- today
- Prescription For Death
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Short filmTranscript
00:01In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups.
00:07The police who investigate crime, and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
00:11These are their stories.
00:25Miss, I've been here 40 minutes. I just need to know where she is.
00:29I told you before, sir, I have to check with admitting.
00:33It's ridiculous.
00:34Get a doctor! Stop!
00:36You want some help in here, please?
00:37No!
00:38She's turning blue! She can't breathe!
00:40Get the ambu bag.
00:41No pulse. Call a code!
00:43Come on, let's go! Move!
00:45I need a line in!
00:47Get the defibrillator!
00:50Who knew that wasn't right?
00:52How come I just got a decennial?
00:54Yeah, how'd you do it, Ray?
00:56You can't go in there, sir!
01:00Call a guard.
01:01Sir!
01:04No pulse.
01:05Give her up the ID.
01:06Nurse, check out this guy's name.
01:14No response. Get me adrenaline.
01:15Excuse us, please!
01:16Please, wait out!
01:17We're doing everything we can!
01:18What's going on?
01:19Excuse us, my daughter.
01:20Please!
01:21Please, you can't come in here.
01:22This is off limits.
01:23Don't even try. What's going on?
01:24Two last blood gases.
01:28Let's call it.
01:302317.
01:31Oh, my God.
01:32What the hell happened?
01:34Your daughter had cardiac arrest.
01:35Well, resuscitate her.
01:36The fever.
01:37Please, please!
01:38Your daughter is dead.
01:39Where are you going?
01:40I don't get this.
01:41She only had a sore throat.
01:42This is insane!
01:43Help! Please!
01:44No, guys!
01:45She only had a sore throat!
01:46She didn't even have a fever!
01:48She only came in for a prescription!
01:50I don't understand, guys!
01:51I don't know!
02:21She only left a sinner!
02:22She wanted a
02:34shield at a volunteering about controlling...
02:37Why don't.
02:38Don't!
02:41The one atks
02:43에는
02:44hun
02:45Van
02:46Van
02:49Where was she murdered?
03:14I told you, Urban Medical Center.
03:16Uh, I'm sorry, Mr. Moore, I'm a little confused.
03:20Your daughter was killed at the hospital?
03:23Yeah, in the emergency room.
03:24And I want to swear out a murder complaint against the resident in charge of it.
03:29This resident was treating her?
03:30No, killing her.
03:33But she was at the hospital for treatment.
03:36Yeah, a sore throat, muscle aches.
03:38She only went in to get a prescription for some antibiotics.
03:43Well, sometimes people are a lot sicker than they look.
03:47Listen to me. I was a medic in Vietnam.
03:49I know who's dying and who isn't.
03:51My daughter was not that sick.
03:52Somebody in that emergency room did something that killed her.
03:55Who's he want to bring charges against?
03:57The resident in charge of the emergency room.
03:59Oh, come on, Max.
04:01People die in hospital emergency rooms every hour of every day now.
04:06That may indeed be tragic, but it is not criminal.
04:09Unless somebody was criminally negligent.
04:11And how the hell would Mr. Morton know if that had happened?
04:14He was a medic in Vietnam.
04:16He said she wasn't sick enough to die.
04:18He was very convincing.
04:21I'm not saying no.
04:28Just had my first day off in two weeks.
04:33There is a world out there.
04:36You're the intern who treated a young girl named Suzanne Morton.
04:40Yeah, she's the last patient I admitted before I took off.
04:44Bronchitis.
04:45She dramatized her symptoms a bit.
04:47So I ordered a chest x-ray, put her aside to wait for a bed.
04:50Why?
04:51Right now we're doing a routine investigation of her death.
04:54Death?
04:57Well, she died?
04:58You sound surprised.
05:03Don't people croak here every day?
05:08Well, she wasn't that sick.
05:10You don't die from bronchitis.
05:15Suzanne Morton.
05:16She had pneumonia.
05:17The sputum examination and blood culture were indicative.
05:20We discussed it during rounds.
05:22Pneumonia, huh?
05:23A lot of people die of that these days?
05:25When it's complicated by chemical pneumonitis, sometimes.
05:29The patient was feverish and fell unconscious.
05:31She must have aspirated some of the contents of her stomach.
05:34Stomach acid and lungs do not mix well.
05:36Is this going to happen fast?
05:39Yes, it can.
05:40Excuse me.
05:41Oh, busy woman.
05:45Yeah, so busy she can't even make eye contact.
05:50Suzanne Morton.
05:51Yes, if you see Mr. Morton, please extend my condolences.
05:55Dr. Raza, were you on rounds when they reached her?
05:58Yes, yes, that is right.
06:00I came right away.
06:02Why?
06:03I didn't think she was that sick.
06:05We heard bronchitis, maybe pneumonia.
06:07No, no, no, no, no.
06:08She was very sick.
06:09She should have been in the intensive care unit.
06:11Unfortunately, there were no beds.
06:14You know, in my country, we accept death.
