Sacred Trust

by Hannah Alexander

  Beverly stood in the trauma room when he stepped from his call room. She had her back to him, checking the defibrillator batteries. She was alone. Good.

  Lukas stepped into the room behind her. “Beverly?”

  She stopped working, but did not turn around or speak.

  “Can we talk?” he asked.

  She stood for another moment with her back to him, then slowly turned around, a wary expression on her face.

  He strolled over and leaned casually against the cot. “How are things going with Cowboy?”

  “Pretty good.”

  “Is he letting you drive his car?”

  She flashed him a ghost of one of her old, teasing grins. “Now, Dr. Bower, you know I’m not going out with him just for his car.”

  “Of course not. I figured you wanted to get to know Leonardo a little better.”

  She shrugged. “He’s a nice cat…in his place.”

  “Which is in a stainless-steel cage?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Did Buck’s wife ever forgive you for getting him into that mess?”

  “She actually spoke to me at the grocery store the other day.”

  “Good. Then things are back to normal.”

  “If you want to call Cowboy normal.”

  “The animals seem to like him, and animals are supposed to be good judges of character. I’m sure they like you, too,” Lukas added. “You’ve got character. Integrity.”

  Her expression froze. She closed her eyes and sighed, turning back to her work.

  “Beverly,” he said gently, “do you remember that AMA report you were going to do for me about Dwayne Little?”

  She kept working and didn’t answer. It was answer enough.

  “It’s protocol, Beverly. I need you to do the report.”

  She worked a moment longer, then said, “I’m sorry, Dr. Bower, but I don’t feel right about it.”

  Lukas frowned. “You don’t feel right about following hospital protocol?”

  “I don’t feel comfortable about the way you handled the case.” She sighed again and turned around. “You threatened Dwayne. No wonder he left against medical advice.”

  “You know exactly what happened that day. Why have you changed your mind?”

  “I’ve had some time to think about it. That medication could have killed him.”

  “Only if he were a drug addict, and you know I wouldn’t have given it to him anyway. I was just trying to bring the problem out in the open. You were the one who alerted me to his drug-seeking behavior.”

  An expression of annoyance crossed her face. “Don’t blame me for this. I didn’t tell you to threaten him!”

  “I did not threaten him. I even offered to get him into a drug rehab program. Come on, Beverly, Dwayne Little is in big trouble and everybody knows it.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to meet Lukas’s gaze.

  He shook his head impatiently. “If you have a problem with the way I handled the case, then write me up, but do the AMA form. If you don’t, it looks as if I turned away a patient without offering relief from his pain, and that’s not true. It’s a COBRA violation, and it could put my job and the future of this hospital in jeopardy.”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

  Lukas waited for her to say something more, but she didn’t. “Has Jarvis been threatening you?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “Dwayne Little?”

  She shook her head, still not looking at him.

  “Bailey Little, then.”

  She turned away.

  “He’s threatening your job?” Lukas asked.

  “He’s saying I could be implicated with you if I do the AMA form.”

  “He’s wrong, and you should know that. He’s manipulating you. The AMA form simply states the circumstances.”

  “He’s a powerful man, Dr. Bower. He could ruin my whole career. If I sign that AMA form, I’ll look as guilty as you, as if I were in agreement with your course of treatment.”

  “Your signing of the form would simply show that you know that Dwayne refused my proposal.” He wished she would turn around and look at him. He took a step closer. “If you have a problem with the proposed treatment, you can write me up after you sign the AMA form.”

  “It’s a little late for that, isn’t it? If I did that now, he would just say I was trying to cover myself.”

  “His word is not law. Mrs. Pinkley will have something to say about this, and I won’t let you take the fall. Beverly, you didn’t do anything wrong. Neither did I.”

  She still didn’t look at him, but paced restlessly across the room. “Do you know how hard it is to make a living for a family of three on a nurse’s salary around here? I don’t get child support, I don’t get help of any kind and I have kids depending on me. If I cross the president of the hospital board, I can kiss my job goodbye without any hope of a good recommendation.”

  “That depends on whom you ask.”

  She shook her head in exasperation and glanced at him briefly.

  “You’re willing to help Bailey and his son hide the truth?” Lukas said it sadly.

  She stopped pacing and stared at him as if he’d slapped her.

  “You’re going to let Bailey Little’s threats prevent you from doing the job you were hired to do?”

  “When you have a family of your own to support—”

  “Is that going to be your excuse when someone tells you to start letting patients die because keeping them alive cuts into hospital profits?”

  “Of course not!”

  “Where do you draw the line between principles and a comfy home?”

  “Where do you get off talking about principles? You got kicked out of your residency for endangering patients!”

  Lukas returned her glare. So Jarvis had sunk to mudslinging—Jarvis or Bailey, or someone else itching to get rid of him. What other rumors had been spread about him throughout the hospital, even the town? Mercy was right about Knolls.

  “I was exonerated of all charges in Kansas City,” he said quietly. “My name was cleared in court.”

  A voice from the hallway startled them both. “Should we don boxing gloves?”

  They turned toward the door to find Jarvis George standing in the entrance, arms folded in front of him.

