The Surgeon: An utterly unputdownable and pulse-pounding psychological thriller packed with twists by Leslie Wolfe

Author:Leslie Wolfe [Wolfe, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781837902705
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2023-03-07T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

REVIEW

I take my seat in the large boardroom and look around. I don’t see a friendly look or a smile of encouragement from anyone.

It’s officially called a peer-review case analysis, but these people are not my peers. They are my bosses and their bosses, people with enough power to make or break careers in this hospital and the entire country. Most of them wear white lab coats over business formal attire, jackets replaced by the starched white hospital garb.

The room is flooded with filtered sunshine through half-open vertical blinds. The table is littered with files, spread in front of every seat, taken or not. That tells me a few people are yet to join us. A side counter with cabinets hosts two coffeepots, one marked decaf, and a third one with hot water for tea. Two stacks of plastic cups are set on the counter, next to a tray with chilled water and pop on ice.

I still have time to get some water before the meeting starts. I won’t rush, a little afraid I might drink too much fluid due to stress and then have to use the restroom. Even in a medical environment, it would be embarrassing to ask for a brief recess.

The file in front of me is labeled with my deceased patient’s name and his case number. I open it and flip through the pages. They’re neatly separated by dividers. M’s assistant has done a very good job, preparing these files with the rigor of board meeting presentations.

The first few sections are case history, labs, and imaging. Then there’s a statement from Dr. Bolger that fills my chest with rage and my eyes with the threat of tears. He accuses me of gross negligence and demands that my medical license be revoked for incompetence. It takes all I have left in me to stay calm and not rush over to slap him across his smug face.

The last section in the file is the autopsy report. My breath gets caught in my chest when I turn the page and start reading. M brought in the Cook County medical examiner to conduct it, instead of using one of our own cardiologists like normal. Seeing his name and title stamped on the last page of the report confirms this is no routine case review.

It almost feels like I’m on trial for murder.

Perhaps I am.

I flip back to the beginning of the autopsy report and start reading. The medical examiner examined the aneurysm repair, the stitching, the Dacron graft, and found nothing wrong with the way the surgery was performed. He wrote two pages of findings, from an enlarged fatty liver with several cysts present to kidney stones and a small adrenal tumor, then summarized his findings in a single paragraph that exonerates me of all culpability.

I close my eyes for a moment of gratitude as relief washes over me. Then I go back to the previous page, where something caught my attention.

Higher concentration of potassium found in the chambers of

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