Chaos at Crescent City Medical Center (22 page)

It took Alex no time
to reach her office at CCMC.  She headed toward administration where Don and Dr. Ashley sat in Don's
office.  Both men wer
e silent, and stared
at the floor.

Alex walked in.  "Well," she demanded, looking at them.  They both
just looked at her.  "What’s happened?" she asked
again
loudly
.

Dr. Ashley was
visibly upset. "Not sure about this one, Alex.
This is different.
It could be a tragic accident
.
A
t this time there's no evidence otherwise."  John
Ashley's voice was discouraged and he was grey with fatigue and stress.  Ale
x was concerned about him and his ability to withstand much more chaos
.

"For heaven's sake, John, tell me what happened."  Alex's look conveyed her irritation. 

"We have a patient in the cardiac care unit recovering from abdominal surgery.  Last week she had a heart attack, probably the stress of surgery, I guess.  Anyway, about two this morning, she started to have some heart irregularities and the nurses hooked her up to a twelve-lead EKG to get a printout of
her
heart's activity.  It's not clear how it happened, but her EKG machine malfunctioned and she received severe burns
at
each contact site.  I don't know how it could've happened.  That equipment is absolutely safe."

“Bullshit it’s safe
!
” Don screamed. 

"She's alive?"  Alex was afraid to hear the answer.

"Yes, at least for now. Although the
electrical shock has
played havoc with her heart
 
and
may
end up killing her
.  She's havi
ng serious
arrhythmias now."  

As Alex looked at them
,
a thought crossed her mind.  Her eyes searched the room as she said, "Let's go over to the Cajun Cafe and have some coffee.  I could use a little breakfast."

Both men looked at her like she was crazy.  Alex put her finger on her
lips to silence them, and gestured
towards the ceiling as she walked out the door.  They didn't understand but followed.

Alex said in a soft voice, "I think the executive offices and conference room could be bugged."

Don gave her a shocked look.  "Are you crazy?  What makes you say so?"

"We've had too many leaks.  Why take the chance?  How
old
i
s
this woman?" Alex asked as they walked towards the cafe.

Dr. Ashley answered, "She's forty-seven. 
Bonnet’s patient, once
again.
  Apparently, Dr. Bonnet thought she may have so
me underlying malignant disease and did an exploratory.
  Anyway, she had rheumatic fever as a child, and developed heart valve disease that wasn't diagnosed until after her heart attack."  

They reached the Cajun Cafe, a gaily decorated restaurant within the CCMC complex and were greeted by a yawning waiter.  Alex asked him if they could use the private dining room.  The waiter nodded and the three went into the small room.

"So, what's her prognosis
?
"
Alex questioned
, not really wanting to hear.

"Don't know. 
Pretty bad
, I guess.  Her hands are also badly burned.  Plus, she has long narrow burned areas on her body where the leads wires were attached to the contacts.  There's the fear of i
n
fection, body fluid shifts, and so on."

"Especially when y
ou factor in her heart
problem
s
.  Dr. Bonnet know?"

"Haven't reached him yet.  You have any idea where he could be?"

Don was livid
.
“Bonnet is the reason that all of this has happened here.  He’s the cause.  He’s the common denominator. Somebody’s got a hardon for him.  Probably somebody’s surgery he’s screwed up or something
!
”

Alex ignored Don’s tirade.
"No, of course not,
no idea where Robert is
,
" Alex replied. Boy, the CCMC grapevine is powerful, she thought to herself.

Don
Montgomery glared at Alex
and started again
.  "Bonnet's nothing but trouble.  Have you noticed all of the patients that've had accidents or problems at Crescent City
ar
e his
patients
?  Don't you think that's a little suspicious?  Told you weeks ago Bonnet was trouble.  I also told you to fix him."  Montgomery was wo
rking himself in to a real rage and was glaring at her,
and looked
angrier than she had ever seen him.

Alex
glared back and held her ground as she addressed
Don's accusations.  "You mean both patients don't you, Don?  Overall, that's an insignificant number when you consider all the patients Dr. Bonnet admits to CCMC.  Do
es
the press know about this latest accident and have the NOPD been called yet?"

"No press that we know of.  I called the NOPD, but they're not here yet.  Guess we'll have to put up with Francois again.  What a week, and it's only Thursday."  Dr. Ashley rolled his eyes.

"I'm
going to the cardiac care unit," said Alex.
 
"
Ask hospital engineering to meet me there, along with the safety coordinator.  We need to find out why this EKG machine malfunctioned.  Most of all, we need to be sure this doesn't happen again.  Don, have you talked with this patient'
s family?"  Alex was in control
but very worried.

"No, and I'm not going to.  You do it.  You and John do it.  You're better at it than I am.
I’m the CEO, not a babysitter.
"  Don was sitting with his face in his hands.  "Somebody's out to get us.  It's beyond the realm of probability that all this could happen to one hospital in one week.  Someone's deliberately trying to destroy us.  Just wish that I knew who and why?
Who, Who Who?
" 

Dr. Ashley shook his head
at Don’s accus
ations
before Alex answered slowly.  "I don't know.  But I'm beginning to believe you.  There's some sort of plot here."