  “You two were shouting loudly enough for me to hear you out at the desk.”

  Lukas refrained from telling Jarvis that Beverly had been the only one shouting.

  “Sorry, Dr. George,” Beverly said. She did not look at Lukas again but turned and walked out.

  The older doctor smiled at Lukas. It was a smile totally without humor or warmth. “Trouble with the staff, Bower?”

  “Trouble with empty rumors and poorly drawn conclusions.”

  The smile vanished. “You’re not going to have to worry about that much longer. You cut your own throat with patient treatment this morning. Add to that a letter that was faxed to me by Mrs. Ivy Richmond, and you’re out of this hospital.”

  “Which patient are you talking about?”

  “Mrs. Dondi Baker. You gave her a breathing treatment and sent her home with an acute myocardial infarction.” He drew the words out as if relishing the sound of them. “No EKG, no X-ray—”

  “She refused them. Where is she? How is she doing?”

  “That’s not your problem now, is it, Bower?”

  He took a step toward Jarvis. “Of course it’s my problem. What’s going on with her?”

  “On her way to Cox South. She came in for her appointment and told me you left her alone in the exam room for at least an hour while you treated another patient.”

  “You told her I took too many unnecessary tests last time, and she refused to let me do anything but a blood test, which showed—”

  “I’m not really interested in that. The patient is not held liable where medical negligence is apparent. She shouldn’t have to play doctor—that’s why she came t
o the emergency room.”

  “Was I supposed to diagnose an MI with a stethoscope?”

  A hint of the hateful smile returned. “A good doctor could do it.”

  Lukas shook his head. “Only if there’s an S-4 murmur, which she did not have. I checked. Was I supposed to hold her down and do the tests by force?”

  “If she had trusted you in the first place, she would have listened to you. I didn’t have any trouble with her at all.”

  “I wouldn’t have had any trouble, either, if you hadn’t already undermined me. Was it really worth all this just to get rid of me? What if she dies? Will it be worth it then?”

  Jarvis held up some papers, the top of which was an incident report on Lukas’s treatment of Dondi Baker this morning. “When the quality assurance committee sees this in a few minutes, and when the hospital board reads the facts about you next week, Estelle Pinkley won’t know what hit her. And then I won’t have to worry about warning my patients about you.” He pivoted and left.

  Lukas noticed that Jarvis’s footsteps faltered as he walked away.

  Tedi had not yet been released when Mercy received the call from Colorado. Ivy’s voice sounded weak and distant. Maybe the connection was bad.

  “Mom? Where are you calling from? I thought you’d be out in the middle of the mountains by now. Don’t tell me you took my advice and carried a cell phone in your pack.”

  “I didn’t.”

  Mercy didn’t like the sound of her voice. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

  “Just a little mishap, nothing for you to worry about. I’ll be coming back home sooner than expected.” Ivy sighed. “I’m afraid I’ve botched the whole trip for everyone, except maybe for Louise, Hugh Heagerty’s old nurse. She hates Colorado and is coming back with me. I don’t know how anyone could hate Colorado.”

  “Mom, what’s going on?”

  “You were right, honey. I had no right to disregard your feelings and come out here.”

  “What happened? You sound awful.”

  “I just couldn’t take the high altitude.”

  “You had another bad rhythm.”

  “My heart acted up on the trail,” she admitted. “Hugh had taken some extra precautions, thanks to you, and he broke the rhythm, then brought me and the rest of the gang all the way to Denver. I’m in the hospital now. He saved my life, Mercy.”

  “Is Hugh there? Let me talk to him.”

  “He’s gone. I sent them all back, except for Louise. She’s bringing me home Monday.”

  Mercy leaned back against the wall, overwhelmed.

  “I’m fine, Mercy. There was no damage. It wasn’t a heart attack.”

  “Who’s the cardiologist treating you?”

  There was a pause. “I don’t know, Dr. Davis…something. I really didn’t pay that much attention because it’s no big deal. Hugh took care of everything.”

  “I want to talk to him.”

  “And I don’t want you to. You have enough going on without taking this on. I told you I’m fine. Believe me, Hugh would never have left me here if he weren’t convinced I’d be okay. And Louise will keep a sharp eye on me. Are you on rounds?”

  “No.”

  “Oh? I thought you were off this morning, but you didn’t answer at home. Can’t you stay way from that hospital?”

  “It seems I can’t.” Mercy hesitated. It didn’t seem like a good time to tell her about Tedi, but Mother would be furious if she came back on Monday and…

  “Honey?” Ivy prompted. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

  “I’m tired, Mom. I slept in the ICU all night on one of those hard cots.”

  “Babysitting one of your patients again?”

  “We had a calamity last night. Tedi was stung by a bee, and she had a reaction.”

  There was a pocket of shocked silence. “What kind of reaction?”

  “She went into anaphylactic shock. Dr. Bower almost had to do a cricothyroidotomy before she started breathing again.”

  Ivy gave a sharp intake of breath. “I knew I shouldn’t have come. I should have been there.”

  “It got a little ugly with Theo for a while, but Lukas managed to convince him he was not welcome here.”

  “Lukas?”

