“In bed?”
Jesus. “Is there someone here who can drive you?” It was her right foot, a needed limb for driving.
“No. Can you drive me?”
“I’ll arrange for a ride.” We were a small town, but we had a lot of tourists that had to get places, so we had taxis, shuttles, and ridesharing.
“I’ll make you dinner,” she ran her finger over my chest.
I stepped back. “It’s still morning.”
“Lunch then. Come on, you have to eat.”
“Dr. Foster,” Mia’s voice called me.
I turned, noting her narrow eyes and curt done. “Yes.”
“I need to talk with you when you’re done.”
“I’ll be right there.” I lowered Joyce’s leg. “Here is a crutch.” I motioned for the nurse who was bringing it to us. “Can you show Ms. Maynard how to use this and then call someone for a ride home?”
“Yes, Dr. Foster.”
I turned back to Joyce. “Elevate and ice.”
She saluted me. “Yes, doctor. The dinner date stands. Clearly I’m not going anywhere.” She handed me a paper. “I know you can get my address from my file, but here it is.”
I shoved the paper in my pocket. “Good day, Ms. Maynard.”
“Later, Dr. Foster.”
I shook my head as I turned to meet with Mia. Her expression suggested I wasn’t going to like what she had to say.
18
Mia
After what I’d learned that morning, I couldn’t put off talking to Dick about the possible EMR problem and my appointment with the IT person to check the program. I wasn’t looking forward to it. The last thing he’d want to hear was that the EMR system failed. That would put the fault squarely on the hospital.
“The EMR isn’t the issue,” he said sitting back in his chair. “More likely, Nick didn’t hit the send button.”
“Why would the blood work order make it and not the chest x-ray?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Doctor error. That’s what we need to focus on.”
I leaned forward. “I know that you don’t want an EMR issue for liability reasons, but if there is a glitch, blaming and firing Nick won’t protect you. It will happen again, and then what? Especially if it gets out that that you knew there could be a problem in the system?”
He leaned forward too, his eyes narrowing. “You represent the hospital, Ms. Parker.”
“I do,” I said, not caring that he didn’t like what I was saying. It was my job. “And as your lawyer, I’m recommending you have the system checked. I’m a lawyer, not a miracle worker. If you have a problem in the system, you have potential patients at risk. I recommend that you have a backup protocol to ensure tests, especially from the ER, are being received.”
“Fine. But I guarantee the problem happened in the ER, not with the system. Stay on that.”
I wanted to reach across and slap him for being so willing to blame Nick. “You know, it’s also possible that Ms Mason was just too late, but you seem focused on an error. Do you have something against Dr. Foster?”
He sat back again. “I like Nick. But I can’t let this hospital suffer if he’s to blame.”
Dick wanted a scapegoat, and since it was insensitive to blame the victim, Nick was his. Because I represented the hospital, I couldn’t do much to protect Nick if the hospital was prepared to let him take the blame. That thought made me sick to my stomach. It felt like a betrayal to Nick, even though legally, my duty was to the hospital.