06:16But here, you're expected to live forever.
06:21You ever hold a human heart in your hands?
06:23Only mine.
06:25What year are you in?
06:27Third.
06:28We go hands on.
06:29Did you ever lay your hands on Suzanne Morton?
06:32The pneumonia, yeah.
06:34I spent 40 minutes trying to find an orderly to take her to intensive care.
06:37On the way back, I passed a gunshot wound through the neck with a six-inch exit.
06:42You ever see one of those?
06:43Yeah, well, they're not so exciting when you run into one in a crack house.
06:47Financial advisor needed an ER.
06:50Tell me some more.
06:52And that guy in the emergency room.
06:54Must have been his daughter was sick.
06:55He was going nuts yelling,
06:56Why didn't they do this?
06:57Why didn't they do that?
06:58Sounded like he knew his way around.
07:00Around the hospital?
07:01Around sick people.
07:03Those doctors?
07:04Something wasn't right.
07:06The way they looked.
07:08Worried?
07:09Excited?
07:11Embarrassed.
07:15Embarrassed?
07:18Does this make sense to you, Max?
07:21Sure.
07:22She had bronchitis.
07:23She had pneumonia.
07:24She was fine when she got here.
07:25She was dying when she got here.
07:27Godlike pronouncements sound like normal medical procedure to me.
07:32So, Max, what's your problem?
07:36Meaning?
07:37Meaning your attitude.
07:4182.
07:42My partner and I go into this fleabag SRO.
07:45Pick up some junky bank robber.
07:47I'm putting the cuffs on him.
07:48His girlfriend comes from out of nowhere.
07:50Jumps me.
07:51We're rolling around.
07:52I hit my head against the radiator.
07:54Well, you know, hurt like hell, but it's no big deal.
07:58A week later, I start slurring words.
08:06I go see a neurologist.
08:07Quote, top guy in Manhattan.
08:10He looks at me.
08:13He says, I want you in the hospital.
08:14I'm gonna do a CAT scan.
08:16Yeah.
08:17Well, I would definitely freak.
08:19Next day, Dr. God comes in.
08:21Says, uh, you have an inoperable brain tumor in your cerebellum.
08:27He said it like he was telling me they'd be serving chicken for dinner.
08:30We decide to get a second opinion.
08:32I go see another top neurologist.
08:35He does another CAT scan.
08:37He comes in and says, you don't have a brain tumor in your cerebellum.
08:42You have a subdural hematoma here.
08:48And a month later, I was fine.
08:51Hey, at least he caught the mistake, all right?
08:56Yeah.
08:57And when they don't, they just bury them.
09:04Dr. Auster will see you now.
09:07Let's go see the chief of medicine.
09:10I'm sure he'll be godlike, too.
09:12A diagnostician is like a detective.
09:16As a matter of fact, Conan Doyle modeled Sherlock Holmes on Dr. Joseph Bell.
09:23You solve every case you work on?
09:24We can tell a felony from a traffic ticket.
09:27Look, a patient walks in with a headache.
09:29Does she have a subarachnoid hemorrhage?
09:32A berry aneurysm?
09:34A retroorbital tumor?
09:36Or does she just have a headache?
09:38Do you give her an aspirin?
09:40Or do you solve in her skull?
09:42You make the speech at funerals?
09:45I saw that girl in the emergency room on rounds.
09:47She was in the hands of competent staff.
09:50The girl is dead.
09:52Well, people like to believe that medicine is pure science.
09:55Medicine is a science.
09:57But doctors know it's also a lottery.
10:00See what I mean?
10:01The guy's the chief of medicine.
10:04And all he can come up with is...
10:06It's a lottery.
10:08Pediatric staff need to change tomorrow at noon.
10:11Proceed, Sherlock.
10:12Hey, what do you do when you make a mistake?
10:23Use whiteout?
10:25Uh-uh, you cross it out and initial it.
10:27This ain't no letter to Dear Abby.
10:28These charts got to show everything.
10:30Or there could be serious legal repercussions.
10:33Serious legal repercussions, that's what we have here.
10:35Somebody used whiteout on Suzanne Morton's chart.
10:43Now, on top of the whiteout, it says acetaminophen.
10:47A common, everyday painkiller.
10:49But underneath the whiteout, it said meparidine.
10:55It's a narcotic.
10:56Big difference.
10:58Third-rate cover-up.
11:00Whoever did it probably wasn't expecting an investigation.
11:01Yeah.
11:02Whoever wrote meparidine also wrote acetaminophen.
11:05Look at the E's in acetaminophen.
11:08See?
11:10Metallic cursive penmanship and English style popular in the colonies.
11:13You see the shape and the angle of the loop?
11:16Now, it matches notations that were here, here, and here.
11:22All of them initialed ER.
11:25Emergency room?
11:27Ekbal Raza.
11:28She had a headache and a low-grade fever.
11:32Nothing more.
11:34I gave her an antibiotic and an antihistamine.
