Bull (2016) s05e06 Episode Script
To Save a Life
1
NEWSMAN [OVER RADIO.]
: And at least eight dead at the We Are All from Somewhere Else - Can we go any faster? - I'm doing my best, ma'am.
after a gunman opened fire with an automatic weapon.
In addition to the dead, we're receiving reports of as many as 200 people injured.
Okay, hang on a second! Hang on.
Rapid track! Trauma Bay Four! Walking wounded needs to be escorted to Station One! Dr.
Kinsey! I got here as fast as I could.
Dr.
Park could really use you in Bay One.
PARK: Kinsey, you made it! I'm taking this one up to the OR.
I need you to jump on this fellow behind me.
- What do we have? - Ryan Watkins.
Male, lower abdominal gunshot wound.
Next OR should open in ten minutes.
Get started on him as soon as you can.
Will do.
Oh, man, not a lot left to put back together.
Like a river.
How is his pulse? Last I checked, thready.
Barely there.
[WOMAN GASPING.]
Dr.
Kinsey? We're losing this patient.
Her oxygen is in the toilet.
She's not getting any air.
Looks like a pneumothorax.
Oh, no.
Sounds like she's got blood in her lungs.
Potential hemopneumo.
How long has she been like this? How long has she not been breathing? I called you the moment I noticed.
Just got a text.
The OR is ready.
We got to get going on this guy or might as well just send him directly to the morgue.
Doctor, we got to go.
You know what a REBOA is? Heard of it.
Never seen it done.
I want to give him one.
It'll stop his bleeding for 20, 30 minutes.
That'll give me a chance to work on her.
That way maybe we can save them both.
Isn't that kind of the definition of a Hail Mary? I don't know, I'm not into football, and I don't go to church.
I need a REBOA and some chest tubes, stat.
NURSE: You're really going to use a REBOA? But Dr.
Park told you to operate on him now.
I know.
But I'm not even sure we can save him.
In fact, the only thing I'm certain of is, we take the time to get him over to the OR, we're absolutely losing her.
But what if it doesn't work? What if we lose them both? It's going to work.
I think I need to have a quick chat with Dr.
Park.
Walk away from that patient, don't bother coming back.
TECHNICIAN: Here's your REBOA and your chest tubes.
Great.
Let's make some miracles.
Let's hail some Marys.
Hey.
Ah I can't lie.
Feel pretty strange about this.
No.
Bull's right.
You need your own office.
I've been a lawyer for a minute and a half.
I can work in the conference room.
I'm happy to work in the conference room.
But you're Benjamin Colón.
Hell, rumor has it that you're running for D.
A.
of the greatest city in the world.
[SIGHS.]
You need a place of your own, man.
You need an office where you can hang that law degree up on the wall.
Well, you've got a law degree.
I certainly do.
And now I'm working towards a wall to hang it on.
Sorry to break up this legal convention, but the big guy is waiting for you in the conference room.
I had just finished my rounds at the hospital about two and a half hours earlier.
I was climbing out of the shower when one of the ER nurses called, and said they were expecting I thought she said hundreds of patients.
But then I thought I must have misheard.
But then she said there was some kind of mass casualty situation and they were calling in every off-duty doctor in the area.
It was all hands on deck.
Hmm.
How many patients did Mercy actually receive that night? Over 200.
All with penetrating gunshot wounds.
And the deceased Uh, Ryan Watkins He was your first patient? He was supposed to be.
Soon as I got there, I conferred with Dr.
Park, the chief trauma surgeon.
And he was taking another patient up to the OR, so he told me to get started on Mr.
Watkins.
Was there any special reason why Dr.
Park wanted you to operate on Watkins first? I mean, it sounds like there were plenty of people needing immediate care.
No.
I think Dr.
Park just considered his injuries the most critical.
But then I saw this woman.
And to my eye, she was in as equally bad shape as Mr.
Watkins.
She had a lot of blood and air in her chest.
Struggling to breathe.
I needed to drain that blood and air fast or we'd lose her.
But if I had operated on him first, that woman absolutely would have died while waiting for treatment.
Whereas if I could just keep Mr.
Watkins alive for a half hour, I could definitely save her and maybe save him, too.
