Every Fifteen Minutes (26 page)

“But this is outrageous!”

Brad held up a hand. “She also told the Dean that these advances culminated in an incident in the parking garage, in which you attempted to force yourself on her, taking advantage of the fact that you knew she had been drinking—”

“No!” Eric exploded. “That's
insane,
that's a lie—”

“Of course it is. We know that such conduct would be inconsistent with your character—”

“
She's
the one,
she
waited by my car,
she
tried to kiss
me
, not the other way around!
She's
the one making advances, and I turned her down.”

Brad opened his mouth, then shut it again, and Eric realized that he had said the wrong thing. Brad, Tom, and Mike had believed there was no substance to the allegations and now they were hearing differently. Mike began making notes with his gleaming pen, his head down.

“Brad.” Eric tried to control his tone, but wasn't succeeding. “She made advances to me and I rejected them, that's why she filed the complaint.”

“She made the advances?”

“Yes.” Eric flashed on Kristine's expression when she'd had the fight with Laurie, but he didn't tell them about it, because it would've added fuel to the fire. “Brad, I swear to you, I did not make any advances to her. I would
never
do anything like that.”

“Of course you wouldn't, you're a happily married man. We know Caitlin.”

Eric's mouth went dry. “In fact, Caitlin and I are filing for divorce, but that has no bearing here. I would never do anything inappropriate with a medical student or anyone on my staff.”

“Well now.” Brad lifted a graying eyebrow. “How are you doing with the divorce? Is it affecting your work? Or your performance?”

“No, of course not.”

“There's no shame in it, Eric. I'm divorced myself. I know how difficult it can be. It wouldn't be surprising that it would affect your work.”

“I'm not bothered by the situation to the level where it affects my work, and this sexual harassment claim is absurd.”

“What about this event the other day, where security was called, involving a patient? A Mr. Perino? I understand that you took it upon yourself to subdue him?”

“I was protecting my staff,” Eric answered, off-balance. “How did you even know about that?”

“We got a notice from the Board that the patient's wife is filing a complaint. She alleges you committed a battery against her husband.”

“Are you kidding?” Eric groaned. “My attending, Sam Ward, was there and he knows the truth. So was my charge nurse. There's nothing to it, nothing whatsoever.”

“I'm sure. Hundreds of these are filed a year, and very few have any merit. The Board of Medicine in Harrisburg will send an investigator, usually an ex-cop, to investigate the matter. It's just unusual, because you've never been the subject of even a single charge.”

“This is meritless, absolutely.” Eric felt mortified.

Brad blinked. “Eric, you need not explain yourself to us, and in fact, you mustn't.”

“Why not? How am I supposed to defend myself? You're sitting here, making outrageous allegations, and I can't let them go unrefuted.”

“Excuse me,” Brad said, raising his finger. “Let us be clear. We are making no allegations against you. We know you have a spotless record and we're following procedure. We have had one or two such complaints, as regards the students on rotation, and the procedure is clear. There will be an investigation, which will be dealt with within a matter of days, because these things are taken very seriously.”

“Who investigates?”

“An independent investigator, usually outside counsel, performs the investigation. He meets and interviews with the complainant, any witnesses to any of the incidents which she makes allegations about. Were there any witnesses in the parking lot that night, that you recall?”

“No, there was no one.”

“What about to the other advances, for example, the ones she made against you?”

“No, there were no witnesses.”

“Did you tell anyone?”

“No.” Eric was kicking himself. He thought of the text Kristine had sent him, but it would look innocent, on its face.

“Fair enough.” Brad cleared his throat. “As I was saying, after the investigator meets with her and any other witnesses, he will then meet with you. Concurrent with the factual investigation, our procedure also provides for a ‘collegial intervention.'”

“What's that?”

“It will be held today, at one thirty, and it's an inquiry to determine whether there is an impairment issue that we should know about.”

“What impairment issue?” Eric blurted out, then it dawned on him. “You think
I
have a
drug issue
?”