11:37No doctor would have done anything more.
11:39Sounds like you're on solid ground.
11:44Her psychiatrist had her on phenylsine sulfate.
11:47She was seeing a shrink?
11:49She'd been depressed since her mother's death.
11:51When did that happen?
11:53Last year.
11:55She developed peritonitis after a hysterectomy.
12:02This, uh...
12:04Phenyl, what is it?
12:05Phenylzine.
12:06Doctor?
12:08Miss Rossi is ready.
12:11Phenylzine sulfate, an antidepressant.
12:13A strong one.
12:15The patient died, but don't worry, the doctor is doing just fine.
12:24Okay, the tox screen shows acetaminophen.
12:30It shows aspirin, and it shows an antihistamine.
12:33So, there's no sign of meparidine?
12:36We ran the standard gas in chromatography.
12:38We know the girl was on something called phenylzine.
12:41Not a trace.
12:43Meparidine, phenylzine, recreational drugs, do another tox screen.
12:47I think you're wasting your nickel.
12:51Nobody takes meparidine and phenylzine.
12:54Unless they want to risk ending up here.
12:56It can be a fatal combination.
12:57Donna Coleman, please pull extension four or five minutes.
13:03I was exhausted.
13:05When I just came off the cancer ward,
13:07I wrote meparidine without thinking,
13:09but I gave her acetaminophen.
13:11What about the whiteout?
13:13There's paperwork required when you write a narcotic,
13:16and I did not have time for that.
13:18Dr. Raza, you just confessed to falsifying hospital records.
13:24That's a Class E felony.
13:28When they look at me here,
13:30they see an Indian or a Paki.
13:31They don't even know the difference.
13:32We're all supposed to be bad doctors.
13:35Can you ask anybody?
13:36I have to be twice as good as everybody else,
13:38just so they will think I am as good as everybody else.
13:43My children want to stay in this country.
13:44My wife wants to stay in this country.
13:46And to stay...
13:48All I have to do is to be perfect all the time.
13:51Well, you fell a little short of perfection on Suzanne Ward's chart.
13:54It was a simple mistake.
13:57Really?
13:59Well, if the toxicologist finds meparidine in Suzanne Morton's body,
14:03you'll be lucky if you're only deported.
14:05Dr. Fleming, please report to admitting in the comprehensive cancer care center.
14:08Have fun.
14:11Thanks.
14:14Max, dig this.
14:17Here's a guy.
14:19He swallowed his false teeth and they bit through his intestines.
14:22What did Dr. Raza prescribe?
14:25A good flossing?
14:27Oh, here we go.
14:29Mistake.
14:30Crossed out.
14:31Initial.
14:33Same here.
14:34You know, look at this.
14:35We could be holding in our hands the evidence to a mass murder.
14:37We wouldn't even know it.
14:40Yeah, all these have evening rounds at 6, 6.30,
14:44and the night that Suzanne Morton died, rounds were after nine.
14:50If you hear hoofbeats, it's probably a horse, not a zebra.
14:56Old medical schools, eh?
14:58Students tend to find exotic diseases and ordinary symptoms.
15:02They need to be reminded that most things are what they appear to be.
15:05You gentlemen are on a zebra hunt.
15:09Well, either a zebra or a horse using white-out.
15:13Well, maybe Dr. Raza made a mistake in the chart.
15:17Maybe he made a mistake in the emergency room.
15:20You trust Dr. Raza, don't you?
15:23Offered him a job.
15:25Wrote a letter to immigration this morning.
15:28Strange time to be hiring the guy.
15:30A good doctor is a good doctor.
15:36What time were rounds that night?
15:38Sometime after 6.
15:40They stand around gabbing,
15:42and we're trying to keep some poor jerk from bleeding to death.
15:47So what happened that night?
15:48Why were rounds so late?
15:50We waited for the chief of medicine.
15:52Dr. Auster.
15:53Got on high, descending.
15:55Well, he descended late.
15:57He said he'd been delayed at some retirement party
15:59for one of the service chiefs.
16:02Seemed like Dr. Auster had a good time.
16:05What do you mean?
16:07It smelled like he had been drinking.
16:10There will be a hospital plant rise beginning next Monday.
16:13We need volunteers.
16:17The hospital wanted to lay out cheese in a can
16:21and white wine from Bulgaria.
16:23So, I had the party catered.
16:25Duck liver pate, beluga melosol, caviar.
16:28Oh, yes.
16:30Anesthesiology has been very good to me.
16:33Did Dr. Auster have a good time?
16:36Oh, I hope so.
16:38The caviar cost 400 bucks a pound.
16:40Did Dr. Auster have a drink?
16:42Oh, yes. That's why I had a bar.
16:44Happy hour catering. 25 bucks a hit.
16:47You guys just supply bartenders?
16:48You supply bartenders, barmaids if you want them.
16:49Ice glasses, napkins, mixers.
16:50Who's?
16:51You supply, you say.
16:52You work the hospital job?
16:53I was there.
