Chapter 35 #2
“Not exactly, sir,” I reply, taking my offered seat and settling in, pushing myself in my rolling chair up to the oval-shaped table. Ready, but not even close to ready at all.
“Alright. Well, there are a few departmental matters we’d like to discuss,” he continues. “They are of a very sensitive nature and everything we discuss here this morning must remain confidential. Even after a formal announcement is made.”
“Of course.”
Dr. Smart nods, seemingly mollified before turning to his right. “Dr. Westerfield, would you like to take over?”
“Sure.” Dr. Westerfield smiles warmly at me, placing her hands on the table in front of her. “Grace, first, let me begin by saying that your work here during your residency has been exemplary. Your patient care has been top-notch as has your work with the residents, fellows, and other attendings.”
“Thank you,” I manage, my voice caught high in my throat.
“It has been on our radar for some time now that there has been animosity between Dr. Johnson and yourself. Complaints were registered by her in the months she’s been here, yet we haven’t received any from you.”
I swallow hard and nod, my fingers knotting in my lap.
“Complaining about my fellow residents isn’t exactly how I like to conduct myself,” I state simply. “I’m here to work, to do my job to the best of my ability, not to be disparaging about the work of others.”
“Are you aware she’s made multiple disquieting allegations about you?” Dr. Rohrs jumps in. “Both personally and professionally.”
I lift my chin. “I’m not aware of anything specific she’s claimed. Only that she’s made them as she already informed me of that.”
A look passes between Dr. Rohrs and Dr. Westerfield before they return their focus to me.
“After Dr. Johnson’s accident, we did a formal investigation at the request of Dr. Fritz.
We interviewed everyone from the nurses to the patient and her spouse to other residents who were in the room when the event took place.
You see, she had stated in her incident report that she was spread thin with her patient load.
That the reason she ‘fell’”—Dr. Rohrs puts air quotes around the word—“is because she was rushing, trying to keep up. She claimed you weren’t picking up enough patients and she was carrying the burden. ”
“That’s absolutely false,” flies out of my mouth before I can stop it, my hands now gripping the underside of the table so I don’t shoot out of my seat.
“That is precisely what Dr. Fritz told us as well,” Dr. Westerfield cuts in. “A matter we’ll discuss in further detail in a moment. However, the difficulty with this situation only began there. Especially with the most recent allegations Dr. Johnson has made against you.”
I shake my head. “I don’t understand.”
“When Dr. Fritz first came on, we were aware of your relationship with his family and the potential conflict of interest with him as your supervising attending. We overlooked it as a potential concern at the time because Dr. Fritz assured us any personal relationship you had with him, or his family would not impact your work here.”
My gaze flickers briefly to Carter before rebounding back to Dr. Westerfield. I lick my lips nervously, unsure how to respond.
“I would say this has remained true,” Dr. Westerfield goes on. “Wouldn’t you agree?” She twists her neck to Dr. Rohrs.
“Absolutely,” she states emphatically, tucking her brown hair behind her ears and shifting in her seat. “Even when Dr. Fritz informed us of the change in your relationship status. Which is why we were so surprised by the concerns Dr. Johnson has raised.”
Flattening a hand across my stomach, I attempt to brace myself for what I know is next to come. Wait… “I’m sorry, what?” My head snaps in Carter’s direction though he is a perfect mask of indifference. He told them about us? When?
“Dr. Johnson’s incident occurred prior to Dr. Fritz informing us of your personal relationship,” Dr. Westerfield maintains, leaning forward and placing her forearms on the table between us. “But her report was filed after.”
“I still don’t follow,” I admit.
“We had already conducted a review of your work, Grace,” she informs me.
“Of your evaluations, of your schedule, of your time with patients, of your work with your residents. All of it. So the allegations Dr. Johnson had made about you not taking on an adequate patient load didn’t quite add up with our own report on your work.
By the time her incident report came in, you had already been moved onto my team for evaluation while still receiving instruction from Dr. Fritz.
This had been done since Dr. Fritz was no longer able to analyze your work objectively. ”
“Alright.” I’m so confused.
“After we reviewed her incident report, and the interviews of others,” Dr. Rohrs picks up where Dr. Westerfield left off, “we were concerned to say the least with what we discovered. As a matter of protection for the hospital, we shifted Dr. Johnson’s schedule to allow for more one-on-one time with Dr. Fritz as we felt she needed more direct tutelage.
As you can imagine, for legal purposes this was kept entirely confidential. ”
I fall back in my seat, rubbing at my mouth while staring at each of these doctors in turn.
