The 5th Horseman - James Patterson [73]
“Since then,” O’Mara said, “the number of fatalities due to pharmaceutical errors has tripled at the hospital.
“Why? I submit that it’s because of errors caused by incompetence and overwork.
“In the last three years, nearly three quarters of the staff have been replaced with less-experienced people who work longer hours for less pay.
“The hospital makes a profit,” O’Mara said. “But at an unacceptably high cost.
“You’ve heard testimony about the twenty people who died painful, senseless deaths because they came to Municipal Hospital.
“It’s sickening and it’s outrageous. And the management of Municipal Hospital is fully to blame. Because they really don’t give a damn about their patients. They care about the bottom line.”
O’Mara paced in front of the jury box, put her hands on the railing, her eyes connecting with the jurors as she spoke only to them.
“We heard from Dr. Garza last week,” O’Mara went on. “Dr. Garza has been head of Municipal’s emergency services for the past three years, and he doesn’t deny that during that time, the fatality rate of patients admitted through the ER has gone through the roof.
“And Dr. Garza told us why that happened. He said, ‘Sometimes a bad wind blows.’
“Ladies and gentlemen, there’s no such thing as a ‘bad wind’ in a hospital. But there is bad medicine. The legal term is ‘operating below the standard of practice.’
“That’s what malpractice is.
“When I asked Dr. Garza if he had anything to do with those patients’ deaths, he said, ‘I take the Fifth.’
“Imagine. He declined to answer because he didn’t want to incriminate himself!
“Wasn’t that an answer in itself? Of course it was.”
No one coughed or seemed even to breathe. O’Mara pushed on, looking at each of the jurors in turn.
“This isn’t a criminal case. No one’s going after Dr. Garza for a crime, even though he made this bizarre self-incrimination.
“But we are asking you to hold Municipal Hospital responsible for this ‘bad wind.’
“We are asking you to punish Municipal for putting profit over the well-being of its patients.
“And we are asking you to award my clients fifty million dollars, a sum that will hurt the hospital, even though it can’t begin to make up for the loss of those twenty precious lives.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this hospital must be stopped from practicing Russian-roulette medicine—and you can stop them.
“Ask yourselves, if someone you loved was ill or injured, would you want them to go to Municipal Hospital?
“Would you want to go there yourself? Would you even consider it after what you’ve heard?
“Please carry that thought with you into the jury room—and find in favor of my clients, and those they have lost at Municipal. Award them the maximum amount of damages. On their behalf, I thank you.”
Chapter 104
YUKI WAITED IN THE LONG LINE outside the ladies’ room. Her arms folded, chin tucked down, she was thinking how powerfully she’d felt O’Mara’s closing, and she was asking herself again why she hadn’t dragged her mother out of Municipal before Garza, that bastard, killed her.
The line moved so slowly that by the time Yuki entered the washroom, there were only moments left before court was due to resume.
Quickly, she turned on the cold water faucet, splashed water on her face. Then she reached blindly for the paper towels.
She patted her face dry and opened her eyes to see Maureen O’Mara in front of the mirror touching up her makeup.
Yuki was happily surprised to see O’Mara.
She congratulated her on her closing argument and introduced herself, saying, “I’m with Duffy and Rogers, but I’m here because my mom died recently at Municipal.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” O’Mara said, nodding; then she cut her eyes back to the mirror.
Yuki recoiled at the rebuff. A half second later she realized that O’Mara was probably absorbed, bracing for Kramer’s closing.
Worrying about the jury.
Yuki wadded up her paper towel and tossed it into the trash container, taking another look at O’Mara, both in the round and in her reflected image in the glass.
Maureen O’Mara’s suit was splendid. Her teeth were bleached,