Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
I worked the rest of the afternoon, and when I was finished the very complex surgery on a critical patient, I went to the change room and had a quick shower. After I dried off, I went past the on-call room where residents slept during their shifts, which were long and grueling, and heard the unmistakable sound of people having sex. The halls in the wing were deserted, so it was quite clear what was taking place in the room. I smiled as I thought about my own past as a resident and how I had frequently spent time in the on-call room with a favorite nurse or fellow female surgeon.
I shrugged and went to the break room to get a bottle of soda, and when I came back down the hall, who did I see leaving the on-call room but one Sam Cuttington and her resident, Paul.
Her hair was a mess, and their scrubs were even more disheveled that usual after a busy day of surgery. Paul’s cheeks were flushed, his own scrubs disheveled.
She closed the on-call room door behind her and adjusted her ponytail nervously.
“Ah, it was you in there,” I said to her quietly after Paul rushed by me down the hall to the break room. “With your resident? That’s not a good idea. Besides, I thought you were married?”
“What?” She made a face at me. “Who are you to tell me what’s a good idea? You with the checkered past. Doctor Dom. Doctor Dangerous…”
“It’s against the code of conduct for staff physicians and you know it,” I replied. “No personal or sexual relationships with your own students or residents. The power differential makes it off-limits. You signed a contract and that was a clause that you agreed to.”
She sneered at me. “You talking about power differentials being off-limits is a joke, right?”
I crossed my arms and stood my ground. “Sam. You know it’s forbidden by the code of conduct. I won’t say anything to Michael, but you have to promise that it will stop at least until Paul’s done his rotation. Besides, what about your husband? I read that you are recently happily married?”
“None of your damn business and you better keep it that way,” she said, her voice low and threatening. Her cheeks were bright red and not only because of having a quickie in the on-call room. “Of all people to chastise me about marital fidelity…”
I shook my head, disgusted with her. “I’ve never cheated on my wife and never would, unlike you, apparently. I have every faith that my wife wouldn’t either. I’m sure your new husband probably thinks that way as well. Unless maybe you have an open marriage or something?”
“Oh, do you mean your perfect Kate would never cheat? You can go to hell,” she said and marched away. Then, she turned when she was a dozen feet away. “Don’t you dare say anything to Michael or you’ll regret it.”
“Is that a threat?”
She pointed a finger at me. “No. It’s a promise.”
I shook my head and watched as she stormed down the hallway to the break room where her lover was hiding.
As I walked back to my office, I took in a deep breath and considered what I should do. In principle, I should inform Michael that she was sleeping with her resident. It was unacceptable and would interfere with the proper training and promotion of the resident in question. Michael could then decide how to proceed. He might simply note it on her record and insist that the relationship stop, with Paul being transferred to a different surgeon for the rest of his rotation. Or he might fire her, but given we were already short on qualified neurosurgeons at the time, I had a feeling he would just let her stay and not do anything until we had replacements on staff. Then, he might proceed with firing her.
I decided that discretion was the better choice and so I sat behind my desk and wrote her an email.
Sam: I won’t say anything to Michael about your relationship with Paul, but I do suggest that you stop immediately and at best, Paul could transfer to a different neurosurgeon and thus, there would be no conflict of interest involved. I don’t want us to be enemies, but there’s a rule against personal relationships, especially of a sexual nature, with residents under our care. It’s not just about stuffy morals. It can negatively affect the proper training and advancement of the resident in question. I know you understand. Thank you for taking this seriously and ending the relationship now, at least until after Paul is finished this rotation for his sake and yours. I don’t want to get into a confrontation with you, so please, let’s be grown up and just deal with it quietly. No drama. Just confirm that you understand and that you will comply with hospital and professional policy. I can start the process of switching Paul over to another supervisor. Let me know. Thanks, Drake
I read the email over several times, but felt it said everything I wanted and needed to say, so I sent it off. After I did, I re-read it one more time, and hoped I wasn’t doing the wrong thing. I knew that Michael wouldn’t tolerate it and it wasn’t good for the team to have a supervisor and resident in a sexual relationship, but I also knew that Sam would not be pleased.
She wouldn’t like it that I knew, and even less that I was telling her to end it — even if only temporarily. Surely, she could wait out Paul’s rotation if the relationship was serious.
I scratched my head. She was only recently married. Did they have an open marriage? It really didn’t matter if they did. What mattered was hospital policy on relationships between residents and anyone in a position of power over them.
Sam would be angry, but if she wasn’t going to be an adult about it, I would go to Michael. It was her choice.
I spent the rest of the day reading over files and by the time seven o’clock came around, it was time for me to head back to the hotel. On my way out, I saw Michael walking down the hallway with Sam. From the glare in her eyes, I could tell that she was angry with me, and figured that she had spoken with Michael about the matter. Michael smiled and said hello, and didn’t seem upset, so I imagined he felt that I had done the right thing.
“Hey, Drake,” he said goodbye to Sam and stopped by my office as I was closing the door. “Feel like getting a drink? I’m beat.”
