Administrator Sterling: Dr. Vance, I need to see you in my office immediately.
Dr. Vance: Mr. Sterling, I am currently managing a critical recovery case in Room 402.
Administrator Sterling: That recovery case is precisely what we need to discuss. Now.
Dr. Vance stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind him to give the Miller family privacy.
Dr. Vance: What is this about, Sterling? That infant just suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and made a miraculous recovery!
Administrator Sterling: I just reviewed the incident report logged by the head nurse. You pronounced time of death at four fourteen PM.
Dr. Vance: Yes, because her heart had stopped beating for three full minutes.
Administrator Sterling: And then an unauthorized child entered the sterile field and touched the patient before she miraculously revived?
Dr. Vance: It sounds unbelievable, I know, but I witnessed it with my own eyes.
Administrator Sterling: Do you have any idea what kind of legal liability this creates for this hospital?!
Dr. Vance: Liability? A child was saved!
Administrator Sterling: You pronounced a patient dead while she was still alive! That is a textbook malpractice lawsuit waiting to happen!
Dr. Vance: I followed every standard resuscitation protocol! There was zero pulse, zero brain activity, and zero respiration!
Administrator Sterling: If the media gets hold of this story, the hospital's reputation will be ruined. People will think our doctors are declaring live patients dead!
Dr. Vance: What are you implying, Sterling?
Administrator Sterling: I want the official chart altered. You will state that the resuscitation efforts were continuous and that the time of death was never officially declared.
Dr. Vance: You want me to falsify a medical record?
Administrator Sterling: I want you to protect this hospital's multi-million dollar funding status!
Dr. Vance: I will do no such thing! The truth is on the security footage and the automated monitor logs!
Administrator Sterling: The monitor logs can be deleted, Vance. And as for the security footage, it is managed directly by my department.
Dr. Vance: You wouldn't dare delete federal medical records!
Administrator Sterling: Try me. If the Miller family decides to sue us for emotional distress or medical negligence based on your declaration of death, you will be the one losing your medical license.
Dr. Vance: The Miller family isn't thinking about lawsuits! They are celebrating the fact that their daughter is alive!
Administrator Sterling: They will think about it the second an aggressive personal injury lawyer gets in their ear! I am taking charge of this case personally.
Dr. Vance: What are you planning to do?
Administrator Sterling: I am ordering a mandatory extended quarantine for the child. No one leaves this hospital until the legal team drafts a full non-disclosure agreement for the parents to sign.
Dr. Vance: You can't hold a patient hostage under fake medical pretenses!
Administrator Sterling: Watch me, Vance. Sign the altered chart by tomorrow morning, or your thirty-year medical career ends tomorrow afternoon.