16:54Two waitresses and Rory, another bartender.
16:55Remember this guy?
16:56Yeah, Jim.
16:57No.
16:58Ed.
16:59Edward Auster.
17:00No, no.
17:01Jim.
17:02Green.
17:03The bourbon?
17:04That's what he drank.
17:05On the rocks.
17:06One every five minutes.
17:08I smell it.
17:09Someone gave her the wrong drugs.
17:11I don't know if it was Ganga Denn or Auster, but one of them screwed the Pooch.
17:17Mike, you look like you got a problem.
17:21All I know about hospitals is that my father is still wearing cards.
17:25ama
17:33All I know about hospitals is that my father is still walking today
17:37because he had a heart transplant and won seven years ago.
17:42I'm not saying all doctors are bad.
17:4699% of them are solid pros.
17:48It's the rotten 1% to quote our friend, Oster,
17:52that make it a lottery. You bet your life.
17:55Come on, Max. You ain't exactly a fan of the profession.
17:58I just want them held to the same standards
18:00that cops are when somebody gets shot or pilots when there's a crash.
18:03Yeah, and that's what bothers me.
18:05Listen, say I'm out with Maggie.
18:08We're having dinner. I have a few pops, okay?
18:11Go on.
18:11I look out the window. I see someone getting mugged.
18:14I run out, pull my service revolver out of my sock.
18:17I yell, halt.
18:18Now, one of the muggers reaches into his pocket,
18:21takes something out, turns around.
18:24I blow him away.
18:26Yeah, but the something ain't a weapon.
18:28It's the victim's wallet.
18:30That is still a totally righteous shoot.
18:32Yeah, you know that. I know that.
18:35Internal affairs smells liquor on my breath.
18:37They crucify me.
18:43I gotta tell you this.
18:44That's how this feels to me.
18:46Well, you know, there's a difference
18:48between a few pops and a bourbon every five minutes.
18:50Come on, the kid's exaggerating.
18:53Maybe he wasn't.
18:54No one said Oster looked or acted drunk.
18:57They smelled it on his breath.
19:02Now, you know looking and acting drunk don't mean squat.
19:08What are you guys talking about?
19:09Uh, back when Max and I were partners,
19:15I had a little bit of a drinking problem.
19:20Well, finally, he told me that he wouldn't partner with me
19:22unless I went to AA.
19:25And?
19:29And I told him I'll mind his own freaking business.
19:33I was under control.
19:34I knew what I was doing.
19:36I was just a social drinker.
19:40He made me so damn mad,
19:42I went out and I had a few social drinks.
19:43A couple hours later,
19:48I was standing in the middle of Lexington Avenue,
19:51not looking or acting drunk.
19:54But I had my gun pointed at a taxi driver
19:56because I didn't like the way he was honking his horn.
20:02That night I went to my first meeting.
20:07And I've been sober ever since.
20:08Get back to the hospital
20:18and, uh, twist a few people, huh?
20:22I'm begging you,
20:23don't make me torpedo my career.
20:26We need a second witness.
20:28Hmm?
20:30Look,
20:32Oster forgets more every week than I know.
20:36I came to New York because of him.
20:38Do you know what it means
20:39to be able to say
20:39I studied under Dr. Edward Oster?
20:44He could destroy the rest of my career.
20:48What career?
20:58He was drunk.
21:08The girl had muscle pains.
21:16The doctor ordered meparidine
21:17and the resident said something about phenylsine.
21:20I, I, I don't, I don't think he even heard.
21:24He took the meparidine,
21:25he injected it himself.
21:27What?
21:27I won't try to stop him.
21:28What are we gonna do?
21:29Wrestle Dr. Edward Oster to the floor?
21:30I, I, I didn't even know he was wrong.
21:35You know now.
21:38Now we have to get approval
21:39from an executive assistant DA.
21:41Stone's the boss.
21:42What do you want me to do?
21:43This case is politically sensitive.
21:45Ooh,
21:45gets tougher all the time, Mike.
21:48The Davids kid already made the turn once.
21:50Said flat out,
21:52Oster was drunk.
21:54I want to go in with more than a nervous resident.
21:57Well,
21:58the bartender says Oster drank like a fish at the party.
22:03If the resident testifies,
22:05there's a good chance we get the rest of the ER team
22:08to follow suit.
22:11Pack him up.
22:14Dr. DeMackis to CCU.
22:16Dr. DeMackis to CCU, please.
22:19See, we did a procedure called balloon angioplasty.
22:23But the pain.
22:25No, no, no, no.
22:25I don't think it'll come back.
22:27Look,
22:27I'm not saying that you can take a racquetball,
22:29but you will be able to walk,
22:31climb stairs,
22:32and swim.
22:34I guess we won't need our guns.
22:39Edward Oster.
22:43We have a warrant for your arrest.
22:51Practicing medicine drunk.
22:53It's not prosecuted much.
22:55We don't have to find a...
22:56First in his class at Harvard Medical School.
