It's Nothing Personal (30 page)

Staring intently at Jim, she said, “No!
 
I absolutely will not settle.
 
We go all the way.
 
It may be hard.
 
I may have my bad days, but there is no
way I’m giving up!”

“Okay,” Jim replied.
 
Inwardly, he wondered how much more
Jenna could endure before she broke.
 
Right now, he thought Jenna was teetering precariously close to the
edge.
 

A light rap on the door interrupted their
conversation.
 
Nancy entered,
smiling and cheerful.
 
Her smile
quickly vanished when she saw the serious expressions on Jim’s face.
 

“Did I miss something?” Nancy asked with
hesitation and a hint of dread.

Jenna shook her head, and Jim shifted his
eyes.
 
Nancy knew to let this one go
and quietly took her seat.
 
Besides,
she was certain that Jim would fill her in later.

Unsure of what to say, no one spoke.
 
Finally, Jim broke the silence.
 
“Jenna, we wanted to go through the case
with you today, piece by piece, to let you know where things stand and how they
are shaping up.
 
Why don’t we start
with some good news?”

Jenna smiled weakly.
 
“I didn’t think there was such a thing
as good news where this lawsuit is concerned.”

Jim overlooked her pessimism.
 
Jenna was testy today, which was not
like her.
 
“In this case, I think
you will find it very good news.
 
The judge ruled on Anders’ motion to redepose you.”
 

The words slowly registered.
 
Jenna stiffened her posture and raised
an eyebrow.
 
“Go on.”

Jim passed Jenna a copy of the court
ruling.
 
“The judge ruled in our
favor.
 
In her motion, Anders sent
him cherry-picked excerpts from your deposition.
 
The statements were manipulated and
taken out of context in an effort to make you appear evasive.
 
In our counterargument, we sent in the
entire transcript and videotape of your deposition.
 
This judge is a fair and thorough
man.
 
I’m certain that he either
watched or read your entire deposition before he made his ruling.”

Nancy added, “And if he really did read your
entire deposition, it helps us in another way.”

“What’s that?” asked Jenna.

“Even in print,” Nancy explained, “Anders
does not come off favorably.
 
Hopefully, this opens the judge’s eyes to her antics.
 
That should benefit us on future
rulings.”

Jenna’s eyes lit up.
 
Letting out an enormous sigh, she said
softly, “Thank you.
 
Thank both of
you for whatever you did to get me out of that.
 
You’re right, this is good news.”

She felt like a pressure-valve had been
released.

Nancy said, “As you know, your court date is
January 30, 2012.
 
The trial is
scheduled to last for three weeks.
 
At this point, you will need to notify your office that you will need
the entire time off.
 
Your presence
in court will be required every day during the trial.”

“Isn’t three weeks an awfully long
time?
 
I thought it was rare for
even a big murder case to last that long.
 
How could this possibly drag on for three weeks?”

“Your trial is going to be complicated.
 
The world of medicine is foreign to most
people.
 
There are a lot of issues
to be covered and explained in terms that a juror can understand.

“This afternoon, we want to go over our
strategy and theirs.
 
We have their
expert witness disclosure list, and we have also assembled ours.
 
It’s your choice, Jenna.
 
Which side do you want to go over
first?”

Jenna swallowed against her dry throat.
 
“Let’s start with the devil’s version of
things.
 
Then at least we end on a
more positive note.”

CHAPTER 43

Jim methodically organized the documents in
front of him.
 
“To lay the
groundwork, we know that Anders’ strategy is to show that it was below the
standard of care to leave narcotics unattended and unsecured.
 
She’s also going to try to prove this
violated DEA rules.
 
If successful,
she will then argue that if you hadn’t violated the guidelines, Hillary Martin
would have never had the opportunity to contaminate the syringe.
 
Furthermore, Ms. Hollings would not have
contracted hepatitis.
 
It will all
point back to you.”

His last words ripped through Jenna like a
blade.
 
Struggling to keep afloat,
Jenna asked, “I thought that the standard of care was defined by what other
reasonable physicians in the same specialty were doing or would have done under
similar circumstances.
 
How can they
claim I violated the standard of care?
 
Maybe not every anesthesiologist would like to admit that they left
their drugs unattended, but I know for a fact that most did.”

“We agree with you.
 
However, the problem for us is
two-fold.
 
First of all, just
because many, if not most, doctors do something a certain way, it doesn’t make
it right.
 
Standard of care isn’t
defined by majority rule.
 
It’s
defined by what experts say was the right thing to do.
 

“Which leads us to the next issue –
their expert witnesses.
 
They have
two anesthesiologists who have given depositions.
 
These doctors are fully prepared to
enter the courtroom and testify that what you did with your narcotics did not
meet the standard of care.
 
I don’t
want to get ahead of myself, but just to reassure you, we have our own experts
that will testify to the contrary.”

The thought of being publicly attacked by
strangers left Jenna feeling vulnerable.
 
She rubbed her eyes, trying to make sense of it all.
 
“What kind of doctor would come into
court with the intention of destroying a fellow physician?
 
Particularly over something like this,
where I was the victim of a criminal act?
 
I was
not
the criminal.”

Jim responded, “Unfortunately, the
plaintiff’s attorneys aren’t the only ones that can say anything they
want.
 
So too, can the expert
witnesses who are well compensated for their testimony.”

“Who are these people?
 
These so-called ‘experts?’”
 
Jenna was practically shouting, shaking
her head in disbelief.
 
