“Then let’s get Becky to someplace where it is offered,” Kim snapped.
“Dr. Reggis,” Claire said sympathetically. “Becky is in worse condition today than she was yesterday, and yesterday she was in no condition to be transferred. But plasmaphoresis is not totally out of the question. There’s still hope they could give the green light. We’ll just have to wait.”
“Wait and do nothing,” Kim said with a scowl.
“That’s not true,” Claire said hotly. Then she caught herself and sighed; talking with Kim was a chore she did not relish. “We’re supporting her every way possible.”
“Meaning you’re sitting on your hands and treating complications,” Kim spat.
Claire stood up and looked at Tracy and Kathleen. “I think it’s time for me to see the rest of my inpatients. But I’ll be available if needed: just page me.”
Tracy nodded. Kathleen responded that she’d be doing the same thing in a few minutes. Claire left.
Kim collapsed into the chair vacated by Claire and buried his head in his hands. He was struggling with a roller coaster of emotions: first anger and then sadness, then back to anger. Now sadness returned. He fought back tears. He knew he should be seeing his own inpatients, but for the moment he was incapable.
“Why did your visit to the Onion Ring take so long?” Tracy asked. As irritated as she was by his behavior, she couldn’t help but be concerned about him. He looked pitiful.
“Actually, I was in jail,” Kim admitted.
“Jail!”
“If you want me to tell you that you were right, you were right,” Kim said. “I should have calmed down before I went.”
“Why were you in jail?” Tracy asked.
“I lost my temper,” Kim said. “I went there to find out about the possibility of tainted meat. The manager’s self-righteous denial drove me up the wall.”
“I don’t think it’s the fast-food industry’s fault,” Kathleen offered. “With this E. coli problem the fast-food restaurants are as much a victim as the patrons who are infected. They get contaminated hamburger.”
“I figured as much,” Kim said, with his face still buried in his hands. “My next visit will be to Mercer Meats.”
“With Becky’s condition, it’s hard for me to think,” Tracy said. “But how can there be contaminated meat? Aren’t these places continually inspected? I mean, doesn’t the USDA certify the meat?”
“They certify it,” Kathleen said. “But in this day and age, it’s an unfortunate assumption to believe that it’s not contaminated.”
“How can that be?” Tracy asked.
“For a lot of reasons,” Kathleen said, “chief of which is that the USDA has an inherent conflict of interest.”
Kim lifted his head out of his hands. “How so?”
“It’s because of the USDA’s mandate,” Kathleen said. “On the one hand, the agency is the official advocate for U.S. agriculture, which includes the powerful beef industry. That’s actually the USDA’s main job. On the other hand, it has inspectional obligations. Obviously the two roles don’t mix. It’s a genuine case of asking the fox to guard the henhouse.”
“This sounds incredible,” Kim said. “Is this something you know for a fact, or is it something you’ve heard and are just passing it along?”
“I’m afraid it’s something I know about firsthand,” Kathleen said. “I’ve been looking into the problem of food contamination for over a year. I’ve gotten active through a couple of consumer groups who are fighting an uphill battle to do something about it.”
“How did you get involved?” Tracy asked.
“It would have been hard for me not to,” Kathleen said. “Food contamination and the illness it causes have become a major part of my practice. People in general seem to want to keep their heads in the sand about all this. But it’s a problem that is getting worse by the day.”
“This is unbelievable!” Kim exclaimed as anger again overcame his sadness.
“There’s more,” Kathleen said. “Not only is there a conflict of interest with the USDA, but from what I’ve seen, the USDA and the beef industry are much too close.”
“What are you implying?” Kim asked.
“Exactly what I said,” Kathleen added. “Particularly in middle-management positions, there’s a kind of musical chairs with people moving back and forth to make sure the industry is interfered with as little as possible.”