  “I slugged Theo in the mouth. Lukas kept me from killing him.”

  There was a long pause, and Mercy could have sworn she heard a faint hum of reluctant approval. “Where is Tedi?” Ivy asked finally. “Can I talk to her?”

  Mercy glanced toward the bed. “She’s asleep again. Why don’t you give me your number so I can call you later?”

  It took a moment for Ivy to locate and read the number to Mercy. “So you’re saying Dr. Bower was on duty last night?”

  “Yes, thank goodness.”

  “Okay.” There was a long silence, then, “Oh, boy.”

  “Mom?”

  “He saved her life.”

  “Yes. He even came up to ICU last night to check on her. We had a long talk. Mom, do you know Lukas is a Christian?”

  There was another long pause. “How do you know?”

  “I accused him of it, and he admitted it. He’s a very caring person. He said some things last night that really made me think.”

  “That doesn’t prove he’s a Christian.”

  Mercy bit her lip. This was not a good time for a fight. “If you had heard Lukas talking about his relationship with God, you wouldn’t doubt his sincerity. Why are you determined to find fault with him?”

  Ivy replied with a deep sigh.

  Mercy glanced over at her daughter’s bed and saw that she was awake. “Tedi, your grandma’s on the phone. She wants to talk to you.”

  Tedi eagerly sat up, threw off her blanket and climbed out of the tall hospital bed. She looked pink and healthy and wonderful. Mercy held the phone out for her, and she took it gladly.

  “Grandma? How’s the hike going?”

  Mercy couldn’t help smiling at her daughter, at the expression of joy on her face, at the way she seemed to be bouncing back from yesterday’s pain and fear. Now if only there was a way to keep the fear away….

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Lukas took the stairs to the second floor, anger and frustration hitting him like salt in a fresh wound. It was happening again. He’d fought hard to earn a good reputation at Truman, so why had he left there? So a half-crazy old doctor and a drug addict could ruin him again?

  “Why am I here, Lord?” he muttered. “I thought this was where You were leading me. Why can’t I feel Your peace any longer? What have I done wrong?”

  He stepped out of the stairwell and turned left toward Clarence Knight’s private room. But instead of stopping there, he walked to the end of the hallway, where a window overlooked the staff parking lot.

  “Are You trying to teach me some kind of new lesson?” he whispered to God. “Did You really want me to be a doctor, or did You just want to taunt me with the possibility, then let me fail?”

  Why were Jarvis George and Bailey Little capable of wielding so much power over this hospital? And why did things always have to be so political? Since when did treating patients turn into a popularity contest instead of a career using finely honed knowledge and skill?

  As if God had spoken, Lukas immediately recalled a simple passage of Scripture from the book of John: In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

  There was no true peace in this world, and he needed to stop expecting perfection from others. He did, however, need to start working harder on himself.

  It occurred to him that if he had shown Jarvis George all the respect the man had tried to command, and if he hadn’t told Ivy Richmond how he felt about her mother’s code…If he hadn’t written an incident report on Jarvis for the missed needlestick protocol and hadn’t resisted Dorothy Wild about the disaster drill…But how could he, in good conscience, have continued with the drill when real patients needed him? Some things he would do again, and some things he
would change.

  “Help me, Lord. Show me what You want.”

  He caught sight of Mercy’s ten-year-old Pontiac in the parking lot. She was still here. Good. He would check on Clarence, then find Mercy before he left. Then he would go home, pack and drive to Mount Vernon. That would give him three hours to think and pray about this situation.

  A familiar deep growl reached him just before he walked into Clarence’s room.

  “I can’t even get out of this bed to get to the john,” came Clarence’s deep, complaining rumble. “The bed’s broken.”

  “You’re not supposed to go to the bathroom,” the nurse said. “You’re supposed to use this urinal. We need to measure it.”

  “But I can’t sleep! I’m tilted on my side.”

  “I can’t help you right now, Mr. Knight. You can’t expect me to lift you all by myself.”

  Lukas stepped to the doorway and peered in to see the nurse standing with her hands clutching her clipboard. The big guy looked pathetically back at her, his body scrunched onto a tilted hospital bed.

  Lukas fought the rush of anger that hit him and tried to remind himself to stay calm. He cleared his throat. “Nurse, may I see you out in the hallway for a moment?”

  When she joined him, he gestured for her to take a few steps away from Clarence’s door. “Do you know what OSHA would say if they saw this patient in a broken bed?” He kept his voice soft, unthreatening.

  The young, slender woman gave an irritated shrug. “I can’t help it. Everyone else is busy right now. Surely you don’t expect me to switch beds for him myself.”

  “Why not? He’s ambulatory.”

  “He’ll just break another bed. Do you know how much he weighs?”

  “Do you know how much he’s being charged for a bed in the stepdown unit? And at this moment he’s listed as a cash patient. Let’s give him some quality here. Clarence Knight is a human being and deserves to be treated with as much respect and kindness as you or I would want if we were sick.”

  She scowled and held up the chart. “See all this? Heart problems, diabetes, who knows what else they’ll find, and he brought it all on himself.”

  “How do you know that?” Lukas demanded. “Are you familiar with his life history?”