“No. What is that?”
“It’s the clause that explicitly permits project personnel up to two hours of leave for an immediate family medical emergency.”
Silence followed.
“Did he also mention that for the last ten days of my thirty-day stay, his quarantine had already ended, and he was attending celebratory dinners and TV interviews while I was five floors above him?”
Another silence.
I emailed him the PDF.
Several minutes passed while he reviewed it.
When Dr. Vance finally spoke, his tone had changed completely.
“He didn’t tell me the truth, Clara.”
“No, Dr. Vance. He didn’t.”
“I won’t interfere any further,” the doctor said softly. “Your decision is entirely justified.”
Marcus had lost his strongest advocate.
Three days passed without his signature.
So I turned to the professional skill I understood best: institutional auditing.
As a contributor to a national healthcare management journal, I wrote a case study about institutional ethics.
It examined an anonymous lead surgeon involved in a high-priority clinical project who had clear protocol options to attend a family medical emergency but chose not to use them because of concerns about career advancement.
I never identified Marcus.
