40

She had a manual phone close to her which she picked up and dialed. Wu looked at Nolan with the same stressed concerned when the nurse opposite picked up. She quickly surmised his sister's condition by quickly asking a string of questions and requests for records. Wu was irritated by the time it would take her requests to be done, so Nolan was impressed to see her blow through hoops and get what she wanted in under twenty minutes.

She also had Nolan answer some questions as the process was slow to get records. Nolan knew the answers as he had his sisters records on his phone. Wu was staring at him with a peculiar expression as Nolan rattled off the stats he had.

After hearing all the information, Dr. Wu sat stock still and tapped her fingers on her desk. The reflection in the light made Nolan realize they had a light nude polish that was beginning to chip. As Nolan watched her hands she gathered them under her chin so his eyes met her mouth as she spoke, "How much morphine does your sister take daily?"

Nolan thought of the charts he had seen nurses scrawl in illegibly. It was blurry in his mind, but he focused on the paper. "I've seen nurses give her usually between 60-80 mL a day. Sometimes if it's a rough day when Ellie is crying heavily or can't sleep up to 100 milliliters. It's usually administered through her I.V. bag. They just shoot it in there."

Dr. Wu's eyes grew huge. For a moment, Nolan wondered if they would begin to bulge out. She clutched the sides of her chain to support herself. "What? That's not right. I have to call Amrati. The hospital can get sued for this. No matter. That sister of yours is in a whole different lot of trouble than my doctor friend thought. You'll have to forgive him. The anesthesiologist will probably be dismissed from the hospital or nursing staff. I'm so shocked. I can see you need an explanation. I'm not saying your sister will survive. I haven't examined her. These records are probably a bit skewed. Her prognosis is still the same, but we have found a malpractice error."

His eyes narrowed and his mouth opened as he looked at her in wonder, "What does that mean?"

She repeated his question to herself. "I'm sure you could use WebMD to figure some things out yourself but, small version is this. Spinal Morphine Anesthesia is a fabulous drug, it helps me to make sure that our patients don't have chronic pain. But with spinal injuries there is so much that we don't know that we have to try things that we may not like to get an end result that makes living easier. It has many side effects which I suppose may be causing symptoms rather than curing them." She ran a hand through her hair as she searched for the right words before finally settling. "I will do some research and I'll come by."

Nolan jumped out of his chair, "She's no longer in a hospital. I had her moved to a private residence with some supporting staff."

Dr. Wu's mouth formed into an O as she raised an eyebrow. "I don't usually do house calls, but in this case . . . this very rare case . . . I will make an exception."

"Could you try to make it tonight?" Nolan pleaded.

"You just watched me drink six shots. I'm very good at handling my liquor but I'm headed off to the bar after this."

Nolan looked at her in alarm. She was surprisingly good at keeping her liquor. She looked unfazed like she had just been walking through a sunlight garden and gotten hot from walking in the sun. It was a very slight flush. But he knew that he could not back down. "What about coming to see her tomorrow during your lunch break? I can pay you double or triple what you normally charge for a consultation. I have recently come into some money myself. I wouldn't mind giving it to you as I know this hospital does a lot of work for free. I saw the waiting room was mostly filled with refugees and people who looked otherwise unable to afford a doctor."

Wu looked at him with annoyance, "You are really devoted to her aren't you. I suppose she must be all you have. It's very good to see as it's not common in Americanized families. But I do have rounds to do tomorrow morning. I can't really get away until the afternoon. And, as doctors hours are I can't tell you exactly when I'll be off. But when I am done with my work here, I'll see to your sister's condition. I have responsibilities I must attend to to maintain my practice here as intriguing as I find your case."