A01 - Lifelines by CJ Lyons

Author:CJ Lyons [Lyons, CJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Suspense, Contemporary, Thriller
ISBN: 9780425220825
Amazon: 0425220826
Goodreads: 2766206
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2008-03-04T08:00:00+00:00

And the battle began.

“I would have appreciated backup from my surgical colleagues,” Lydia replied in an even tone, “as any level-two trauma patient would have warranted.”

The response didn’t faze deGeorge. “I see. So in your medical opinion, Jonah Weiss’s death was the fault of the trauma surgeons? Surgeons who never had the opportunity to examine or perform any interventions? Is that your position, Dr. Fiore?”

Lydia realized it was a mistake to try to cast any blame on the surgeons. DeGeorge was right; she had been the command doc, and any fault lay solely with herself. “No,”

she replied. “I’m saying that Jonah Weiss received the best possible care under the circumstances. Care that—”

“This is your best possible care?” deGeorge retorted.

“If so, then this committee need not waste any more of its time!”

“If you’ll allow me to finish,” Lydia went on, trying to maintain her calm. Carol made no move to halt the inquisition. “This was obviously a complicated case, but as you saw in the video, everything possible was done to properly diagnose and treat Jonah Weiss.”

“Excuse me, Doctor.” A distinguished-looking man with salt-and-pepper hair rose. Dr. Rheinquist from cardiothoracic surgery. “But isn’t that rather like my telling a family that the surgery was a success but the patient died? Surely you have more to say for yourself. Why didn’t you open the boy’s chest?”

“In cases of blunt trauma, emergency thoracotomy has not been shown to increase survival,” Lydia told him, quoting a fact she was certain that he knew as well as she.

“But it might have bought him enough time for the surgeons to arrive and successfully resuscitate him,” Rheinquist replied, a variation of the surgeon’s credo that a chance to cut was a chance to cure.

Not if he died of cyanide poisoning. Lydia bit her lip before she could blurt it out. Until the lab results became available, she had no proof.

Which meant that she had no defense. Except for her actions on the video.

A knock came at the door and Isaiah Steward entered.

“I’m sorry that I’m late,” he told them.

Lydia blinked in surprise. What was he doing here? She glanced across the table at Mark, who gave her a quick wink.

“Actually, Dr. Steward, I think this would be a good time to hear the autopsy results,” Carol said, her eyes on Elliot Weiss. Several people looked in Elliot’s direction, but the surgeon made no move to leave the room.

“I’m only here at Dr. Cohen’s request,” Isaiah began.

“Even though my findings will soon be made public, I must ask you to all treat this as confidential information in an ongoing investigation.”

He took his glasses off and peered into them as if looking for a flaw in the lenses. The entire room grew silent at his announcement, and chairs shifted as they leaned forward to stare at the pathologist.

“Postmortem examination of Jonah Weiss revealed the manner of death to be homicide and the cause of death to be cyanide intoxication,” Isaiah intoned, as if he were reading today’s stock quotes.

The room buzzed with excitement as several people jumped to their feet to ask questions.

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