It's Nothing Personal (37 page)

It crushed Katharine to witness the pain she
had brought upon her friend, but Jenna’s anger gave Katharine hope.

Grabbing Jenna by the arm, Katharine
commanded, “You have to fight this!
 
You cannot settle!
 
You’d
never be able to live with yourself.
 
Do you hear what I’m saying?”

Jenna nodded.
 
“I came to the same conclusion the
moment I read the article.”

Katharine was thankful Keith Jones’ plan had
backfired.
 
Instead of breaking
Jenna, the media coverage had given her new strength and determination.

Jenna pulled the crumpled newspaper out of
her bag and waved it at her friend.
 
“This article was fully intended to pressure me.
 
Well, screw them, because their ruthless
tactic failed.
 
I did want to
settle.
 
I wanted this to go
away.
 
My biggest fear was this story
making the press.
 
Now it has.
 
There’s nothing more they can do to hurt
me.
 
There’s no way I’m backing down
now.”

Katharine started to respond, but stopped as
Jody wheeled the next patient into the operating room.
 
Jenna methodically administered anesthesia,
and Katharine slipped out of the room.
 
Once the patient was unconscious and the surgical drapes were up, Jenna
hid behind them and wept.
 
Out of
respect, no one in the operating room acknowledged Jenna’s sniffles or tried to
engage her in conversation.

By early afternoon, Jenna managed to finish
her cases.
 
On her drive to meet
with Jim and Nancy, her pager went off.
 

She moaned, “Please, leave me alone.”
 
Unclipping the pager from her waist,
Jenna read the message.
 
It was Julia’s
number from her office.
 
Reluctantly, Jenna called her back.
 
As soon as Julia answered, she said, “Hello, Dr. Reiner.
 
Dr. Wilson wants to talk to you.
 
He’s sitting right here.”

Before Jenna could assemble her thoughts,
Rob Wilson was on the phone.
 
“Hi,
Jenna.
 
I just wanted to see how you
were doing?”

“Not Good.”
 
Jenna could barely speak.
 
Once again, she lost her composure.
 
Her emotional instability was
exhausting.

Rob continued, “I’m so sorry about the
article.
 
I just wanted to call and
check on you.
 
I also wanted to make
sure you know the corporation and the anesthesia department stand behind
you.
 
We all recognize that the
article is full of fabrications and distortions, and no one thinks differently
of you.
 
Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Where are you now?” Rob asked.
 
“Are you still at the hospital?”

Jenna stared blindly out the
windshield.
 
“I’m headed to my
attorneys’ office.”
 

“Could you call me when you’re done?”

Normally, Jenna would obediently accommodate
her superior’s requests, but this one made no sense to her.
 
There was a point where Jenna had
nothing else to give, and she had reached it.

“Rob, I really appreciate your call and your
kind words.
 
If your reason for
calling was to offer me your sympathy, I am extremely grateful.
 
If there’s another reason, I’d rather
deal with it right now.”

Rob, stunned by Jenna’s uncharacteristic
boldness, paused for a moment.

“Listen Jenna, I’m sorry to ask this of you,
but we really need you to work tomorrow.
 
We are overbooked, and we are going to have to give cases away if we
can’t get them covered.
 
I really
hate to ask this of you, but could you do two short orthopedics cases tomorrow
morning?
 
That’s all we need.”

Jenna grunted, “Fine,” and hung up.
 
She knew this was a command, disguised
as a request.
 
All she wanted was to
hide from the world, but so far, the world would not allow it.

CHAPTER
54

Jenna sat across from her lawyers.
 
Her voice sounded like shattering
crystals.
 
It reflected her state of
mind.

“Why?
 
Why would this come out now?
 
The very day I go back to work after vacation?”
 

Jim and Nancy appeared nearly as shaken and
surprised as their client.
 
The
article in the Tribune was one of the most vicious attacks on a physician
either of them had witnessed during their careers.
 

Nancy spoke, “It’s an obvious pressure
tactic.
 
I’m not sure how this story
made it past the editors of the Tribune, but it did.
 
It’s a blatant one-sided attack against
you.
 

“And the fact that they waited to publish it
until you got back into town seems an unlikely coincidence.
 
Anders must have obtained your vacation
itinerary.
 
She wanted to make sure
you were in town so the article would have maximum impact.”

Jenna snapped back, “Well, can I sue the Tribune?
 
They took words from my deposition and
printed them out of context.
 
Isn’t
that slander?”

Nancy shook her head.
 
“I spent the entire morning analyzing
this article.
 
Every single word
they printed can be supported either by your deposition or other records.
 
Newspapers know the game.
 
They are very cognizant of exactly how far
they can push the boundaries.
 
Unfortunately, there’s nothing in the article that would support a
lawsuit.”

“So yet again, I’m the one who gets screwed,”
Jenna fired back.
 

Jim said sadly, “I can appreciate that you
feel that way.”

Jenna had more clarity than she had all
day.
 
For the moment, she had no
urge to cry.
 
Her hands remained
shaky, but she made no attempt to hide her tremor from her attorneys.
 
After a day like this, she felt entitled
to look, act, and say anything she wanted.
 

Confidently, Jenna declared, “There will be
no settlement.
 
I want to revoke my
consent to settle, effective immediately.
 
We’re going all the way.”

Jim fixated on Jenna.
 