"Damn right there's a plot to put us out of business, or force us to merge with someone.  Robert Bonnet's heavily involved in it.   Bastard has to be the center of all of this, there's no way that he couldn't be.  Whoever's doing this is doing a good job.  The hospital's only about thirty percent full
now
and mo
st of our outpatient surgeries and diagnostic
services have been cancelled
.  We're going to be history shortly." 

Don stopped for a moment to catch his breath and continued, "Our competitors are doing well.  Oh yeah, they're doing just fine.  They've picked up our admissions and elective surgeries.  Maybe they're plotting against us.  Maybe that's who bugged our co
nference room.  We're losing more
physicians and
patients
each day while
our competitors are
picking them up and
making those millions
...o
ur millions
.  I just don't understand
.   Why is this happening to us
?
"  Don finished speaking, put his head o
n the table and started weeping.  He knocked
over his coffee cup in the process.

Dr. Ashley turned to Alex.  "I'll go with you to the cardiac care.  I want to see the patient myself."

Dr. Ashley and Alex left
Don in
the Cajun Cafe and ran smack into Captain Francois
in the corridor outside
.   He was his normal, cocky self.

"Why're you all meeting here?  Conference room bugged?"  Dr. Ashley and Alex gave each other a funny look.  The captain noticed but continued without commenting on it.  "Think I'll open a satellite office here.  May as well report here every morning and forget about going downtown.  Secretarial support's probably better too."   Francois winked at them.

"We're going up to cardiac care. Been up yet, Captain?"

"Nope.  Tell me what you know.  All I know is that you have a burned patient.
Any
other
particulars
I need to know
?
"

Dr. Ashley answered, "Apparently a patient's EKG machine malfunctioned and she was badly burned."

"Now, that's a change. 
That s
ounds like a normal hospital accident," Francois snorted. 

Alex retorted hotly, "Being burned in your bed by routinely safe medical equipment is not a 'normal' hospital accident." 

"Relax, I'm on your side.  This business is getting out of hand.  Besides, I'm genuinely concerned about CCMC. If this accident is the work of the s
ame group, their MO
i
s taking a turn that'll hurt CCMC.  If the public perceive
s
a lack of expertise and safety, you'll be out of business in no time."

None of the group noticed Don Montgomery coming up behind them.  They turned when he began to speak.
"We're practically out of business now. Our admissions and surgeries are down
,
and patients are going to other hospitals.  We're in serious trouble financially and professionally.  Someone's tr
ying to put us out of business.  Can’t you DO something,” Don demanded of the captain.

"
I’m working on it. 
Yeah. I agree.
Somebody wants CCM
C
gone.
Le
t's go check this out, then we’ll
ta
lk
over coffee."  It was clear Francois wasn't saying anything else, so the trio proceeded to
ward
the coronary care unit.

"I'll be in my office," said Don as he turned down a hallway and left the group.

The unit was quiet as the group approached
. A
plain
clothes policeman sat in the lobby by the elevators.  Alex saw Barton Browning, the hospital safety coordinator, sitting in the nursing station.  She signaled for Barton to wait for her.

A nurse took Alex, John, and the captain to Blanche Henderson's room.  The nurse reported that she was heavily sedated and the cardiac monitor indicated a stable rhythm.  The nurse also mentioned that the malfunctioning machine was back in the equipment room.

Alex called to Barton when they left the patient's room, and the fo
ur talked in the hall.  Alex begged
for more information.

"What happened
, Bart?"  Alex asked
.

"Don't know.  All I can tell is the machine delivered more current than it
should have
. 
I'm on my way to check it out.  Our electrical equipment is fi
tted with adapters which
prevent this.  They're permanently affixed to the machine plug.  The monitor
of the machine
in question is
an
older one, so it may not have that safety feature.  Still, it's been used many times before without incident.  Can't tell you anything else
until we check it out
.
  I have checked all the product literature on the internet an
d there have been absolutely no
incidences or accidents like this ever reported.
"

"Let's check the monitor," Francois suggested.  The group entered the equipment room where several nurses were talking about the accident.  There was an immediate hush as the group broke up and left the room. 

When Francois, Dr. Ashley, Bart, and Alex bent down to examine the machine, it took only an instant for them to see what had happened.  The adaptor had been neatly filed off, leaving the machine without any grounding at all. 

Francois immediately called an officer to secure the room as a crime scene and suggested they find an empty
room
and
discuss
some things.

T
hey found a
n empty patient room
and
quickly
shut the door tightly.  Alex and Dr. Ashley sat on the bed while Francois and Barton sat in the chairs.

Bart began, "This is unbelievable.
This is more than an accident.  It was done on purpose, and recently.
We check this stuff all of the time."

Francois barked at the safety coordinator.  "Who has access to your equipment when it's not in use?  Where's it stored?"