Hey, Trapper!" yelled Gonzo who was just coming out of the Titanic as Trapper was exiting his car. Trapper continued toward the hospital as Gonzo trotted to catch up. "How'd it go?"
"How'd what go?"
"Tahoe? Leah? Is she coming back?"
"She's coming back. In fact, there's her Jeep," Trapper replied, pointing across the parking lot.
"But what about you two?" asked Gonzo, almost tripping over the curb.
Trapper stopped. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to kiss and tell?" he asked with furrowed brows, and then continued to the hospital. Gonzo stood still with a smile slowly appearing on his face as he watched Trapper go.
Leah stopped short just as she stepped into her cubical. An arrangement of flowers sat in the middle of her desk. She thought to herself that this wasn't business as usual as she had hoped her return would be treated. Taking a deep breath, she set her briefcase aside, and removing the card stick from the flowers, she wilted a little when she saw who they were from. She winced when she heard a throat being cleared behind her, and slowly turned.
"Welcome back," said Mark with a smile.
"Thank you, Mark. They're beautiful."
"They're really more of a 'thank you' for saving my job."
Chuckling, she moved around her desk and sat down in her chair, running her hands over the arms and inwardly smiling at the feel of being in charge again. "Mark, part of me feels that I owe you an apology and part of me doesn't. You know I had to do what I did. You quite visibly ignored policy." She sighed. "But the other side of me…the human side…understands why you did it. Please, sit down," she said, indicating the chair in front of her desk. "I recommended you for a promotion when I left. Why did you turn it down?"
"You already know the answer to that," Mark replied, slowly lowering himself into the chair.
"I want to hear it from you."
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Besides my feelings for you, I honestly think that us as a team are more successful than we would be split up. I know what you want, and I know how you want it done. Do you really want to train another tech lead to know that?"
She looked at him for a moment before she answered. He was right. It would take a long time and a lot of frustration to train someone else. And considering she had been told to slow down, the added stress of training someone new on top of the job itself was something that Dr. Gates and Trapper wanted her to avoid. However, holding onto Mark for that reason was selfish, and certainly didn't do him any favors if he ever wanted to advance. "Mark, I would agree with your assessment of us as a team, but part of my job is to advance the talent I develop. You're ready, and staying here working for me could hurt your career."
"You sound like you want to get rid of me."
"Do you want me to be honest?"
"Always."
"Your feelings for me make me uncomfortable. You and I will never happen, Mark. I don't want you to stay here because you think it will."
Both turned when they heard a knock on the side of her sliding door. "I'll come back later," said Trapper.
"No, wait. We're finished," she said, standing. "Mark, I want you to give that some serious thought. I can still get you your own team."
When Trapper stepped into the office, the vase of roses he was carrying came into view, causing Mark to stop on his way out. He looked at the flowers, and then looked awkwardly at Trapper before he glanced at Leah and quickly left her cube.
Trapper twisted his mouth when he saw the flowers on Leah's desk. "I'm sorry. I didn't think he'd…"
"Are those for me?" she asked, grinning and moving Mark's flowers to one forward corner of her desk.
"Welcome back," he said, moving around her desk, putting an arm around her and leaning in to kiss her.
"They're beautiful," she said, smelling them. "Put them on the table, please."
"How does it feel to be back?"
"To tell you the truth, I haven't done a darn thing. And I have a note here requesting my presence in Mr. Slocum's conference room in…" she looked at her watch, "…fifteen minutes."
"Hm. I got the same message."
She left her office ahead of him, and as they were walking to the elevator, she said, "Why does this feel like I've been called to the principal's office?"
"Dr. McIntyre, Ms. Haverty, this is Donald Barnett from The Joint Committee, and this is Rachel Frost from the Department of Health. I've asked the two of you to come to this meeting because you were both directly involved in the incident that produced the audit reports sent to both organizations for non-compliance with restricted surgeries."
Trapper looked at Leah, both taking a deep breath. It seemed that Leah was going to have to face the same subject on her second first day back to work. Apparently, both were going to have to answer questions with the entire hospital board present.