22:57Residency and fellowship at Mass General.
22:59Say hello to Philip Nevin,
23:00Dr. Oster's attorney.
23:03Author of the classic textbook and cardiology,
23:05the winner of the Lasker Award for Medical Research,
23:07published 175 journal articles.
23:09As you walk on water?
23:10The trash that you people usually prosecute
23:12can't murder fast enough
23:13to kill as many people
23:14as Edward Oster has saved.
23:16Now,
23:16I'm just trying to save you
23:18from a mistaken perspective.
23:20Failing to perceive
23:21a substantial and unjustified risk
23:23that might cause Suzanne Morton's death,
23:25criminally negligent homicide,
23:27consciously disregarding
23:28that substantial and unjustified risk,
23:30manslaughter too.
23:31See you in court, Stone.
23:39Nevin's is gonna flood the witness stand
23:41with a famous doctor
23:43swearing that Oster's across
23:44Queen Albert Schweitzer and Albert Einstein.
23:46And we've got a father
23:47who was a medic 25 years ago.
23:49Morton took on heavy odds.
23:51Maybe we can even them out.
23:52I want you to interview people
23:53who know Oster.
23:56So,
23:57you're that dipstick
23:58who's prosecuting Bud Oster.
24:00Is that what you call Dr. Oster
24:01around the fishing hole?
24:03It's what I've called him
24:03since the second grade.
24:06Some people do things
24:07and others...
24:09What do you and Oster do?
24:12We catch trout
24:13in Maine.
24:14Last time was in June.
24:16We sleep in the woods.
24:18Tell each other
24:18we're just as young
24:19as we used to be.
24:20And drink.
24:21Somebody pass a law
24:22against drunk fishing?
24:27I first admired America
24:29when I saw judgment
24:30at Nuremberg.
24:32Everybody pays
24:33for their crimes.
24:36I never thought
24:37it would be me.
24:40There'll be no prosecution
24:42if you testify against Oster.
24:44And no job.
24:46I got to love America
24:48and leave it.
24:53Two or three times
24:54each month he calls
24:55he says he's coming.
24:56He's always late
24:57because he's drunk.
24:59You know what they call
25:00those rounds?
25:02Liver rounds.
25:04Everyone knew.
25:05Suzanne Morton
25:07did have pneumonia.
25:09And Dr. Oster
25:09did tell you to lie.
25:13I have flexible hours
25:15in my training.
25:18Do you know
25:18how important that is
25:19when you're raising a child?
25:21That's non-responsive, doctor.
25:22Oster didn't act drunk.
25:25He never acted drunk.
25:27But he was drunk,
25:28wasn't he?
25:28And he was always drunk
25:29on live-arounds.
25:33Wasn't he?
25:33And he did tell you
25:37to lie, didn't he?
25:47That poor girl.
25:49All she needed
25:50was some aspirin
25:51and an antibiotic.
25:55Am I going to lose
25:55my license?
25:56That's not my decision, doctor.
26:02However, I will give you
26:03immunity from prosecution
26:04for conspiracy
26:05if you testify.
26:11You suspect, you know,
26:12but, you know,
26:13what are you going to do?
26:14Contact the medical society?
26:15Sure.
26:16Intern Stephen Simonson
26:18wishes to file a complaint
26:19against the leading cardiologist
26:20in the United States.
26:21Look, I admitted
26:26Suzanne Morton.
26:27It looks like
26:27I blew the diagnosis.
26:30And is that
26:30what's bothering you?
26:40Six months ago,
26:42I get this guy.
26:43He's 25 years old.
26:43He's basically healthy, right?
26:45He walks in
26:46with the worst headache
26:47in his life.
26:48Now, his neck is sore,
26:49but that's ambiguous.
26:50And Oster showed up?
26:53He prescribes him
26:54paradine for the headache
26:54without a patient workup.
26:56It's the worst thing
26:57you can do.
26:58It masks the symptoms
26:59of meningitis,
27:00which is what the guy had.
27:01And we saved him.
27:03Barely.
27:05Now, every time
27:06I see Oster
27:07walk into the ER,
27:08I want to grab
27:08whoever I'm treating
27:09and hide them in a closet.
27:10Good afternoon, Dr. Simonson.
27:21Sir?
27:22That'll be all.
27:28So, are we early?
27:30We got what we needed
27:31from Dr. Simonson.
27:32An intern, Mr. Stone.
27:35Are you planning on asking
27:36the cleaning lady
27:37to testify to?
27:39About the time
27:40I threw the tissue
27:40into the waste paper basket
27:41and missed?
27:42Ed, please.
27:43Look, every doctor
27:44in this country
27:45has to worry about
27:47some shy Stone boy
27:48or suing for malpractice.
27:51Now,
27:52we've got a prosecutor
27:54looking over our shoulder.
27:56The next time
27:56I write a prescription,
27:57am I supposed to ask
27:58the Supreme Court
28:00to vote on the dosage?
