Siana

The next morning Sia woke up to find that Cain had already left. As she had to go to the Complaints and improvements department at 10 she decided to go to the hospital earlier to do as much work as possible. She proceeded to attend the morning meeting of the surgeons and, after it was finished, she let them know of her situation and quickly left the hospital.

- 10:12am, Complaints and Improvements department -

Sia had been sitting in the room for almost half an hour and her patient was steadily running out. She calmed herself down, refusing to give in to her emotions. If someone really complained about her job it was only natural for her to apologise and try to reconcile with them. However, if all of this was staged, and someone was out to get her, then they should be ready for her counterattack.

Soon the doors to the room opened and a woman in a black pencil skirt and white shirt came in. She looked professional but her gaze was really malicious. This made Sia confirm one of her conjectures: this woman had something against her.

She was followed by an elderly woman of about 70 and a woman relatively younger that could potentially be her daughter. Taking a close look, Sia couldn"t help but feel baffled. She knew who these people were as the patient from their family was operated on only recently. But the surgery was a success, so she had no idea why they would complain. Moreover, they were a bit overdressed for people who would complain about the health of their relative.

"No judging Sia. Wait," she told herself. "What if something really happened? Is Mr Jason alright? What could have happened?" She was truly worried now for the patient. She sincerely hoped that everything was just a mistake or something of sorts.

Elisabeth checked Siana out from head to toe and gave an obvious snort. She would make sure this would be the end of this woman"s career. After all, she was dumb enough to infuriate that sort of a person.

"Dr Siana Illes I suppose?"

Sia nodded and smiled lightly,

"Manager Elisabeth Hart?"

Elisabeth nodded her head and said in a contemptuous tone,

"No wonder."

"No wonder what?" Siana still maintained her smile. She would better not provoke her any further.

"Given your age no wonder you have failed. Instead of living the fantasy of being a doctor you would better study more."

Okay, this woman was truly out to target her, so why should Sia keep silent? Two could play the game.

"Hmm, I am not sure about your statement, but I do wonder how someone who judges by appearance and doesn"t carry out het duties got the position of a manager of the department."

Elisabeth was appalled for a moment but she quickly concealed her surprise. She looked at Sia with contempt and looking back at the two women suggested for them to sit down.

"Dr Illes you are convicted of mistreating your patient that caused a subsequent stroke. As a result the patient now is in the ICU of Northern hospital. So, I don"t see where I have gone wrong in a.s.sessing you." She sounded c.o.c.ky and conceited: she was stubborn on her own way.

Instead of giving an immediate answer Sia quietly observed the people around her. They surely didn"t look like a family grieving the condition of another. But she couldn"t draw conclusions based on mere observations.

"Manager Elisabeth, you seem to have forgotten that not only have you not told me about the patient in question, but also failed to introduce him/her and these two ladies to me."

Elisabeth was getting angrier by the second: she had told that person that everything would be done in a jiffy but this wench was now obstructing her plans. How naive of her: as if her insignificant self could do anything to her.

"The patient"s name is Jonathan Jason and these ladies here are his mother-in-law and his wife."

"And how did you connect his recent stroke to me?"

This was exactly the question Elisabeth was waiting for. Everything was done on the other side so shifting the blame was super easy.

"He had an intracerebral hemorrhage right after your surgery. Facts speak louder than words Doctor."

Sia didn"t get fl.u.s.tered at her words: firstly, she didn"t have her attorney with her so they legally had no right to do anything to her. Secondly, but actually more importantly, the manager of Complaints and improvements department was supposed to help her deal with any failure rather than ostracise her and make the problem even bigger than it actually was. It seemed like she only had herself to rely on in this situation.

"I would like to see the full medical history of the patient, especially the period in between my surgery and his recent stroke."

At this moment the oldest woman in the room suddenly intercepted their talk.

"Do you think you are going to bring my son-in-law back from coma by looking at his data? It"s all you! You are even so shameless as to try to run away from your fault. How can you even call yourself a doctor!? You are just a charlatan, a liar who takes lives! What are my grandchildren going to do without a father?"

Sia had a mixed expression on her face: she felt heartbroken for Mr Jonathan and his family, but at the same time she was sure she was not the one at fault. And she was no saint to take all the blame on her. She had aspirations to help others and she couldn"t stop at this early junction in her way to her dreams.

"Missus, I am really sorry to hear about your son-in-law and I can"t express my anguish for the situation. However, you can"t simply blame me for something without a proof and I won"t take just any attack coming at me." Her gaze shifted over the now nervous people in front of her, "I have performed a straightforward aneurysm surgery on him, and it was a complete success with no complications in the following two days. It has been more than two months since the surgery so he should have completely healed from it by now, which almost eliminated the possibility of my surgery causing the stroke."

Elisabeth opened her mouth to say something, but Sia shut her down with a cold look: it was her stage now and she didn"t welcome any side characters;

"Moreover, one of the major risk-factors for intracerebral hemorrhage is long-term high blood pressure, which I am sure is something Mr Jason has had for twenty over years now. Though I have performed the surgery on him, his health has been deteriorating as of late and many more factors could have caused the stroke such as smoking, diabetes, physical inactivity and so on. This is why I need to see the patient personally as well as his history. I also need some more people to help me a.s.sess the situation: and these people need to be blinded*. I do hope that we will sort out the situation, in case I am in the wrong I will take any punishment that is enforced by the law in such cases." Turning to Elisabeth she said with a piercing gaze yet in a whistper that was audible to only the two of them , "And the law says for the Complaints and Improvements department to compensate the family and not affect the work of the doctor. Am I not right, Ms Elisabeth?"

*Blinded - in scientific settings this basically means that one does not know what case exactly they are examining. So simply, the other people would just be given the history and be asked to deduce their own conjectures for the problem at hand