“No, Eric. Again, this is merely our procedure, and Mike can tell you”—Brad gestured generally in Mike's direction, but the lawyer kept making his notes without looking up—“that we have to follow procedures for liability purposes. The purpose of the Physician Impairment Committee is to examine if there's any drug, alcohol, or mental health issue.”

“But there isn't.” Eric's head started spinning. He had heard rumors of impairment issues in the Anesthesiology Department, which made sense because they had easy access to pain meds like Oxycontin and Vicodin, but it was a rarity in psychiatry. “And what's the Physician Impairment Committee? Who's on it? I never heard of it.”

“It's
ad hoc,
formed for each specific case. In your case, there will be three committee members—myself, Tom, sitting as Chair of Psychiatry, and third, your attending, Sam Ward.”

“Sam? He reports to me, for God's sake. I'm his
boss.
Isn't that a conflict of interest, besides the fact that it's completely humiliating?”

“I understand, but those are the rules and regulations.”

“What rules and regulations? Where are you getting them from?”

“Eric, please keep your voice down.” Brad glanced toward the door. “This is confidential, for your own protection.”

“Eric, by the way,” Mike added, “I'm advising you not to discuss this matter with anyone.”

“Of course I wouldn't,” Eric shot back. “Do you think I want to give it more currency than it already has?”

“It goes without saying that you won't raise the subject with the complainant.”

“Of course not—” Eric stopped himself, to clarify something. “Wait, Kristine's going to work on my unit, after this?”

“Yes, she has another week in her rotation, according to our records.”

“But why would she still want to work for me, someone who supposedly has been sexually harassing her? Forcing myself on her in parking lots? Doesn't that prove how false these allegations are? What a liar she is?”

“Not necessarily.” Mike pursed his lips. “If I may play the devil's advocate, she would say that she has no choice. If her allegations were true, she shouldn't have to quit.”

“But they're
not
true!”

“Even so,” Mike continued calmly. “It's common in any employment context for a complainant to keep working after they've filed a sexual harassment or discrimination lawsuit.”

“So we can't fire her?”

“No. First, she's not our employee. Second, firing a complainant for filing charges of sexual harassment or other discrimination is unlawful retaliation. Don't take any action vis-
à
-vis her at all, not even a reprimand, in the time she has left.”

“Well that's just great, isn't it?” Eric felt blocked in. “How am I supposed to have someone work for me who's utterly dishonest? Whom I can't trust at all? Who would do something like this? I wouldn't let her near a patient now. The woman is delusional at best, and a liar, at worst.”

“It can't be helped. My advice is to have as little to do with her as possible and never be alone with her, for any reason.” Mike picked up a folder from the seat beside him and extracted a photocopied booklet, about seventy pages long. “Now, in answer to your question, the pertinent rules and regulations are in the medical staff bylaws, and in case you don't have a copy, we Xeroxed one for you. Let's take a moment to look together at Appendix F, which are the guidelines for addressing disruptive behavior.”

“Disruptive behavior?” Eric repeated in disbelief.

“Bear with me.” Mike was already opening the pamphlet, flipping toward the back, and finding the page, then he turned it around to show Eric. “Look, here. ‘Disruptive behavior' is defined as ‘conduct that undermines a culture of safety and adversely impacts the quality of patient care or continued effective operation of the hospital'”—Mike pointed to the paragraph, moving his index finger as he read aloud—“and includes, without being limited to, ‘verbal or physical abuse of colleagues or staff; threatening or intimidating behavior exhibited during interactions with colleagues; offensive conduct; and sexual harassment.'”

Eric tried to follow, but the words swam before his eyes.

Mike continued reading, “‘The aforementioned disruptive behavior interferes with operations and as such, is adverse to our mission and will not be tolerated and renders the employee subject to discharge.'”

Discharge?
Eric could lose his job because of these lies? His reputation would be ruined. What effect would it have on his custody case if he were found guilty of sexual harassment? Or if he were even
suspected
of sexual harassment?

