Pascal's Wager by Nancy Rue Page B

plenty of pain meds, and they’ll probably give her a sedative hypnotic, too, for the anxiety. That’s pretty common. But there didn’t appear to be any injuries to internal organs, no head trauma. The paramedics reported that she was verbally unresponsive, but apparently she was just stunned.”
    Ted stuffed his hands into the pockets of his lab coat and stared at the wall above me.
    â€œWhat?” I said.
    â€œThe police officer told me the accident was Liz’s fault, that she ran a stop sign.”
    I tried to nod and frowned as my chin collided with the overgrown collar.
    â€œYou don’t have to answer this if you’re not comfortable,” Ted said, “but did she seem upset when she got in the car? I mean, upset enough to be driving erratically?”
    â€œYou mean upset over your conversation about the rubella test?”
    â€œYou heard.”
    â€œYes. And, no, she didn’t seem upset over
that
. I was more upset than she was because she
wasn’t
upset. I am making no sense.”
    â€œYou’re making perfect sense. I had the same reaction.”
    He stared at the wall again, freckles folding around his eyes and mouth. “Do you mind if I speak frankly?” he said. “If you’re not comfortable, I won’t—”
    â€œSay it already!” I said. “Just tell me what the
heck
is wrong with my mother.”
    He pressed his lips together. “You’ve obviously picked up on it—the language aphasia, the slurred speech, the errors in judgment.”
    â€œJust recently,” I said. “But then, she’s been avoiding me for the last six months. You’re obviously way ahead of me.”
    â€œThis whole thing with the pregnant patient and the rubella test—Liz knows that no diagnosis hinges on just one test. You use a constellation of findings. And this isn’t the first time she’s made that mistake in the last couple of months.”
    â€œI gathered that.”
    â€œAbout a month ago, apparently two patients’ blood samples were switched in the lab. It happens once in about ten thousand lifetimes with the system we have, and that wasn’t her fault—it was the technicians’. Anyway, the reports were given backward, and the doctor of the patient who received the positive result called Liz because the abnormal value didn’t make sense with what he was seeing in the patient.” Ted shook his head. “Liz didn’t even look into it. She just told him the tests didn’t lie—they were 99.9 percent accurate. She recommended the patientstart treatment immediately. She said nothing about it to the techs, who then routinely disposed of the samples. The doctor had the patient retested and then called
me
to tell me the follow-up test was negative, which means we now have another patient out there who thinks he’s disease-free because his results were negative. That shouldn’t have happened, Jill. That and about a half-dozen other occurrences I could recount for you.”
    I closed my eyes and tried to compartmentalize. I couldn’t. I didn’t have a compartment for craziness.
    â€œOne of her friends thinks it’s depression,” I said.
    â€œCould be. Depression presents itself in a number of different ways.” Ted arched an eyebrow at me. “You’re not buying that.”
    â€œI don’t know. This is all so…weird. I don’t have a scientific name for it.”
    â€œI don’t either,” Ted said. “But I think maybe somebody ought to find one.”
    I could feel my eyes sharpening. “What are you saying?”
    â€œWhy don’t you see if you can talk her into submitting to a psychiatric evaluation while she’s in here?”
    â€œSure. And while I’m at it, I’ll also shoot myself with a large assault weapon.”
    Ted grinned. “I know she can be difficult.”
    â€œNo, you haven’t seen