Excerpt: Donovan's Paradigm

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Her door burst open and she looked up to see Erik’s dark expression. Reading his body language, she inwardly recoiled. “Erik, what can I—”

“Just what in the hell did you do to my patient?”

“Patient?”

“My pectus case, James Fraelson. What in the hell did you do to him yesterday?”

“I didn’t do anything to him, Erik.”

“He claims you came into his room and gave him some sort of energy treatment.”

Kim sat a bit straighter in her chair. “Is he complaining?”

“No, he isn’t complaining. He’s happier than a pig in shit. That’s not the point. You treated a patient of mine without my consent.”

Kim stood up and faced him. “Erik, I was on call last night. I came in to see James and found him in serious pain.”

“You should have called me and asked for permission to alter the treatment of my patient.”

“If I had upped his dosage of morphine you wouldn’t be reacting this way.”

“Damn right I wouldn’t. You would have been treating my patient in accordance with my instructions. Instead, you went behind my back and did whatever the hell you wanted. You were on call for one day. That does not give you the right to change my planned course of treatment.”

“Your planned course of treatment wasn’t working,” she said defensively. “Whatever I did, I accomplished it without using any drugs. James feels better than he has since surgery. Just who got hurt here, besides your pride?”

Erik’s frustration bolted and he slammed the palm of his hand on her desk. “Goddammit, Kim, screw my pride. Simply put, you do not have the right to waltz in on someone else’s patient and practice whatever crap you want without the express permission of the patient’s doctor, especially when it goes contrary to their written instructions. We’re talking ethics here and you damned well better learn some or I’ll have your ass before the board faster than you can chant.”