You know, one way, I'm staring at a likely lose-lose situation.
The other, I was certain at least one of them was going to live.
That's why you used this REBOA thing? I'm sorry.
What is a REBOA? It stands for Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta.
It's a kind of internal tourniquet.
A balloon catheter that you position in a person's aorta to prevent them from bleeding out.
It buys you time.
Which was what I needed.
But it didn't work.
Well, the other patient needed chest tubes.
That should have taken 20 minutes, tops.
But once I got in there, it was more complicated than I had anticipated.
And by the time I got her stable and got back to Mr.
Watkins, 40, 45 minutes had gone by.
And he-he didn't make it.
I tried, but CHUNK: So, the plaintiff, Mr.
Watkins' mother, is saying that the REBOA should never have been used.
Especially not for 40 minutes.
They are arguing that the REBOA is not even considered an acceptable standard of care.
I'm not denying it's a controversial technique.
I mean, usually it's only a stop-gap measure to buy you the ten, 15 minutes it takes to get a patient into the OR and opened up.
For what it's worth, I've personally made the REBOA work for up to an hour.
Before I went into trauma, I was a military medic in Afghanistan, and I used it there all the time.
Well, it'd be great if we could get someone in to testify to that Other than you.
You know, I didn't see your picture on the website.
Ex-Excuse me? When I was researching the Trial Analysis Corporation.
I remember reading about a lawyer, but I don't think he was you.
Mr.
Palmer has been with the firm for over five years in a variety of capacities.
He's handled several cases on his own, but he did just officially pass the bar this last summer.
But do you have any experience in medical malpractice? This firm has handled hundreds of medical malpractice cases, and I personally have super But Mr.
Palmer? This will be my first.
There's another attorney here.
And he has lots of experience in medical No.
I'm the trial scientist.
I'm the tactician.
And I am telling you he's the one to plead this case.
Now, if you don't agree with that, there are plenty of other companies I'm sure you can go to that would be happy to take your money.
But, Dr.
Kinsey, this is a jury trial.
It's six people.
And they're going to decide whether you're innocent or guilty.
They are going to decide whether you live the rest of your life in relative comfort or all-consuming debt.
They're gonna decide whether you get to use the salutation "Doctor" in front of your name ever again.
The other side is going to bring all kinds of sage, old men who will offer intimidating and confusing medical testimony.
They'll try and bully their way to a verdict.
Now, here's what I know.
You give people a choice between something they understand and something they don't understand, they will almost always lean in the direction of the thing they understand.
This case isn't about medicine.
It's about being able to talk to six people.
Being able to put them in your shoes when you had to make the decisions you had to make.
And I'm telling you, this is the man for the job.
Now are we going to court or not? I appreciate your confidence in me.
It's no big deal.
I meant what I said.
I think you're the right man for the job.
I think the jurors are going to appreciate being talked to by someone like them.
Someone who doesn't eat, sleep and drink medical malpractice.
Someone who's just trying to figure out what really happened here.
So, voir dire.
You have any thoughts? So, in a perfect world, we would love to be talking to people who are at least willing to entertain the idea that Dr.
Kinsey, finding herself in an impossible situation, made the best decisions she could if not to save every life, then to save most lives.
It really is a case study in lifeboat ethics.
It is funny.
Not one press report I've read mentions that Dr.
Kinsey saved five other lives that day.
Truth is, our client's a hero.
The jury needs to hear that.
And they need to hear it during voir dire.
Everybody here know who Sully Sullenberger is? Yeah.
He's the pilot who landed the plane on the Hudson River.
That's him.
Man behind the "Miracle on the Hudson.
" A hero.
Right? Anybody remember why he had to land that plane on the river? Yes.
The plane hit some birds, I think.
Yes, it did.
And it put that man in an impossible situation.
Air traffic control had already ordered him back to the airport.
He was convinced he wouldn't make it.
So he improvised and decided to attempt a water landing.
Didn't ask for permission.
No time.
He just did it.
And managed to save every passenger on that plane.
A hero right? Juror 21.
It says here that you were a police officer.
How do you feel about that? The man was given an order and he defied it.
Oh, I think everything worked out the way it was supposed to.
