Trama

Carmichael aggressively pursues criminally negligent homicide charges against a group of greedy doctors and a medical supplies saleswoman after a patient dies in surgery under unusual circumstances.

Detectives Briscoe and Curtis investigate the beating of a retired divorce lawyer Kenneth Slattery who is found at home in his study having been struck on the head. Slattery was retired but was still doing mediation work pro bono so the police begin investigating some of the clients who came to his home office. Slattery had recently pulled an old file from his storage facility in a 15 year-old divorce case. It leads them to a case of a medical partnership that may have been involved in deficient medical practices that led to the death of a 35 year-old woman, Maureen Gerard. It turns out two of the doctors used a new piece of equipment that had not yet been approved by the hospital and allowed a pharmaceutical sales rep to operate the equipment rather that a qualified nurse. ADA McCoy wants to offer the doctors plea bargain but Abby Carmichael wants to take the case to trial.—garykmcd

Harm

A woman and her young son let themselves into her father's home for a planned trip to the movies. As the mother makes a phone call, she sends the boy to get his grandfather, only for him to report back that grandpa won't wake up. The mother finds her father on the floor of his study, unconscious. Detectives Briscoe and Curtis arrive on the scene while the victim, who had been hit on the head, is taken to the hospital. The onsite medical examiner says that it looks as if he were hit in the head by a commemorative beer stein. No forced entry, it probably happened about two hours earlier that afternoon. The detectives note the victim, Mr. Slattery, is a retired divorce lawyer. At the hospital, the detectives interview the daughter, who says he was retired but also still offering mediation on some custody cases.

At the station, Lieutenant Van Buren reports that the stein had no fingerprints. The detectives are reviewing the custody case files, which reveal contentious custody problems. They interview one man while he's delivering ice: he and his estranged wife are both angry at Slattery for missing an important meeting before. He was also home during the time of the murder. They interview the wife at her apartment and she confirms that her ex was home that day as they were in constant contact by landline phone.

They interview Slattery's daughter at her father's apartment. She says that her father would never miss an important meeting unless something critical were happening. Curtis finds bills from a document storage company. At the company, the agent explains that Slattery had been there two weeks before and pulled out a specific file.

Based on the name of the file, the detectives interview Ms. McFarland at her business. She says Slattery was her divorce attorney fifteen years before and her current lawyer may have needed something from Slattery, because she's having a current financial issue with her ex-husband.

They visit Dr. Weiss, Ms. McFarland's ex, at his medical practice. He explains he is taking early retirement in a month. He doesn't want to talk about it, but Lennie surmises that his ex-wife's current attorney is looking at his pension as a possible marital asset. The next stop is the law firm where Slattery used to work when he was working on behalf of McFarland's divorce. A legal assistant explains the issue: Dr. Weiss claims that his wife waived all claims on his pension fifteen years previously in a settlement conference, while Ms. McFarland says she didn't. It is not written in the divorce decree, so that was why Slattery was being deposed.

At the station, they review a transcript of Slattery's deposition, in which he testified he remembered that Ms. McFarland waived claims to the pension in favor of a higher alimony amount. The transcript reveals that Ms. McFarland burst out, accusing Slattery of lying.

They return to Ms. McFarland's store to interview her assistant alone. She says that on Thursday afternoon, Ms. McFarland had an early lunch, then canceled a meeting. After she came back at 2:30, she went into the bathroom for 20 minutes.

The detectives interview Ms. McFarland, with her current divorce attorney, at the station, and with ADA Abbie Carmichael. They have a report that indicates the blood in her work restroom belongs to Slattery. She admits that she did it. She was extremely angry at how many times her ex-husband lied, bribed, and compelled people to lie for his gain. One example was an expensive property he had that he tricked her out of by doing an end run involving selling the property at a fraction of its value to his brother. She was so frustrated that Slattery lied, she went to see him, and spontaneously through a mug at him.