“Eric,” Mike said, setting the pamphlets aside. “You do not need a lawyer to go with you before the Physician Impairment Committee. I will not be present at the Physician Impairment Committee, that's why it's called a collegial intervention. It's strictly physicians only.”

“But it has a legal impact.” Eric struggled to think clearly. The whole thing was surreal. “You're telling me I could lose my job depending on what they find.”

“No one has ever taken a lawyer into a Physician Impairment Committee, and in my view, you do not need one. This is a factual investigation, and if your side of the story is correct, as I'm sure it is, you will prevail.”

“My side of the story is the truth, and of course it will prevail.” Eric rose. “I assume the meeting is over. I'm holding up my staff meeting.”

“Eric, you can't leave just yet.” Brad rose, gesturing to Tom. “Tom, uh, has something left to say.”

Tom got up, his hand in his pocket. “Eric, the procedures call for one last thing.”

“What?” Eric asked, trying to stay in control.

“You have to take care of this, right now.” Tom withdrew his hand from his pocket and set a clear plastic jar with a screwtop lid on the glistening conference table.

Eric couldn't believe his eyes.

“Sorry, Eric. We need a urine sample.”

 

Chapter Thirty-one

Eric got off the elevator on Wright, still stunned. He had never in his life been asked to pee in a cup, though he'd ordered it every day on his unit, from drug abusers and the like. The notion humiliated him, and he'd barely been able to hide the shame he felt when he'd left the men's room on the administrative floor and had to palm his urine sample, so that Dee Dee didn't see it while he discreetly passed it to Mike. Eric had had the crazy thought that he should throw it at him, but it wasn't Mike's fault, it was Kristine's.

Eric walked to the door of the psych unit, swiped his ID card, got his keys from his pocket, and unlocked the door. It pissed him off no end that he had to deal with bogus personnel problems when Max was still missing, perhaps even dead, and there were real patients on his unit who needed him. It was even ridiculous that he had to start his day late for such nonsense, and that they had to delay the staff meeting. It would back him up on his treatment rounds and for the entire day. He entered the security airlock, then unlocked the other door.

He let himself into the unit, passed the nurses' station and TV lounge, and spotted Amaka striding toward him, holding a stack of files, so he plastered a smile on his face. “Honey, I'm home,” Eric said, then realized he probably wasn't allowed to joke around that way anymore.

“Did they give you a bonus or at the very least, a knighthood?” Amaka asked, with a spreading smile.

“Not quite.” Eric knew she would expect a report because a meeting upstairs was a big deal. “They wanted to talk over the details about the marketing campaign, the rollout, and things like that.”

“The rollout?” Amaka chuckled softly. “Listen to you.”

Eric didn't even know where he had heard that term. He didn't even know why he'd said it. “Yes, I'm a marketer now. I sell healing.”

“So when is the rollout?”

“I forget. It was the usual blah blah blah. Let's get the day started.” Eric walked down the hallway, and Amaka walked with him.

“By the way, did you hear the rumor? Everyone's saying that you're going to renegotiate your contract after the rankings, and you'll leave if they don't meet your terms.” Amaka looked over with a mild frown. “You wouldn't leave us, would you?”

“Of course not, don't worry about it.”

“I'm only telling you this because I'm your friend.”

“I know, thanks.” Eric smiled again at Amaka. “Why don't you go assemble the troops?”

“You mean herd the cats.”

“Ha!” Eric said, heading into his office, dropping off his messenger bag, and trying to get his act together. But when he came out, he spotted Sam in the hallway, walking ahead of him toward the conference room.

Eric stiffened, assuming Sam already knew about the sexual harassment claim because the Physician Impairment Committee meeting was scheduled for 1:30 today. The thought mortified him, but he had to hold his head high and keep going. He had a meeting to hold, patients to serve, and a unit to run. He'd always liked Sam, and he'd thought it was mutual, but he wondered what Sam would think of him, now.