No wonder I worked mostly with Dr. Westerfield and not Carter.
No wonder Janet worked so many hours side by side with him.
It wasn’t because Carter was pushing me out or had lost confidence in me after my seizure.
It was because he had told them we were together, and I could no longer be evaluated by him because our relationship posed a conflict of interest for him.
That and they knew Janet was a subpar doctor and needed to protect their asses. It makes sense now why Carter always blew me off about it whenever I tried to question why he was working with Janet and not me. He wasn’t legally allowed to tell me anything.
Only Janet didn’t know he had told anyone about our relationship. Hell, neither did I.
Which is why I automatically assumed the worst—especially with Janet filling my head with that.
Why didn’t Carter tell me he told them? Oh right, because I asked him not to tell anyone and he knew I’d freak the fuck out. Yeesh.
“So when she came to us overnight with claims of you engaging in unscrupulous and scandalous behavior with Dr. Fritz, to use her words, we were, well, shocked.”
I sit up straighter. “I can explain. Dr. Fritz and I have always tried to keep our personal relationship separate from work. What she saw was after our shifts ended beyond the walls of this hospital. When it comes to our work here, Dr. Fritz has always placed that first. Never once showing favoritism or treating me as anything other than his resident, equal with all others. I don’t know specifically what Dr. Johnson claimed, but if any of it involves Dr. Fritz engaging in anything unscrupulous or scandalous, it’s an absolute lie. ”
Janet can say what she wants about me, but us hiding our relationship was on my terms. Terms Carter clearly didn’t abide by. I’m the one at fault. Not him. I won’t let her take him down with me. If that’s my fate, so be it, but I will not let it be Carter’s too.
I suck in a breath, holding it tight in my lungs.
“Yes.” Dr. Westerfield agrees emphatically, glancing first at Carter and then over to Dr. Rohrs.
“Now you understand why we’re meeting today.
This situation is troubling indeed. Dr. Fritz has been transparent about your personal relationship from the beginning, even going so far as to continue your education while passing your evaluations over to me so as to remove any form of misconduct.
Which is why we know everything she’s claiming to be false. ”
I shake my head, totally, completely, utterly flabbergasted. “I’m sorry, I think I’m missing something.”
“Dr. Johnson informed everyone in this room in the wee hours of the morning, I might add, that you’re holding sex over my head in exchange for stellar evaluations and good recommendations for after your residency has ended,” Carter states flatly.
“She claims that you used my infatuation with you against me.”
“Um.” Yep. I might be impersonating a goldfish.
“She was obviously unaware that I had already removed myself from a position of power over you. Months ago. Our number one priority—as you stated on my behalf though that pact came from both of us—has always been and will always be patient care and we vowed from the start of our relationship that anything you and I engage in beyond the walls of this hospital would never interfere with that. There was no way you could demand stellar evaluations from me when I was no longer evaluating your work.”
I think I blink about a thousand times.
“No.” That’s as good as I’ve got at the moment.
When the hell did Carter go and do all of this?
Have my evaluations transferred? It makes sense with everything that’s transpired.
I’ve worked more with Dr. Westerfield since Janet’s accident.
I just didn’t think much of it as she’s the head of the department and makes rounds through all the residents, benchmarking our training.
I was more consumed with the notion that Carter was freezing me out while taking Janet in.
“These latest accusations are the tipping point for us with Dr. Johnson,” Dr. Smart states.
“She claimed her initial incident happened because she was spread too thin with you not picking up the slack when we know not only is that false but that she had actually been changing the board herself to remove your name and place hers on there instead. You understand how dangerous that is for our patients and other providers. It’s why we have protocols surrounding that sort of thing.
Protocols she breeched which ultimately led to her mistreating her patient.
We had been giving her a second chance to work on improving her behavior and performance, but after last night we can no longer do that. ”
My head is spinning like a top.
“I…” I have no idea what to say. I shake my head, sinking back into my chair and rubbing my hands up and down my face. “What’s her future position in this program?”
“She has none,” he informs me. “After the notes of this meeting are registered, we will be terminating her contract as a resident. She was made aware of this just prior to your interview. We gave her the option to switch to a lesser role within the department. She declined.”
So Janet is gone. Not me.
“Grace?” Dr. Westerfield says softly, drawing my attention back to her. “We want to thank you for your continued dedication, professionalism, and discretion. We hope that in putting this situation behind us, we can all move forward in a more positive direction.
I meet their steadfast gazes and say, “Thank you. That is my hope as well.” Then I expel a heavy breath.
How the hell did this turn out this way?