Chapter 44
Gary tried to arrive at the hospital earlier than he actually did at 10:30. The paperwork assigning guardianship with original signatures wasn’t delivered to his hotel until just after 10:00. He was a little perturbed when the lawyers found out the institute would only accept electronic forms temporarily and only to start the process to allow Dr. Cochrane to be discharged into their custody. Having received most of the final paperwork and presenting it to the institute’s legal department, Gary requested the primary care doctor for Dr. Cochrane to be paged. The staff informed Gary that many of the patient wards, counseling rooms, and rehab areas did not contain public address speakers so as not to disturb counseling sessions or startle and frighten any of the patients. It was very possible the doctor wouldn’t hear a page.
Why not just send an orderly? Gary thought, wanting to take charge of retrieving the doctor himself. Within minutes, the doctor had arrived, and Gary was pleased he wouldn’t have to insist the staff have someone find him. After an hour with all the signatures garnered onto the documents, the doctor finalized the discharge orders.
“Well, thank you for working this,” Gary remarked. “We should have a couple of our company’s employees arriving from the airport in a short while to pick him up if the institute isn’t able to transport him.”
“Very good,” the doctor replied, placing the paperwork into proper order.
“By the way, though, just wanted to know if there were any visitors who came to see Dr. Cochrane after he was brought here?” Gary asked wanting to make sure there was no exposure to sensitive information.
“None that I’m aware of. The only one to talk him was the chaplain.”
“What kind of chaplain?”
“A Catholic chaplain, Father Hernandez I believe is his name.”
Gary was troubled. “What do you mean ‘chaplain’? The Father talked to Dr. Cochrane? No one was supposed to talk to him.”
“I mean that the priest, Father, holy man, named Father Hernandez, talked to your blue-papered patient, Dr. Cochrane. The order just said keep him isolated. And even if the order did say for no one to talk him, chaplains don’t count. They’re part of the staff authorized to talk to patients and can maintain confidentiality.”
“Well, can you at least tell me what they talked about?” Gary asked.
“Hell, I don’t know. Some spiritual bullshit according to the orderlies.”
“They heard everything as well?”
“No, when I got there, they were by the ward’s dayroom entrance for priest confidentiality rights. Why’re you so worried about it?”
“Where’s Father Hernandez now?” Gary asked, ignoring the doctor’s question.
“I don’t know. I talked to him a short while ago. He mentioned he was going to try and spend some time with a couple of friends who came out from L.A. You should be able to find him at his office in the main admin building.”
“What do you mean friends from Los Angeles?”
“Yeah, some nun and some professor.”
“And you said they were friends of his?”
“His friends, his life, I only need to keep close tabs on the patients,” the doctor retorted, placing the papers in a folder and turning toward the other wards to continue his rounds, dismissing Gary. The priest’s name didn’t arouse any suspicions until Gary heard about the two visitors from Los Angeles. He pondered whether the Father Hernandez mentioned by the doctor was the same one that Cardinal Millhouse mentioned was researching the angel events, or was just another priest with the same name assigned to the institution. Gary called the Cardinal to resolve his question.
The Fallen and the Elect Page 72