After everyone was seated, Mr. Barnett from The Joint Committee began the meeting. "We're here to discuss the incident where a child received restricted surgery without the appropriate approvals. First let me say that this isn't an inquest, and we're not interested in heads rolling. What we want most to hear is that corrective measures have taken place. Now, as I understand it, Dr. McIntyre, you were involved in the restricted surgery, as a surgical assistant. Dr. Howard Davies was the primary."
"That's correct."
"And what problem did you and Dr. Davies have getting the surgery scheduled?"
"We couldn't get it scheduled without the proper authorization. Mr. Slocum was away from the hospital, and there was no one else with the authority to approve the surgery. The computer system prevented us from ordering all the proper equipment, drugs and materials…even scheduling the operating room…without that authorization. The departments are instructed to only fill those orders when the appropriate approval comes to them through the system."
"In your opinion, Ms. Haverty, did the system work as it was designed?"
"Yes, it did."
"Then why was the solution to the problem a system solution? Barnett shuffled some papers before he continued. "A member of your staff changed a birth date in order for the system to allow the scheduling of the surgery?"
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. "Yes, that's correct."
"How was that possible?"
Under the conference table, Trapper moved his hand to hers and squeezed before she began the explanation. Everyone sat quietly and listened, and after the details, she summarized. "So, Mr. Barnett, the birth date field has to allow zeros because new admissions must get their eligibility information, which includes their date of birth from the state and insurance systems. That occurs the evening of their admission, and can't be done any other way because the outside systems don't allow real time access. It's not really a hole in the system. It's a documented constraint. The system is working the way it was designed. The policy the system supports was flawed."
Barnett turned to Slocum. "And what have you done to correct the policy?"
"We will be adding five additional staff members who can authorize exceptions. Dr. McIntyre, our Chief of Surgery," said Arnold, nodding toward Trapper, "is next in line behind me. After that is our Chief of Emergency Services, and the heads of Cardiology, Neurology and Gynecology and Obstetrics."
"Do you believe that is adequate to resolve the issue, Ms. Haverty?"
"No. I don't. I don't think a non-medical member of the board should have that authority. This is no slight to you, Mr. Slocum, but I think anyone making that decision should have a medical background. I also don't think you need to go beyond Dr. McIntyre and Dr. Riverside, the Chief of Emergency services. Each of them should have a trained backup to whom they would delegate that authority if both were unavailable. All of the exceptions are surgical, and who better to determine the validity of the exception than Dr. McIntyre and his staff or Dr. Riverside and his staff who make quick, life and death decisions on a daily basis. Both of these men understand the effect of inappropriate surgeries on accreditation. In doing this, it is unlikely that anyone beyond Dr. McIntyre's staff, and maybe Dr. Riverside will be required to act. That will prevent what you're most interested in preventing, Mr. Barnett, and that is surgical procedures being performed that have the highest fraud history. This arrangement is already working well in the hospitals where we've implemented similar systems."
Looking around the room, Mr. Barnett allowed the individual discussions to come to an end before he asked, "Are there any objections to Ms. Haverty's recommendations?" He looked around the table. "Good. Mr. Slocum, I look forward to receiving a copy of your hospital's updated policy documents as I'm sure Ms. Frost will also want." She nodded. "This audit is completed. If you have any questions, you know where to contact us."
Slocum stood. I'd like the board members to stay for a few minutes. Dr. McIntyre and Ms. Haverty, thank you for your time and input."
Standing in the elevator, Trapper glared at Leah. "Thanks," he said irritably.
"Look," she said, turning and furrowing her brow. "You know you're the best judge. Besides that, you're so darn respected I don't see anyone questioning your judgment. I, for one, am quite comfortable with it because I don't believe you would do anything to put the hospital at risk, and I don't believe anyone will question whether you erring on the side of life is right." She started to pop her neck, but instead, she glanced up at him and rolled her shoulders. "Would you rather Slocum made those decisions?"
He exhaled heavily with a grimace. "No."
After silence all the way down to the third floor, Trapper held the door open when he stepped out. "Lunch?"
"I don't know yet. I might have to eat lunch at my desk."
"That's fine as long as you eat lunch," he said with an arched eyebrow.
Blushing, she smiled and said, "I'll eat something. I promise."
"Call me. If you can't come up, I'll bring you a sandwich." He winked before he allowed the door to close.