Jim was
thankful that Nancy had closed the door when she came into the room.
 
Glancing up at the window to the
hallway, he noticed one of his colleagues looking their way.
 
Fortunately, he thought, Jenna’s back
was to the window.
 
Jim subtly
motioned to Nancy with his pen, and she stood and lowered the blinds.

Meanwhile, Jim referenced his notes.
 
“Their first witness is Dr. James
Jenkins.
 
He’s an older gentleman
and, unfortunately, very likable.
 
Dr. Jenkins has given expert testimony many times in the past, and he is
very polished and well spoken.
 

“The good thing for us is that Dr. Jenkins
hasn’t done a case in the OR for over seven years.
 
That will allow us to cast doubt on his
credibility.”

Jenna’s pupils were large, like saucers.
 
Her head felt like it were being
squeezed in a vise – tighter and tighter with each passing word.

“Their second expert witness is much less
likable.
 
His name is Dr. Joseph
Monroe.
 
He’s from the East Coast
and has the accent, abrasiveness, and arrogance to back it up.

“This is his first testimony as an expert
witness, and it showed in his deposition.
 
You would dislike him instantly, and hopefully the jurors will, too.

“Over the course of his career, Dr. Monroe
has served extensively on committees that have dealt with patient safety,
including the handling of narcotics within the operating room.
 
Even with his impressive credentials, he
makes some pretty outlandish claims.
 
That’s where Nancy and I think we can question his credibility.”

Jenna sunk in her chair, her head
dropped.
 
“Like what?”

“Dr. Monroe is exceedingly rigid in his
opinions.
 
For example, he maintains
that narcotics should either be locked or under the direct control of the
anesthesiologist at
all
times,
including during surgery.
 
We
questioned him as to whether he ever left drugs on the top of the anesthesia
cart during a case while he turned his back to attend to the patient or do a
procedure.
 
He adamantly denies that
he has ever done so, even in the face of an unstable patient.
 
Clearly, that is a ridiculous and
impractical assertion.”

Jenna’s hope was rapidly fading.
 
Somberly, she asked, “What do these guys
get paid to slaughter me?”

Jim leafed through the documents filed by
Allison Anders, found the page, and handed it to Jenna.
 
Her mouth dropped when she read the
amounts.
 
The two anesthesia experts
each earned $500 per hour to review records and another $500 per hour for
deposition testimony.
 
If the case
went to trial, they would each receive $6,000 per day, plus all expenses.

Jenna slammed the document down on the
table.
 
“Pretty nice chunk of change
to destroy my career, my reputation, and my life!”

Nancy shifted gears, “Besides the
anesthesiologists, Anders will call other experts that help establish a case
for damages.

“They will have Ms. Hollings’ clinical
psychologist testify that Hollings suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder,
anxiety disorder, and panic attacks.
 
The psychologist will state that these conditions are a direct result of
her infection with hepatitis C.

“Anders also has an economist that will testify
that the probable losses to Ms. Hollings, based upon her contraction of
hepatitis C and the lifelong repercussions related to loss of earning
potential, emotional damages, and health care costs range from $1,200,000 to
$2,000,000.”

“You can’t be serious!” Jenna roared.
 

Nancy empathized with Jenna’s
indignation.
 
“I know, go
figure.
 
The woman works at a strip
club and, up until the time when she settled with St. Augustine, she didn’t even
own a car.”

“Wait a minute,” Jenna cried out in
disbelief.
 
“I didn’t know any of
this.
 
What else do you know about
her?”

Nancy wore an ornery smirk of satisfaction.
 
“Quite a bit, actually.
 
We took her deposition last week.
 
Michelle Hollings is not at all the
clean-cut, poster child that Anders would like us to believe.

“Ms. Hollings dropped out of high school
when she was seventeen.
 
Her mother
threw her out of the house for using drugs.
 
On the streets, Hollings prostituted for
a while, until she found a girlfriend that hooked her up with a job at a local
strip club.
 
Hollings moved in with
that friend and has been dancing ever since.
 
She claims that she hasn’t used any
illegal drugs in more than four years, with the exception of an occasional
joint.”

Jenna squinted at her lawyers, her voice curt,
“So that prissy little blonde that came to my deposition, all prim and proper,
wearing a prudish skirt and pearls, is really a stripper and a whore?”

Nancy knew this information was
invaluable.
 
“That’s what I’m
telling you.”

Finally, Jenna felt her suffocating pessimism
begin to fade.
 
“So this is really
good news, right?
 
I mean, how could
a jury possibly side with someone like her?”

Nancy told Jenna the other side.
 
“Her occupation and her past will
certainly make her less likable.
 
However, she’s still an attractive, previously healthy woman that came
in for breast augmentation and left with hepatitis.
 
She claims that during her twelve months
of treatment for hepatitis C, she slept most of the time and was unable to
work.
 
Socially, she became
withdrawn and rarely went out with her friends.
 
Her boyfriend left her after finding out
about the infection.
 
It wasn’t
until we pulled it out of her through repeated questioning that she admitted he
was also married and has two kids.
 
Maybe that had something to do with his ending their relationship, as
well.
 

“We also got Ms. Hollings to admit, albeit
reluctantly and after many heated objections from Anders, that since completing
treatment she has no detectable hepatitis C virus in her bloodstream.
 
Essentially, she’s cured.
 
Although, Hollings did make certain we
were aware that the doctors told her there is a chance that the virus could
reactivate at any time.