Lahat ng Kabanata ng They Set Me Up, but I Saw It Coming: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

Grant Holloway and I had been married for three years.Everyone at the hospital said we were the perfect match.But as I held the phone to my ear, my palm was slick with sweat."What exactly do you need me to sign?"Grant sounded perfectly calm."Daniel Morris in Bed 16. The pre-op review got held up in the system. You're the doctor on his case, so it'd be better to have all the paperwork in order."Daniel Morris.Fifty-six years old.He had gallstones complicated by acute cholecystitis and was scheduled for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy the next day.But his repeat labs that afternoon had shown abnormal coagulation results, and his liver function tests were off too.I'd personally documented my recommendation in his chart:[The patient is not currently a candidate for same-day surgery. Complete further testing before reassessment.]Dr. Aaron Brown, chief of Hepatobiliary Surgery, had also replied in the department chat.Dr. Brown: [Hold off.]And now Grant wanted me to go back and si

Three days later, I returned to Avermont for the first time.Not to work.I was there for the hospital's internal review of Daniel's death.As soon as my car reached the hospital entrance, I saw a crowd packed outside the ER.Protest signs whipped in the wind.[JUSTICE FOR OUR FATHER.][STOP PRACTICING ON PATIENTS.][AVERMONT MUST TELL THE TRUTH.]Daniel's wife, Laura Morris, sat on the ground, her voice hoarse from crying.Daniel's mother stood nearby, supported by relatives and clutching a framed photo of him. She looked completely hollowed out.A man in his early thirties stood at the front of the crowd, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the hospital entrance.That was Daniel's younger brother, Ryan Morris.The warning messages had told me he was the one who would attack me with a knife.The moment I stepped out of the car, more than a dozen phones swung toward me."There she is!""That's Jessica Caldwell!""She got a patient killed and still has the nerve to show her face!"The crowd sur

The older man glanced off-camera.His voice wasn't loud, but it silenced the entire crowd."Why can't I be here?"No one around us seemed to understand what was happening.Dr. Wallace, however, immediately straightened, his tone changing completely."Dr. Whitaker."The moment he said the name, the crowd seemed to freeze.An older doctor blurted out, "Henry Whitaker? The former chair of the expert panel at the State Medical Quality Review Board?"The renowned hepatobiliary surgeon?"Didn't he retire years ago?"The color slowly drained from Elise's face.Grant's fingers stiffened at his sides.Dr. Whitaker looked at Dr. Wallace through the screen and said calmly, "Dr. Wallace. It's been a long time. Is this how Avermont handles patient deaths now? By offering up a doctor who wasn't even there just to give the family someone to blame?"Sweat immediately beaded on Dr. Wallace's forehead."Dr. Whitaker, there may be some misunderstanding here. We're still investigating...""Three days of i

The engineer said quietly, "The footage wasn't deleted. It was only hidden from the standard search interface."Dr. Whitaker said, "Restore it."Once the footage was restored, the image was much clearer than the badge-reader photo.At 9:44 p.m., the person who had used my old access badge to enter the surgical building was Elise.The camera caught her face clearly when she removed her mask.After swiping the badge, she slipped it into the pocket of her white coat.It was the spare access badge I'd kept in my office drawer.I'd thought I'd lost it a long time ago.But I hadn't lost it.Someone had stolen it to dig my grave for me.Elise's legs gave out, and she collapsed into her chair."No... It wasn't just my idea."She suddenly turned to Grant."He told me to take it! He said as long as we faked a record showing Jessica had come back to the hospital, he could list her as the primary surgeon afterward!"Grant's face hardened."Elise, think very carefully before you say another word."

The State Medical Quality Review Board eventually issued its final investigative report.The direct cause of Daniel's death was the improper management of a vascular injury during surgery and the delay in bringing in a senior surgeon, which ultimately led to hemorrhagic shock.Elise had violated surgical privileging requirements and pushed ahead with a case that did not meet the criteria.Grant had altered medical records, falsified the surgeon-of-record entries, hidden surveillance footage from the standard search index, misled Daniel's family, and deliberately stirred up conflict.The day the report was released, Avermont held a hospital-wide staff meeting.Dr. Wallace apologized to me in front of everyone."Dr. Caldwell, during the initial investigation, the hospital relied too heavily on one-sided information and rushed to contain the public fallout. That caused you serious harm, and the hospital accepts responsibility."The room was packed.Some people couldn't meet my eyes.Some