3
Little Toy Bikers and a Woman on the Run
Chapter 136 Rat
When Tara was with Jax, she learned the basic principle of the outlaw world—don't go to the law. Those that go to law enforcement were labeled rats and were killed, often by one of their very own brother MC members. Beefs are handled outlaw to outlaw. Brotherhood ends with a rat label.
The medical community has its own founding principle called a code of silence. No where is it stronger than among surgeons who get a big assist from hospital administrators.
Tara knew about the notorious case of a Dallas area neurosurgeon nicknamed Dr. Death by the press who had performed forty-seven spinal surgeries in two years. Forty-three of the patients had poor outcomes from permanent pain, to paralysis to death. Hospitals allowed him to resign instead of risking lawsuits from him if they fired him.
He was eventually stopped, his medical license permanently revoked and he was jailed by a determined prosecutor working with two surgeons, one who had performed one surgery with him and another who had been called in to repair a botched surgery.
Even when a lack of surgical competence is apparent, as it was in the Dallas case, it's almost impossible to do anything about it. Hospitals fear lawsuits by surgeons more than they fear lawsuits from patients for malpractice.
Tara wondered if she should spend time investigating Dr. Namid. Suppose her suspicions were true. What was she prepared to do? How would the hospital feel about their newest surgeon coming to them with concerns about the legendary Dr. Namid?
Dr. Namid easily brought in a couple of million dollars to St. Thomas annually. Margaret Murphy, chief hospital administrator, wouldn't be happy if she brought her information that could jeopardize hospital profits.
She had been so certain when he had the memory lapse during the hernia repair that she should look into his surgical performance. When he complimented her, she was convinced he was trying to smooth over things because he had something to hide. That made her determined to look into him, but now with the passing of a couple of days, she could see things more objectively.
She also had to face the reality of the medical world. It was difficult to do anything about an incompetent doctor. It was also a very long, slow process. It would be easier to just go along. Dr. Namid would retire soon.
No matter how hard it got for her at work, she just couldn't be part of a code of silence if that meant that infants died because they received substandard surgical care.
There was also something shady about the NICU. She'd looked at a chart for one of Dr. Namid's patients. The chart had the infant being treated with equipment that wasn't at the hospital. Was this an oversight or was it insurance fraud?
The medical community was not that different from the outlaw community. Ratting could carry a heavy price in medicine, but at least it didn't carry a death sentence.
Tara smiled wryly. There she was being optimistic again.