28:01Look, Stone,
28:02you haven't got a chance
28:03to convict,
28:03but this trial alone
28:04can stain Dr. Oster's reputation.
28:06Are you proposing
28:07me getting the Nobel Peace Prize
28:08and call it even?
28:09No.
28:11Adjournment with an eye
28:12toward dismissal.
28:14Because of Dr. Oster,
28:15a young woman is dead.
28:16A doctor, Mr. Stone,
28:18is not a magician.
28:20If you drove drunk,
28:21this would be
28:21an open and shut case.
28:22When you practice medicine,
28:23Mr. Stone,
28:25sometimes a patient dies.
28:26And when you're a lawyer,
28:27Dr. Oster,
28:28some of the people
28:29you prosecute
28:30are convicted.
28:31Defendants' index, 1983.
28:38Where are computers
28:39when you need them?
28:41Here's a little job for you.
28:42Keyboard every lawsuit
28:43ever filed in New York County
28:44into a computer.
28:45Most of my practice
28:46doesn't result in lawsuits.
28:48You got any better ideas?
28:50Uh, go door to door,
28:51ask if anybody saw us
28:52to kill the patient.
28:53We're gonna do that next.
28:54Uh, I, there,
28:58just saved us
28:59a lot of shoe leather.
29:01Stivik versus Oster.
29:03In Ray,
29:03the death of Angela Stivik,
29:05age 11.
29:07When Dr. Oster's attorney
29:09told us
29:10they'd offer us a settlement,
29:11my husband said,
29:12take it.
29:14It'll be over.
29:15We can stop thinking
29:16about Angela
29:17all the time.
29:21We bought the apartment.
29:24In the furniture.
29:26My husband sat
29:27in the recliner once.
29:33I'm sorry.
29:39When Dr. Oster
29:40came out of Angela's room
29:41to say they couldn't
29:43stop the bleeding,
29:45I smelled liquor
29:46on his breath.
29:49Bourbon.
29:49All I wanted
29:54was for Dr. Oster
29:55to say,
29:55I killed Angela Stivik,
29:57the beautiful daughter
29:58of George
29:59and Melanie Stivik.
30:04Excuse me.
30:09You know the difference
30:10between Oster
30:10and a serial killer?
30:11The weapon.
30:15You objected
30:25to the administration
30:26of Meperidine?
30:27I suggested
30:28acetaminophen,
30:30but Dr. Oster
30:31grew angry.
30:31He said if I didn't like
30:32the way the hospital
30:33was being run,
30:34that I should
30:34continue my training
30:35elsewhere.
30:37Thank you, doctor.
30:37Doctor.
30:38Do you know
30:40how long Dr. Oster
30:41has been practicing
30:42medicine, Dr. Risa?
30:43Rasa.
30:45I don't know,
30:4625 years, maybe.
30:49And do you know
30:50where he went
30:51to medical school?
30:52Harvard, I believe.
30:53That's correct.
30:55How long have you
30:56been a doctor?
30:57Two years, sir.
30:59I see.
31:00And where did you
31:01go to medical school?
31:03At the University
31:04of Peshawar.
31:08Dr. Mills,
31:13were you present
31:14on March 15th
31:15when Suzanne Morton
31:16was admitted?
31:17Yes.
31:18And what was
31:18your reaction
31:19when Dr. Oster
31:20prepared to inject
31:21Suzanne Morton
31:22with Meperidine?
31:23I said her chart
31:24showed she was
31:25taking phenylzine,
31:27but Peredine
31:28was contraindicated.
31:31And where did you
31:31go to medical school?
31:33Harvard.
31:36So, in your
31:43expert opinion,
31:43the administration
31:44of Meperidine
31:45in conjunction
31:47with Phenylzine
31:47killed Suzanne Morton?
31:50That's correct.
31:51No further questions.
31:54But isn't it true
31:55that you had to run
31:56a second
31:57toxological screen
31:58to even find
31:59Meperidine
32:00and Phenylzine
32:00in Suzanne Morton's body?
32:02That's because
32:03both drugs
32:04are unusual
32:05unto themselves.
32:06Thank you, Doctor.
32:07And would not be found
32:08unless specifically
32:08requested.
32:09Thank you, Doctor.
32:10Which they were.
32:12Isn't it possible
32:13that pneumonia
32:14killed Suzanne Morton?
32:17It's possible
32:18that death rays
32:20from Mars
32:21killed her.
32:22But I don't think so.
32:23Dr. Oster
32:30must have spoken
32:30to you
32:31during the course
32:31of the party.
32:33Every five minutes.
32:34Fill her up.
32:35Was his speech slurred?
32:37Not so I remember.
32:39Did he seem
32:40drunk in any way?
32:42I never saw
32:42anyone hold
32:43his liquor better.
32:43during her years
32:51of research
32:51into alcoholism,
32:53Dr. Walters,
32:54have you ever
32:55observed people
32:55who appear
32:56to be sober
32:57but are in fact
32:58drunk?
