A local investigative reporter named Christine Dalton got hold of the case. I never learned exactly who tipped her off—perhaps a nurse tired of watching Mercy General bury complaints, perhaps someone in administration angry that this one would not settle quietly—but by the time she called me, she had already done the sort of work good investigative journalists do when institutions count on fatigue and silence. She had spoken to former patients. She had reviewed court filings, settlement traces, and complaint histories. She had found families willing to tell stories they had once been paid not to discuss directly.
Her article ran in the city’s major newspaper under the headline: Pattern of Neglect: How One ER Doctor’s Bias Put Patients at Risk.