Synopsis
Steven Johnson is a medical intern at a teaching hospital in New Jersey. He gets off to a horrendous start when a crazed preacher attacks Steven and is impaled on a scalpel the intern is holding in his hand at the time of the attack. The man dies. The family initiates a malpractice suit. Steven is placed on probation because of questions regarding his treatment of the preacher two weeks before the attack.His personal life becomes further complicated when a budding romance with a slightly older female attending physician, Dr. Chris Murphy, is threatened by his friendship with Jacqueline Martin, a stunning student nurse from Jamaica, who pursues Steven with graceful determination. A black cloud follows Steven about the hospital. The core drama of the novel erupts when a young postpartum patient, Anna Amin, confides in Steven that her husband has physically abused her. Steven is convinced that Anna and her baby are in imminent danger. He arranges for their immediate transfer to a woman’s shelter. Anna’s husband, Anwar, an Algerian exchange student, is furious. Anna’s private physician is likewise astonished and angered. Anwar, on the advice of his attorney, returns to Algeria, invalidating his wife’s spousal visa. The INS, under pressure from the Algerian Ambassador, is compelled to seek Anna’s deportation. Anwar lies to Anna’s family, telling them she had run off with an American doctor, that she walks the streets without the veil, and that she has brought shame on him and her family. Steven is convinced that Anna would be in grave danger if she were forced to return to Algeria. Her child would most certainly be taken from her. Steven, Chris, and Jacqueline work frantically to prevent that from happening.
About the Author
After earning an MD degree at Creighton University School of Medicine, and completing a medical internship, my wife Alyce, and our first-born child Geri, joined the Navy. I served as a Submarine Medical Officer. After a two-year stint in the Navy, I added a second year of post-graduate training at the Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, NJ. As a solo practitioner in general medicine in Flemington, I cared for pregnant women, their babies, young children, adults, their parents and grandparents. It was a dream come true. The practice grew rapidly and within four years the Flemington Medical Group consisted of four family physicians. The Hunterdon Medical Center became one of the earliest sites for training young doctors in the newly created specialty of Family Medicine. It was an exciting time for general practitioners I was offered the position of director of the program. It gave me the opportunity to combine my love of patient care with my commitment to teaching young doctors both the science and art of medicine. After several years as Director of Medical Education at Hunterdon, Alyce and I and our children headed south where I joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. I participated in the training of medical students and Family Practice residents. For several years, I directed the residency training program in the Department of Family Medicine. From 1884-1985, I took a fellowship in Geriatrics at UCLA Medical Center in their Hartford Scholars program. My professional areas of interest and publications include the following: thyroid disease, tick-borne diseases, cognitive impairment and geriatric assessment. Besides writing fiction, I enjoy building furniture, love books, movies and live theater. I follow national politics closely, play tennis reasonably well, golf poorly, and in my spare time do a little baking. My other published works include three novels, THIS THING CALLED LOVE, FORBIDDEN HARVEST and JUDGING LAURA. They are also available at Amazon.com and Goodreads Barnes and Noble, and independent book stores.
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