32:59It happens
33:00all the time.
33:01It could happen
33:01to Dr. Oster?
33:03Objection.
33:04It could happen
33:04to my Aunt Minnie
33:05but it doesn't.
33:06Just kidding.
33:07I'll rephrase
33:08the question.
33:11If a 55-year-old man
33:13weighing 185 pounds
33:18having consumed
33:2010 shots of bourbon
33:21in two hours
33:22appears to be
33:23stone cold sober
33:24does that mean
33:26he is in fact
33:27in full possession
33:28of his faculties?
33:30No.
33:32Now if that same
33:3455-year-old man
33:35weighing 185
33:37pounds
33:37has several drinks
33:39and he appears
33:40to be quite sober
33:41and makes a mistake.
33:43Would that mistake
33:45necessarily be caused
33:46by his drinking
33:46or might he have
33:47made that mistake
33:48anyway?
33:49Obviously
33:50that's impossible
33:51to say.
33:52You'd have to be
33:53that 55-year-old man
33:54to know.
33:55He got Oster
34:06drunk at Suzanne
34:07Morton's
34:08dead side
34:08prescribing the
34:09medicine that killed her.
34:10Why do I feel like
34:11we're on the ropes?
34:12I gotta go back
34:12over every shred
34:13of evidence
34:13and find out
34:14what we missed
34:15because Oster's
34:16brilliant doesn't
34:17mean he didn't
34:17do something dumb
34:18and cheer up.
34:20We got all weekend.
34:26Over the past
34:27five years
34:28the state health
34:29department has been
34:29notified of six
34:30adverse occurrences
34:31in the urban medical
34:32center emergency room.
34:33Adverse occurrences?
34:34Nice phrase.
34:36There were people
34:36who died for reasons
34:37not immediately clear.
34:38In all six cases
34:40no fault was found.
34:42Five of the cases
34:43happened all night
34:44that Dr. Oster
34:45happened to be
34:45in the emergency room.
34:46Interesting.
34:47Not evidence.
34:49Suzanne Morton
34:50and Zestivik
34:51a 25-year-old
34:53guy with meningitis
34:54now statistical anomalies.
34:56This is beyond coincidence.
34:58The case of Morton girl
34:59you cannot prove
35:00that he crossed the line
35:02between criminal recklessness
35:04and unfortunate mistake.
35:07If he knew
35:07he was an alcoholic
35:08then drinking
35:11before going to work
35:11was criminally reckless.
35:14The crime did not
35:15take place
35:16in the emergency room.
35:18It took place
35:18at the cocktail party.
35:21Excellent.
35:23Okay, okay.
35:25I'm an alcoholic
35:26and I know
35:26I'm an alcoholic.
35:27What do I do?
35:28Buy liquor?
35:30We've got charge receipts
35:31for enough bourbon
35:31to prove that...
35:32That proves he drank.
35:33It doesn't prove
35:33he knew he was a drunk.
35:34Go to AA meetings.
35:38We can't canvas
35:39hundreds of AA meetings
35:40for tomorrow afternoon
35:41and there are no AA meetings
35:42in his calendar.
35:46Whoa.
35:48Whoa.
35:49What?
35:51Whenever he left town
35:52he called the office
35:53every day.
35:54Collect.
35:55Except on his last
35:56fishing trip.
35:58Where did you spend
35:59the week of June 10th,
36:00Mr. Hoffman?
36:02In Maine, fishing.
36:04Was Edward Auster
36:05with you?
36:16Was Edward Auster
36:17with you?
36:20No.
36:22Did he ask you
36:22to tell people
36:23that he had been
36:24with you on that trip?
36:25Yes.
36:29And why was that,
36:30Mr. Hoffman?
36:32He didn't want anyone
36:33to know where he was.
36:36Why was that?
36:40He was embarrassed.
36:42Why was that?
36:46He checked himself
36:47into a clinic.
36:48What clinic?
36:50The Colson Clinic.
36:52What kind of clinic
36:53is the Colson Clinic?
36:55Mr. Hoffman?
37:00It's a substance abuse clinic.
37:13In his first group sessions
37:14at the clinic,
37:15Dr. Auster told us
37:16he had gone through college
37:17in three years.
37:19And he became
37:20chief of medicine
37:21at a major New York hospital
37:22in only ten years.
37:23Anything else?
37:25I believe he also mentioned
37:27that he skipped
37:28fifth grade.
37:31Dr. Auster
37:32had very little patience
37:33with our program.
37:35How long
37:36does your treatment
37:37program last?
37:3828 days.
37:41How long
37:42did Dr. Auster stay?
37:43Six days.
37:45He left
37:45against our advice.
37:46Would you say
37:47that Dr. Auster
37:47knew he was
37:48an alcoholic
37:49by the time he left?
37:50Oh, he would
37:51never have come
37:52in the first place
37:53if he hadn't.
37:54I have no
37:55further questions.
37:56Are you positive?
37:56Yes.