The man was declared a hero.
They made a movie out of it.
He was played by Tom Hanks.
[LAUGHING.]
: I don't think it gets any better than that.
Ground control to Major Tom? Diana Merrick.
Former NYPD.
Took an early retirement after getting injured on the job.
BULL: Injured how? Suspect stabbed her during an arrest and then she apparently took him down with a fire extinguisher.
Hit him with it.
A woman of action.
That's our kind of girl.
Your Honor, juror 21 is acceptable to the defense.
Nice work, Counselor.
We make a pretty good team.
Well, all I'm doing is following your lead.
Like I said, we make a pretty good team.
[CHUCKLES.]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
BENNY: There he is.
Oh, hustler, hustler.
[LAUGHS.]
Survived your first day on the medical malpractice beat? Other side threw in the towel.
Gave up.
Offered to pay us money to go away.
- Ooh.
You are knee-deep now.
- Yeah.
- Keep shoveling.
- [LAUGHS.]
Bull know you're here? Nah, but so what? Actually, I came by to tell you I think I'm good.
Okay.
So tell me about tomorrow.
Opening statements.
Plaintiffs are gonna say that my client made a bad decision she had no right to make, and I'm gonna tell them about a woman who found herself in the middle of a perfect storm, made the best choices she could, and saved five lives.
- First witness? - Dr.
Park.
Now, he's gonna testify that he told her to operate on the plaintiff first.
I'm gonna try to imply that it was actually he who was derelict, since he clearly didn't consider thoroughly the conditions of the other patients in the trauma bay.
Sounds smart.
Why, thank you, sir.
[CHUCKLES.]
I'm gonna go.
Just beware of the bank shot.
Come again? - Damn.
- No, no.
Oh, yeah.
The bank shot.
So you think you know why the plaintiff is calling a witness, and y-you may be right.
But a lot of the time, the other side will call a witness with a whole other purpose entirely.
The witness will say everything you expect him to say, but then, just at the last minute, boom, he'll throw a whole new fact pattern out there.
Bank shot.
- So what do I do? - Two things.
One, do your best.
Two, stop saying you're good.
You shouldn't be good until this is all over.
And then, only if you've won.
Stay scared, Chunk.
Bank shots can come out of nowhere.
GROSSMAN: Let's talk about the evening of the shooting.
How soon after you got the call did you have someone reach out to Dr.
Kinsey and ask her to return to the hospital? I believe it was within minutes.
GROSSMAN: And when she arrived, did you tell Dr.
Kinsey to take Mr.
Watkins up to the OR for surgery as soon as a room became available? - I did.
- And even though she received that directive from you, her superior, that's not what Dr.
Kinsey did, is it? - PARK: No.
- Now, you mentioned that Dr.
Kinsey decided to deploy a REBOA.
Had you been consulted, would you have approved of this decision? No, I would not.
In my 27 years, I've actually never used a REBOA.
As far as I know, the mainstream medical community has still not reached a decision as to when, where or even if the REBOA should be used.
It comes with a slew of complications and high mortality rates.
Are you surprised the use of the REBOA resulted in Ryan Watkins' death? - No.
- No further questions for this witness, Your Honor.
I'm not a doctor, but I sense we're bleeding out here.
Before I begin my questioning, I'd just like to thank you, Dr.
Park, you and the entire Mercy Hospital team, for all of your hard work during that awful night.
Thank you.
Now, you testified that mere minutes after receiving the call about the mass shooting, you directed someone to call Dr.
Kinsey and see if she'd be able to come back to work.
- Yes.
- Even though she just finished a 12-hour shift.
Yes.
You must hold her in pretty high regard, wouldn't you say? I suppose so.
In fact, you hired her, didn't you? I was among the people on the committee that weighed in on her hiring, yes.
I think it stands to reason that at some point you had a high degree of faith in Dr.
Kinsey's decision-making.
Wouldn't you say? And it's Chunk Palmer on the 20.
I'm waiting for an answer, Dr.
Park.
GROSSMAN: Objection, Your Honor.
Relevance.
This trial is not about why Dr.
Kinsey was hired.
It is about why she did what she did after being given specific instructions by her superior.
