freedom,” said Tony Lennox.
“Yes. At the most you may get perhaps less restrictions and limitations to your practice then, but again with the stain on your professional reputation sealed for good. And all after having lost half a year of income.”
“With the stain of the suspension, you may also have trouble then finding a medical group or a hospital that will take you…” added Barbara.
A pause followed…
“My wife Patty,” said then Dr. Lennox, “left me without saying a word the day after I was released from jail now almost a month ago. She has not returned and has not called me back. She probably does not want me to contact her either–because I can’t reach her. She probably has cancelled her line, taken another cell provider and changed her phone number…
“I’ve heard that in cases like this, if there are big pockets, that the non-accused spouse (as my wife) often leaves and sues for half of the moneys and properties held together and for emotional damage after the wrongful death. But she knows in our case we don’t have that much; except for having the house paid off, but it is just in my name. We don’t even have life insurance and have not started to save for retirement… And not practicing, I don’t have any income to split and pay her alimony… She probably won’t even sue me, though perhaps one day, without announcing herself, she will show up ‘to grab her stuff’ and half-empty the house. If she does, the sooner the better!”
“Gee, I am sorry for all this, Tony,” said Barbara. “It couldn’t have happen to a nicer guy…”
Judge Good then said: “Tony. At this point you have some important matters to consider. ONE, whether you want or not to appeal that decision of OPC, not so much to cancel the 6 month suspension, which you won’t be able to do because of time constraints and price, but to just limit the post-suspension ‘probationary restrictions’ they are telling you most likely will follow. If you decide to appeal, you have to decide which lawyer to choose for that and no matter whom you pick, be prepared to spend big bucks unless you do it yourself. And if you go ‘solo’ you are not likely to get very far. If you hire a lawyer you can negotiate a postponement of paying his fee perhaps till after you are back in practice, and in installments…
“TWO: The issue of reparations due to you for the awful damage to your professional reputation, income and family life (plus the destruction of your marriage) done by the hospital not having tapped your daughter at bedside (I heard from Dr. Newman that he called that ‘a subdural tap’), quite easily, right in the ER, which could have saved your daughter’s life in all likelihood with no risks. You would be stating that THEY killed her with their incompetence, not YOU with what was a judgment call. With the right kind of medical and neurosurgical experts – and another, probably very expensive lawyer that perhaps you can hire on ‘contingency’ basis. In time, THAT may bring you a substantial amount of cash…
“THREE: Acting as a devil’e advocate now against my own legal profession, you could even consider, as another possible reparation, the suing of your own lawyer in defending you from murder so incompetently; with his not having a spine or trying his hardest, the lesser but wrong conviction of ‘Involuntary Manslaughter’ might have stood had I not called Dr. Newman, etc. as medical experts. HE should have searched and found them earlier! From the legal side, you are in this bad situation because of his incompetence, because of him! But that would also be a protracted legal matter and you may have trouble finding locally a lawyer willing to sue him on this… You’ll probably have to look for a law firm out-of-town.
“Yet one or both suits for reparations might prove financially a welcome downfall for you down the road, and you may need it when the State has rendered you literally broke with a for-ever-damaged professional and civil reputation…
“FINALLY, and linked to those two possible suits and their outcome, is the possibility that your wife at some point over the next 3-5 years may still sue you -after the death of your child in your care- in civil court ‘for wrongful death.’ If that happens, of course, and if you have one or both of the other two suits going, you and/or your new lawyer then will condition and subordinate her demand to the outcome of the other two, eventually having, in some negotiated measure, to split your winnings with her!”…
“Wow!” said Nora Phillips. “That seems like it is all going to require a lot of thinking and searching and phone calls and standings and reputations to check out through colleagues and even lawyers, the court clerks, word of mouth and the internet. But at least you should be able to undertake those liability suits with no cost up front to you!. We can help you to find the right law firm that will work for you on contingency, if you want.”
“Yes” added Judge Good. “You won’t make ANY money in Medicine for the next 6 months, but you should be able to stay afloat one way or another without any new income perhaps for a good 10 to 12 months with cash left over you may have, even having a garage sale, and monies still trickling down from your past practice. [It would be a big plus if you can sell your tragic story to a good publishing house or national News for some good bucks…] After that, If you have luck getting a salaried position, you’ll be OK, You may even want to consider relocating out of state if you have a license elsewhere, as I recommended Nora. Working here may be uncomfortable for you with the way the Press has treated you. Plus OPC won’t throw your file away, regardless of when they are ‘done’ with your present case.… And if all falls through or if it is too hard to get licensed elsewhere, eventually the monies you may get in reparation may make up for the vacuum, at least for your pocket, if not emotionally.
“And you may want,” said Nora, “to keep your monetary affairs and legal pursuits as quiet as possible. If your wife Patty does not finds out, perhaps she will not be coming after you, especially if you have disappeared from this area and she still thinks that you remain destitute.. In the meantime, you will be seeking the reparations judge Good is talking about ONLY for the wrong done to YOU and to you only, though she may start on her own some type of suit… Don’t you agree, Ken?”
“I agree,” he said. “YOU are the one mis-accused first of Murder, then of Involuntary Manslaughter, when you did neither, not she. You were the only one faulted by the Hospital ER and its doctors and then by your lawyer… Whether your position, the recoveries you get, the return of your license AND your emotional state when it is all over, tell your conscience then or not to share anything with her -if she is around and can be contacted- it will be all up to you.”
“If you survive all this,” said Barbara, “after she left you without saying a word, abandoned you in your worst possible crisis, just out of jail, when you needed all the support you could get, at least a big hug of welcome back home, darling, I say, you owe her nothing and you should give her NOTHING!
“Yet,” the judge went on as he motioned to his wife to calm down, “besides common sense telling us that the wrong suffered by you -professionally, emotionally, financially- was only done to you, not to her, and that sharing eventually any funds with her should be only up to your own conscience, a smart, sleazy lawyer she could hire could still demand as much as 1/2 of what you get if she learns that you got any monies out of all those incompetent folks, even if she thought initially too that you were guilty. The whole ordeal and its repercussions to you -even her walking out of your marriage- was brought on in the first place by the loss of HER child. So even if the loss of your daughter was not your crime or carelessness, she would have a point, legally…”
“Really!?” Barbara exclaimed, surprised.
Dr. Lennox was left with much to think about and plan. The lunch meeting having opened his eyes into the legal ramification of things substantially. As they were heading to their respective cars, Barbara whispered to the really crushed Dr. Lennox:
“Call me whenever you want to, Tony. All three of us will be happy to give you a hand in whatever way we can.”
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