In her office, Van Buren reports to Abbie and the detectives that Slattery is out of his coma but not allowed to talk to anyone yet. Abbie says they can charge Ms. McFarland with attempted murder. Lennie says that he checked on the property deal and it's true; Weiss did trick his ex-wife. Abbie points out that if Slattery lied, it might mitigate the charge against McFarland. They decide to investigate Weiss and the possibility that Slattery committed perjury on his behalf.

Back to the law office, the assistant says she handles all of Mr. Slattery's business calls. The detectives ask if Dr. Weiss had called, trying to see if Weiss reached out to him and tried to influence his deposition. She says Dr. Weiss has never called, but Curtis finds a message from Dr. Bill Rudnick, who shares the medical practice with Dr. Weiss. She points out that there is nothing untoward about that, as Dr. Rudnick delivered Slattery's grandson five years ago and they became friendly. At the medical practice of Rudnick, Weiss, and Michaels, the detectives ask Dr. Rudnick why he called Slattery a few weeks ago. He explains that he sometimes calls Slattery for casual legal advice.

At the station, Lennie reports to Curtis and Van Buren that the three doctors all have issues. Rudnick is on three-year-probation at a hospital, Weiss is being investigated over billing irregularities, and Michaels has had his hospital privileges suspended twice in the last five years. Curtis reports that Weiss's finances don't reveal that he sent any money to Slattery, but it does look as if he is using his pension not to retire but to set up another medical practice and also to buy in to a retirement community.

At the hospital that suspended the doctors, an administrator tells the detectives that the doctors only have made rather minor mistakes, but there was one case where Dr. Michaels and Dr. Rudnick had a patient die of cardiac arrest during a procedure. They were exonerated of the death of Maureen Gerard by hospital review.

They meet with Mr. Gerard on the street. He says his deceased wife was in perfect condition, a marathoner and only 35 years old. She had gone in for polyps and it was a routine surgery, but she died during it. He says the hospital won't share any records with him and he's filed a lawsuit. All three doctors are being sued. Curtis wonders to Briscoe if the death was a criminal act, which would not be covered by malpractice insurance.

Weiss and his lawyer meet with ADA McCoy and Carmichael. They want to know what happened to Ms. Gerard; Weiss says he had nothing to do with it. McCoy is not sure they have much of a case but Carmichael is going to go forward and subpoena Gerard's medical records.

Medical examiner Dr. Rodgers tells Carmichael at the morgue that Gerard died because of a fluid imbalance during her surgery. There is a machine that monitors fluids and the record show that the doctors did not provide too little or too much fluid.

At the hospital, a head doctor shows Carmichael the fluid machine. She reviews its records notes a discrepancy: the machine looks as if it was in two surgical rooms at the same time. Carmichael interviews a surgical nurse who says that when she went into the Gerard surgery room, the hospital's fluid machine was in the corner, not being used and the doctors were using a different device. She said there was someone else there in addition to Michaels and Rudnick. She only remembers the woman's first name, Glynnis, and that's who was using the fluid pump.

Carmichael interviews Michaels on the street, who says he doesn't know anyone named Glynnis so the nurse must have made a mistake. He says there must be a mistake in the records regarding the timing and location of the fluid machine. He says they did nothing wrong.

Carmichael interviews the head nurse from Gerard's surgery, Claudia Panati, at her apartment. She says it's a legal case and they're not supposed to talk about it. She says the doctors did everything they could to save Gerard.

Carmichael tells DA Adam Schiff that there is no hospital employee named Glynnis. He suggests Carmichael gets a warrant to look for the second fluid device, even though the mayor's wife is on the board of the hospital. Schiff says he'll deal with the mayor if necessary.

At a forensics lab, a criminologist tells Carmichael that there is no record of a second fluid machine at the hospital and the original one is mechanically fine. Looking at the charts of the surgery, he notes that a higher amount of fluid was used in the surgery, but their own pump would not have been able to handle it. A medical company B&C Med Tech has released a pump that could work on that solution, but the hospital doesn't have it.

