Presbyterian and they had always gotten along well.
Mira’s office was hardly a showplace. Except for a painting of Victoria Falls, the walls were bare. There was one short bookcase behind her aging wooden desk but most of its shelves had nothing more on them than a skinny layer of dust. If there was a saving grace, it was the perfectly arranged bunch of bright yellow daisies in a crystal vase that she had placed on her credenza.
Mira closed the patient file she was reviewing. She slid her tiny reading glasses down her nose until they sat perched on the tip.
“It’s so nice to see you, Morgan,” she said with a sympathetic smile, coming out from behind her desk. She took Morgan’s hands in hers. “How are you doing?”
“I’m doing okay.”
“It was a beautiful service. Your father was certainly beloved.”
“Thank you.”
Mira sat down on the corner of her desk. She pointed to two empty mugs. “I’m making some tea. Would you like some?”
“No, thank you.”
When Morgan didn’t say anything further, Mira folded her arms across her chest and said, “If you don’t mind me saying so, you look like a lady with something on her mind.”
“I need a favor.”
“How can I help you?”
“I could really use a quick education on pacemakers.”
“Why the sudden interest in pacemakers?” Mira asked.
“It involves a recent Code Fifteen that the Patient Safety Committee is reviewing.”
“I assume you mean the one involving the pacemaker insertion—not the open-heart case.”
“How much do you know about the case?”
Mira stirred her tea, the spoon tapping against the inside of the mug. “I know the basics. Her death was hardly a secret.”
“I spoke to the physician who represents the pacemaker company. He assured me that it couldn’t have been a pacemaker problem.”
Mira snickered and then took another bite of her Danish. “Now there’s an objective opinion if I’ve ever heard one.”
“You obviously disagree.”
“The woman underwent placement of a pacemaker and died several hours later. I don’t think you can make a categorical statement that it’s impossible there could have been something wrong with the device. There’s always a reason why patients go into V-tach. Who ran the code?”
“Will Balbuenas,” Morgan answered. “He and I have been over the chart so many times we could probably recite it by heart.”
“What were the patient’s potassium and other electrolyte levels?” Mira asked.
“All normal.”
“What about her medication doses? Did you check them?”
“Ten times,” Morgan answered. “Everything was right on the money.”
“Did she have a heart attack? That can cause cardiac irritability and lead to V-tach.”
“We ruled that out. Her EKG and cardiac enzymes were normal.”
“Did her blood oxygen level drop right before the V-tach started?” Mira inquired.
“Not according to the nurse who took care of her.”
Mira tapped her fingertips together. “I haven’t reviewed the chart but it sounds to me like you’ve eliminated all the usual causes of V-tach.”
Morgan reached into the pocket of her white coat, pulled out the cross, and held it up.
A puzzled grin fell upon Mira’s face. “I appreciate the gesture, but I was hoping to help you without resorting to divine guidance.”
They shared a quick laugh.
“Miss Greene was wearing this when she arrested,” Morgan said.
“Are you suggesting that being religious might make one more likely to develop a fatal arrhythmia?”
“Not as a rule, but maybe in this case it did.” Morgan placed the cross on the base of Mira’s desk lamp. “The cross is a strong magnet. I remember reading somewhere that magnets are used to adjust pacemaker settings.”
“A pacemaker can be programmed in a few different ways,” Mira explained. “Normally, it’s set in what’s called an EP mode, which means it only fires when it senses a problem with the patient’s heart rate.”
“What kind of a
Mira’s office was hardly a showplace. Except for a painting of Victoria Falls, the walls were bare. There was one short bookcase behind her aging wooden desk but most of its shelves had nothing more on them than a skinny layer of dust. If there was a saving grace, it was the perfectly arranged bunch of bright yellow daisies in a crystal vase that she had placed on her credenza.
Mira closed the patient file she was reviewing. She slid her tiny reading glasses down her nose until they sat perched on the tip.
“It’s so nice to see you, Morgan,” she said with a sympathetic smile, coming out from behind her desk. She took Morgan’s hands in hers. “How are you doing?”
“I’m doing okay.”
“It was a beautiful service. Your father was certainly beloved.”
“Thank you.”
Mira sat down on the corner of her desk. She pointed to two empty mugs. “I’m making some tea. Would you like some?”
“No, thank you.”
When Morgan didn’t say anything further, Mira folded her arms across her chest and said, “If you don’t mind me saying so, you look like a lady with something on her mind.”
“I need a favor.”
“How can I help you?”
“I could really use a quick education on pacemakers.”
“Why the sudden interest in pacemakers?” Mira asked.
“It involves a recent Code Fifteen that the Patient Safety Committee is reviewing.”
“I assume you mean the one involving the pacemaker insertion—not the open-heart case.”
“How much do you know about the case?”
Mira stirred her tea, the spoon tapping against the inside of the mug. “I know the basics. Her death was hardly a secret.”
“I spoke to the physician who represents the pacemaker company. He assured me that it couldn’t have been a pacemaker problem.”
Mira snickered and then took another bite of her Danish. “Now there’s an objective opinion if I’ve ever heard one.”
“You obviously disagree.”
“The woman underwent placement of a pacemaker and died several hours later. I don’t think you can make a categorical statement that it’s impossible there could have been something wrong with the device. There’s always a reason why patients go into V-tach. Who ran the code?”
“Will Balbuenas,” Morgan answered. “He and I have been over the chart so many times we could probably recite it by heart.”
“What were the patient’s potassium and other electrolyte levels?” Mira asked.
“All normal.”
“What about her medication doses? Did you check them?”
“Ten times,” Morgan answered. “Everything was right on the money.”
“Did she have a heart attack? That can cause cardiac irritability and lead to V-tach.”
“We ruled that out. Her EKG and cardiac enzymes were normal.”
“Did her blood oxygen level drop right before the V-tach started?” Mira inquired.
“Not according to the nurse who took care of her.”
Mira tapped her fingertips together. “I haven’t reviewed the chart but it sounds to me like you’ve eliminated all the usual causes of V-tach.”
Morgan reached into the pocket of her white coat, pulled out the cross, and held it up.
A puzzled grin fell upon Mira’s face. “I appreciate the gesture, but I was hoping to help you without resorting to divine guidance.”
They shared a quick laugh.
“Miss Greene was wearing this when she arrested,” Morgan said.
“Are you suggesting that being religious might make one more likely to develop a fatal arrhythmia?”
“Not as a rule, but maybe in this case it did.” Morgan placed the cross on the base of Mira’s desk lamp. “The cross is a strong magnet. I remember reading somewhere that magnets are used to adjust pacemaker settings.”
“A pacemaker can be programmed in a few different ways,” Mira explained. “Normally, it’s set in what’s called an EP mode, which means it only fires when it senses a problem with the patient’s heart rate.”
“What kind of a
Similar Books
