Out Of The Legal Files: How The Series Will Progress

A friend asked me last night where "Part Three" in my series out of the legal files (see the sidebar) was.

I am still working on it. It is the most gut-wrenching/PTSD-generating (for me) part of the story, and writing it is not easy. It could be another week before it's up, as I am planning a short blogging break.

I did not realize the toll this trip down memory lane would take on me emotionally. I know I project a very "tough broad" facade online. But that's what wounded animals do.

Right now, here's how the series is going to progress (I kinda feel like Bledsoe here):

"Part Three" is going to tell the whole story of the decision/night that got me fired - when I had to defy Mike Bridges's edicts and directly challenge the actions of another doctor in order to help a critically-ill newborn infant.

"Part Four" is going to outline, point by ugly point, the wrongful termination of a doctor in public service that NOT ONE state or federal oversight agency has cared to do anything about about in eleven years (once again, Bev Perdue does not get to talk to me about how much she or the great state of North Carolina values "the truth" . . . that's just bleeping hurl-worthy).

"Part Five" will detail events during RMA's six-month "notice" period" . . . including the death of an extremely premature infant I was not able to go in and evaluate (when another doctor asked) because RMA Director Mike Bridges had canceled my malpractice insurance prematurely (it kind of dispels the myth/lie put forward by the hospital that I was "free" to do anything during that period).

And I am still wrestling with posting "Shalala" as "Part Six". It's not a decision I have to make today.

After that, I'm not sure, but I will likely start posting letters from the legal file one or two at a time (as an extended "Part Seven") . . . first, the letters of colleagues (starting with Drs. Nancy Toy and Laurie Anderson's letters to JCAHO supporting the veracity of "Shalala") . . . colleagues who had nothing but wonderful things to say about me (never mind that, with the exceptions already noted, most of them took a dive back into their comfort zones in terms of doing anything substantive to help me when this all went down) . . . and second, the letters of parents who wrote in to complain about my departure. And getting all those up one or two at a time could take a month or so.

I am doing the bit with the letters not because I am conceited or it's "all about" me, but because Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin have held every floor that mattered for every bit of eleven years. And in their warped version (fueled primarily by a jealous "partner" posing as my "representative" to management), I was "not a team player". I was "arrogant and cliquish". I was "difficult" and my behavior was "embarrassing" or "disruptive".

The picture they painted of me in order to save their sorry, greedy, lying asses is not me.

But the myth of Mary as "bitch" is one that's taken hold over the years because of what I've had to do in order to fight back.

Let's just say that the other parents whose letters I will post did not agree AT ALL with Dr. Cheryl Freeman. But none of them were nearly as important as she was.

That's the way it is in Asheboro. And it's a huge part of the reason the town is "dying".