Carmichael meets with an executive at B&C. She wants to know if they've sold the pump to the hospital. He says the way it works is that a sales rep brings the machine for them to demo it before a hospital decides to purchase it. He calls an assistant to see if they had done at demo at the hospital, asking for a woman named Glynnis. Carmichael remembers her name from the surgical nurse. She comes into the office and says that she has made presentations to Rudnick and Michaels and says she has observed procedures with them, but has never operated a pump. Carmichael says that Glynnis is going to be charged with the homicide of Maureen Gerard. The detectives arrest Rudnick and Michaels.

In conference in the judge's chambers, the prosecutors argue that the doctors let an untrained person run a critical machine, which means murder two. The doctors' and Glynnis's lawyer argues at worst, it was bad judgment, not depraved indifference. After Abbie points out that bad judgment is criminally negligent homicide, the judge says that can be the top charge.

In Adam's office, they review the case. McCoy recommends a fine and probation. Carmichael says she'll make the case. She meets with Nurse Panati at a café and shows her how Gerard looked before surgery, happy and healthy. Panati says that Michaels has always been a good doctor who spent most of his time with underserved populations; it was only a few years before when he joined the more money-focused practice with Rudnick.

Carmichael shows McCoy at the office that she has Panati's statement which she thinks will help the case. McCoy is doubtful, saying that for criminally negligent homicide, doctors have to be proven drunk or stoned, and that's not the case here.

In court, Mr. Gerard reports on how happy his wife was and how the polyp procedure was supposed to be simple. He testifies that Rudnick was brusque with them before the surgery and did not tell them he was using experimental equipment run by a salesperson. Nurse Panati testifies that Glynnis would come to the hospital to make pitches. During Gerard's surgery, Glynnis ran the new equipment that was managing fluids. Panati saw the fluid wasn't draining properly, and when she pointed it out to the doctors, they ignored her. They realized the patient was in severe physical distress: she had been pumped with 10 liters, when 4 liters is the safe amount. Panati admits she falsified the OR fluid records to protect Michaels, who she's known a long time and respects.

Outside, Michaels and his lawyer tell Carmichael that Michaels has damaging evidence on Rudnick and will testify to it in order to plea for a lesser sentence. The next day in court, they are waiting for Dr. Michaels, who has not appeared. They move on and Rudnick testifies about how safe the new machine is and how it is better than older equipment. Glynnis had been trained more than anyone else on the hospital staff so she was the best choice to run it, even if that was against hospital policy. On cross, Carmichael says he ignored warnings from Panati and he was in a hurry. She points out that he has always said "the patient" and never used Maureen Gerard's name.

Outside the courthouse, Briscoe informs McCoy and Carmichael that Dr. Michaels is dead from a car accident that looks like suicide. In the judge's chambers, McCoy argues that that while Michaels is dead, his lawyer can tell the court what his client told him about the death of Ms. Gerard. The opposing side says this would violate attorney-client privilege. The prosecutors point out that Michaels was trying to make a deal in which he would testify what he knew, so his intention was to go public with it. The judges rules that the lawyer will be called to testify as to what Michaels told him about Rudnick's misdeeds.

In court, Michaels' lawyer reports that Michaels told him. Rudnick had an agreement with Glynnis: if he got their hospital to buy the new equipment, she would send kickbacks his way. With this new evidence, Carmichael argues that now Rudnick and Glynnis can be charged with murder two. The judge grants it.

In Carmichael's office, after Glynnis took an offer of manslaughter one, Rudnick and his lawyer, asks for reduced charges. Carmichael says 15 to life without compromising. She chides Rudnick for not knowing or caring about his patients as they leave. Carmichael tells McCoy, "Dr. Rudnick's bad luck you weren't prosecuting this case." Jack replies, "His bad luck one of us pierced attorney-client privilege." Carmichael: "Well, it just wasn't his lucky day," as McCoy leaves with a smile.