“Are you absolutely sure?”

Jenna stared back.
 
“Absolutely.
 
Anders’ little game was unsuccessful.
 
I’m sure she intended to disgrace me,
which she did.
 
She also aimed to terrorize
me and weaken me to the point that I’d do anything she or Michelle Hollings
wanted.
 
That’s where she misjudged
me.
 
I’ve spent my entire life
backing down and being belittled by people like her.
 
Not this time!
 
If I don’t do this for me, then I’ll do
it for my daughter.
 
How can I
expect Mia to respect me and look to me as her role model, if I back down to
this?
 
All I want to know is, where
do we go from here?”

Jim said, “I know today’s been rough for
you.
 
This isn’t a decision you have
to make right now.
 
I have to be
honest.
 
A month ago, you came in
here and completely broke down.
 
Now
you’re saying you’re ready to go to trial again?
 
I want to make sure you think things
through.
 
It’s going to get ugly,
and we have to know that you have the strength to persevere.”

Miffed by Jim’s words, Jenna felt her
lawyers did not completely trust her.
 
She knew it was time to act like an adult.
 
Whether she truly felt strong and self-confident
was irrelevant.
 
She needed to
portray that image to Jim and Nancy.
 

Jenna said defiantly, “I will not let you
down.
 
I give you my word.
 
I also will not settle.
 
So, again, I’m asking, where do we go
from here?”

Her determination eased Jim’s doubts
slightly, but he was still troubled by her emotional state.
 

Jim said, “First of all, we recommend that
you obtain personal counsel.”

“Personal counsel?
 
What’s that?”

“It’s an attorney you hire to protect
you
.
 
It’s someone whose sole interest is in
your well being.”

“What do you mean, someone who is looking
out for my best interests?
 
Isn’t
that what
you
guys do?”

Jim replied, “We do look out for your best
interests, as far as the case is concerned.
 
But your malpractice carrier employs
us.
 
Ultimately, we answer to Randy
Stevens.
 
There may be things that
come up where our hands are tied on what advice we can give you because of our
obligation to Randy.
 
That’s when
it’s in your best interest to have your own private attorney.
 
When we hit bumps along the road where
we think you should consult your personal counsel, we’ll advise you of
such.
 
This is all to protect you.”

Jenna focused on maintaining her
composure.
 

“Is this something that’s covered by my
malpractice policy?”

“Unfortunately, no.
 
But the people we would recommend are
reasonably priced.
 
At the most, it
should cost a couple thousand dollars.”

“Okay.
 
That’s fine.
 
I’ll do
whatever it takes.
 
How soon do I
need to do this?”

Jim replied without hesitation,
“Immediately.
 
We’ll give you a
short list of names.
 
The one I’d
recommend most highly is Walter Morey.
 
We’ve referred people to him before.
 
He’s been very accessible, helpful, and
reasonable.”

“Well, let’s go with him.
 
I trust your recommendation.”

Nancy stood and said, “I’ll go get his
contact info.”

As Nancy walked out, Jim said, “I’ll contact
him and let him know to expect your call tomorrow.
 
If he’s unavailable, I’ll get in touch
with you tonight and give you another name.”

Nancy returned with Walter Morey’s contact
information written neatly on a sheet of yellow legal paper.
 

Jenna said, “I’ll get in touch with him
tomorrow.
 
What else do we need to
do?
 
Shouldn’t I sign something that
officially revokes my consent for settlement?”

Jim answered, “For right now, Jenna, go home.
 
Get some sleep.
 
Talk this over with your husband, and
call Walter.
 
We will not proceed
with any further settlement negotiations for now.
 
I want you to be sure about your
decision.
 
It’s going to take a toll
on you and your family.
 
Think about
that.
 
Let’s meet later this week
after you’ve had a few days to digest everything.
 
Are you free on Thursday or Friday?”

“I took the rest of the week off . . . with
the exception of tomorrow morning.”
  
The burden of being forced to work the next day only increased Jenna’s
resentment.

“Then call us after you get in touch with
Walter.
 
For what it’s worth, Nancy
and I are so sorry this happened.
 
It’s not fair.”

“No,” said Jenna, “it’s not.”
 

CHAPTER 55

The early winter sky had grown dark by the
time Jenna made it home.
 
She opened
the door and overheard Mia and Tom chatting in the kitchen.
 
Both her husband and daughter stopped
talking when she entered the room.
 

Jenna looked raw, destroyed, and empty.
 
Mia ran over to her mother.
 
Tom approached them and cocooned his
wife and child.
 
Jenna held on to
each of them tightly, as if they were her life preservers in a stormy sea.
 
For close to a minute, no one made a
sound.
 
Finally, Mia, her eyes wet
with sorrow, said, “Mommy, I’m so sorry.”

Choking on her own tears, Jenna whispered, “Me
too, baby.”
 
It was all she could
say.

Tom sent Mia upstairs on a mission that
would grant him a few uninterrupted minutes with Jenna.
 
As soon as Mia was out of earshot, Jenna
grabbed a bottle of beer from the refrigerator, took a large swig, and filled
Tom in on her day.
 
By the time the
Reiners sat down for dinner, Jenna was well into her second beer.
 
Oddly, she felt no calming effects from
the alcohol – her hands continued to shake violently, her nerves were
rattled, and her heart hammered in her chest.