Sam kept walking down the hallway to the break room.
“Sure,” I said, turning to Michael. “Want to go to the bar in my hotel?”
“Sounds perfect. Let me get my case and I’ll meet you in the lobby.”
I nodded. On my way past the break room, I saw that Sam was talking to Paul, who was wearing scrubs and a surgical cap. He looked like he’d just come out of surgery.
Sam glanced out the door and saw me, and I could tell she was angry by the frown on her face. Paul was leaning against the counter and looked morose.
I sighed and made my way to the front entrance to wait for Michael, certain that what I had done was right, if not upsetting. When two people are in love — or lust as the case may be — it was very difficult for them to see reason. It would be very hard for them to stop the relationship, which was why I suggested that Paul transfer to another neurosurgeon for his rotation. It could be me, or it could be Michael. Maybe that was what Michael wanted to talk to me about over drinks.
Whatever the case, Sam had to stop being his supervisor. It would be wisest to hold off on the affair until Paul was done his neurosurgery rotation so there would be no question of preferential treatment. Once he was somewhere else, she could do whatever she wanted with her life, but until then, she had to follow the rules and ethics — for her own good, for Paul’s sake and for the hospital.
That said nothing about her infidelity to her relatively new husband, but since I had no personal insight into their relationship, I couldn’t really say whether her husband accepted her infidelity. I didn’t think there were many husbands who would be okay with their spouses screwing around, but there were open marriages. There were swinger couples. As someone who played in the BDSM crowd, I could not judge them if they had an agreement about extramarital affairs.
But I didn’t know. That wasn’t my business or that of the hospital. What was my business — the hospital’s business — was whether she followed the hospital’s code of conduct for medical staff and especially those with powers of oversight for the residents.
A supervisor was not permitted to have a sexual relationship with a resident.
Period.
I met Michael at the front entrance, and he smiled at me ruefully and shook his head as we walked down the steps to the parking lot.
“What’s up?” I asked, wondering about the expression on his face.
“When I came here, it was to help ensure that patients in need of care got it, not to police the medical staff and residents.”
“What happened?”
“Sam made a complaint about you.”
I stopped in my tracks. “What?”
“She said you made sexually suggestive comments to her, and she wanted to file a complaint about you. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I can’t believe it’s true.”
“It isn’t,” I said, barely able to contain my anger. “In fact, it’s retaliatory because I told her that she had to stop having a sexual relationship with Paul, her resident. I never made any sexually suggestive comments to her about anything except to ask her to stop having a relationship with Paul or I’d have to talk to you. This is Sam cutting me off at the pass, so to speak.”
Michael exhaled heavily, and we kept walking to the limo. “I thought that maybe they looked a little too friendly, but no one said anything when I asked the staff. Of course, they wouldn’t want to rock the boat.”
“I know. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you. I asked her to stop so I wouldn’t have to, but apparently, she wants war. I’ll show you the text I sent her, so you know.”
“No, no,” Michael said, making a slashing motion with his hand. “I’m glad you told me. This can’t be taking place. I know the hospital and I know how they view this. You did the right thing, and now I have too as well. I’ll talk to Sam and tell her that she had to stop being Paul’s supervisor. What they do on their own time is their business, but she will no longer supervise his rotation. I’ll assign him to Fischer.”
Fischer was an older neurosurgeon who worked with the hospital. He was a good choice. Paul would be lucky to have him, vs. Sam who was only a junior medical staff member. It made me wonder about why Sam was assigned Paul in the first place.
I sighed and got into the limo, which took Michael and I to my hotel. Once there, we walked to the bar and ordered our first of many drinks.
Both of us needed it after the day we’d had…
“To us,” Michael said, raising his glass once we were seated and had our drinks. “We deserve it. Both of us upended our lives to come here and help. For that, we should be free to indulge a little after a long day at work.”
“Hear! Hear!” I said and clinked my glass against his.
We spent the next hour talking about the time that passed since I left Southampton, and I talked about my time at NYP. Finally, I glanced at my watch and saw that it was getting close to eleven.
“Sorry, but I have to call it a night,” I said and finished my drink. “I have a date with my wife and daughter, who call each night to put me to bed.”
Michael laughed and nodded. “I won’t keep you, then. Go. I’ll finish my drink and watch the rest of the game on the telly.”
He pointed to the widescreen television on the wall on which was playing some soccer game. Not being a big fan, I didn’t recognize the teams, but Michael did.
“I’ll leave you to it and see you tomorrow. Say about noon?” I winked at him, and he laughed again.
“Drink some water and take Tylenol. We both deserve the morning off.”
I patted him on the back and left the bar, taking the hallway to the elevator. On the way up to my room, I sent Kate a text, explaining that I had been having a drink with Michael and would be ready for our nightly Skype session in a few minutes.
Then, I hoped to go to sleep and be able to forget about Sam and her sexual indiscretions at work and the audacity she had to lodge a false complaint about me.
If only I could get so lucky…