38:02Now, I am going
38:03to ask you
38:04to limit your
38:04responses to my
38:05question to a
38:06simple yes or no
38:07so we can avoid
38:08these subjective
38:09flights of fantasy
38:10that your last
38:11statement exemplified.
38:12Do you understand
38:13my request,
38:14Dr. Rasmussen?
38:16Yes.
38:16Good.
38:20Now,
38:20did Dr. Auster
38:22say to you
38:22I am an alcoholic?
38:26No.
38:28In fact,
38:29didn't Dr. Auster
38:30say to you
38:30I am not
38:31an alcoholic?
38:32You must
38:33have...
38:33Yes or no,
38:34Dr. Rasmussen?
38:35Please.
38:36Did he say
38:36I am not
38:38an alcoholic?
38:45Yes.
38:46No more
38:49questions.
38:51You may
38:51step down,
38:52Doctor.
38:54Did Dr. Auster
38:55discuss his
38:56drinking with you?
38:58Anything that
38:58transpired between
39:00Dr. Auster
39:00and myself
39:01is protected
39:01by patient
39:02doctor privilege.
39:04But as well
39:04as patient
39:05and doctor
39:05you're friends.
39:07We are.
39:09Where did you
39:10have lunch
39:10with him
39:10on June 7th?
39:11In your office?
39:13No.
39:14At the Four Seasons.
39:15Did you conduct
39:17your physical
39:17examination
39:18of Dr. Auster
39:19there?
39:21No.
39:22Did you
39:23bill him
39:23for your time?
39:27No.
39:28It...
39:29It was a...
39:30A friendly lunch?
39:31Yes.
39:32Oh.
39:33So privilege
39:33is not an issue
39:34here.
39:37Did you say
39:38anything during
39:39your friendly lunch
39:39that upset him?
39:40doctor?
39:46I...
39:47I...
39:47I told him
39:49that, um...
39:53If he didn't
39:54stop drinking
39:55he'd be dead
39:55in five years.
39:56Yes.
40:05Does the defense
40:08wish to begin
40:08or would you
40:09refer to break
40:09for an early lunch
40:10Mr. Nevins?
40:11If it please
40:11the court
40:12the defense
40:12can bring
40:13its one witness
40:13before noon.
40:15Proceed.
40:16The defense
40:17calls Dr. Edward Auster.
40:24And so
40:25the tragic
40:26death
40:26of a six-year-old
40:27led to sight
40:29for one child
40:30and a new heart
40:31for another.
40:32Oh, the boy
40:33who got the heart
40:34is now
40:34the star
40:34shortstop
40:35for the
40:35little league
40:36baseball team.
40:37And finally
40:38how many
40:38doctors
40:40and immediate
40:41family members
40:41of doctors
40:42have you treated
40:42in the past
40:43ten years?
40:46I...
40:47I really
40:47have no idea.
40:49Ah, well
40:49I do.
40:50I did some research.
40:51Over 300.
40:53So it seems
40:53that you're
40:54the kind of doctor
40:55whose hands
40:55other doctors
40:56put their lives in.
40:58Well, I certainly
40:59hope I've lived
40:59up to that trust.
41:02From, uh...
41:03Defense rest,
41:04Your Honor.
41:04Mr. Stone,
41:06the hour's
41:07almost up.
41:08Could you hold
41:08your cross-examination
41:10until after lunch?
41:11Of course,
41:11Your Honor.
41:16Thanks.
41:22Go back to my office.
41:28Okay.
41:32I think it's
41:42going to go
41:43Good, here are the
41:44depths of the other
41:45.
41:56.
41:56so then you do think patients should know as much as possible about the doctors to treat them
42:10yes of course where he was trained who trained you personal habits no i don't see why
42:16unless it impacts upon his ability as a physician well let's talk about that
42:23have you had a drink today objection your honor relevancy i'll allow it
42:33yes more than one
42:40yes
42:45how many more than one
42:53i'm not sure do you recall was it between two and five drinks i don't recall
43:00doctor is it not a fact that you had six bourbons on the rocks at chances pub not 45 minutes ago
43:11objection your honor i'll allow it let's move on mr stone
43:15would you step into the well dr oster objection your honor there's no need for dr oster to stand
43:20sidebar please your honor
43:27what's going on mr stone does dr oster look drunk to you your honor what the hell is that supposed to
43:32i must be allowed to show dr oster is in the courtroom and he's drunk
43:35your honor i strenuously object to this overruled
43:39this is the new york city police department manual i'm going to administer a standard test
43:54to determine whether a person is operating a motor vehicle under the influence
44:00this is an outrage do as mr stone instructs you doctor
44:05raise your arm to the level of your shoulder close your eyes and point your nose with your index finger
44:16i'm sorry
44:23i'm sorry
44:31i'm sorry
44:38congratulations
44:45how did you know
44:51my father
44:57every day at lunch
45:21or
45:22you
45:24you
45:34you
45:37you
45:38you
45:42you
45:44Oh
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