Mitch got on the phone and called Sheldon right back. It rang,
then went to voicemail. Frustrated, Mitch dialed again. After
the third try, Sheldon picked up.
“What are you doing, undermining me like that in front of
the Youngs?” Mitch was searching his pockets for a paper clip to
occupy his hands.
“Mitch, what has happened to you? You’re not the same guy
you used to be. Back in the day, you were an awesome physician.
WMI and Metro loved you. It’s no wonder you became chief of
your department so quickly. You had a gift. Your care of preg
nant mothers and especially high-risk patients was unmatched
in the city. But then something switched on, or off. Maybe it was
with Mom, or your dad, or your wife. You decided to take all that
respect and praise and run with it, taking it as a license to deliver
any baby anytime you saw fit. Your judgment was off. Your greed
for money went unchecked. Was it your father? Your need for his
approval?”
Mitch’s grip loosened, and he dropped his phone. He leaned
down to retrieve it. He couldn’t believe his own brother was say
ing this. He felt sick. He thought back to his ambitions in medical
school and residency. He went into medicine genuinely to help
people as much as to please his father. “Sissy medicine”—that
voice of his father’s pounding in his head, challenging him, bait
ing him, daring him to specialize in ob-gyn. When he initially
chose his residency in general surgery, his father was pleased. “It’s
244
JULIE HATCH
not orthopedics, but close enough.” He’d hugged Mitch, tussled
his hair like he was a kid, and patted him on the back, as if wel
coming him into the world of real medicine.
“Sheldon, you’re right. Once I switched out of surgery and
into ob-gyn, things with Dad were never the same. But I was
sure I could do it. I could prove that ob-gyn was every bit as good
as orthopedics, or surgery, or any other specialty. Then it just
happened.”
“What happened? What was it?”
“I decided to show Metro that I could turn pregnancies into
gold. I knew exactly how to make them the most financially suc
cessful hospital in the city.” Mitch could hear Sheldon still on
the other end, waiting patiently. “And you’re right. I took it too
far. I lost all perspective.”
Mitch sat with his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands.
He thought of all the things he wished had turned out differently.
He took a deep breath.
“Well, Sheldon, it is what it is. Que será, será, and all that
horseshit.”
Silence answered him over the phone. “Did WMI back you
up on this?” Sheldon finally asked.
“No, of course not. I decided to take it in the direction that
it went.”
“What about HHI?” Sheldon persisted. “Have you made
some kind of deal with them? Did they ask you to get involved?
Because if they did, I want no part of it. Whatever they do with
the information I give them is on them. Beyond that, I’m out.
Please tell me you didn’t agree to something more that I don’t
know about.”
Mitch hesitated. “No, you’re fine. This is all on me.”