Objection sustained.
Ask another question, Counselor.
Situations like this, a-a mass shooting, are fast-moving - and fluid, aren't they? - Of course.
And so, as patients are moved from EMS to emergency room doctors to trauma surgeons, quite often their condition changes rapidly, doesn't it? That's correct.
And am I safe in assuming that, ideally, you would want them to be reassessed as often as possible? - Of course.
- So, the night that you decided that Mr.
Watkins should be operated on prior to anyone else, isn't it possible that while that was the right decision when you made it, it might not have been the right decision five or ten minutes later? And isn't it possible that on Dr.
Kinsey's subsequent, more thorough examination, and faced with two critically wounded patients, she could reasonably disagree with your assessment? She lost a patient.
If she had done what you told her, she could have lost two.
- Bingo.
- GROSSMAN: Objection, Your Honor.
- Counsel is testifying.
- [GAVEL BANGS.]
Objection sustained.
The jury will disregard counsel's last statement.
It's already forever burned in their brains.
RAND: Mr.
Palmer? You do know the difference between a question - and a statement, don't you? - You bet he does.
I do, Your Honor, and I apologize to the court and to the jury and the witness.
Your apology's accepted.
You get one, Mr.
Palmer.
Any more questions for this witness? Not at this time, Your Honor.
GROSSMAN: Permission to redirect? RAND: Go ahead, Ms.
Grossman.
GROSSMAN: Now, Dr.
Park, this isn't the first time that Dr.
Kinsey has gone rogue while on your watch, is it? No, it is not.
GROSSMAN: Could you elaborate for us, please? PARK: It was three months or so after Dr.
Kinsey joined our staff.
We had a patient, a car crash victim.
Upon examination we realized she had cirrhosis liver disease And had developed ascites, essentially an accumulation of fluid in the abdomen which can cause kidney or liver failure if left untreated.
And you had Dr.
Kinsey work on this patient? Yes.
A common procedure is to drain the fluid through what's called therapeutic paracentesis.
You have to very carefully hold a needle while the fluid drains.
If the patient moves or if the needle slips, it could puncture the liver, causing internal bleeding.
And so you had Dr.
Kinsey perform this procedure? That's correct.
But apparently, there was an urgent situation down the hall, and instead of stopping the procedure and pulling the needle out to go and attend to the problem, Dr.
Kinsey decided to tape the needle in place, I suppose hoping that it would auto-drain while she was off assisting down the hall.
GROSSMAN: Is that something that's recommended while performing this procedure? No.
Absolutely not.
You never leave a sharp instrument sticking out of a patient unattended.
Luckily, I came by to check on the procedure.
I pulled the needle, preserving the patient's safety, and had a very long talk with Dr.
Kinsey.
The thing is, it was clever, but not responsible medicine.
GROSSMAN: So, it appears that Dr.
Kinsey has a history of maverick medical procedures that risk patient health.
Objection.
Counsel is testifying.
Rephrase, Ms.
Grossman.
I'll withdraw the statement.
No further questions.
BULL: Where the hell did that come from? CHUNK: Bank shot.
KINSEY: You have to understand.
From my perspective, it was a nonevent.
The woman's abdomen was draining just fine and I was attending to another patient.
Dr.
Park came by, and I wasn't doing it the way he would do it, but that doesn't mean I was doing it improperly.
I don't mean to cast aspersions, but Park, he's the kind of guy who's gonna keep making his bed until it's absolutely perfect, even when the house is on fire.
Be that as it may, the plaintiff's attorney has already planted it in the jury's mind that you're some kind of rebel doctor, willing to compromise your patient's well-being for the satisfaction of doing it your way.
CHUNK: Do you know a Dr.
Kendra Collier? Name rings a bell.
Uh, maybe the military? Maybe Afghanistan? CHUNK: Well, she's on this revised witness list and is first up to testify tomorrow.
Sorry.
In case it jogs your memory, she is a critical care physician out of San Antonio? Never been to San Antonio.
TAYLOR: Okay, how's this? From 2004 to 2009, she worked at Landstuhl Regional Medical Facility in Germany.
Okay.
Military doctor, I got that part right, but I never served in Germany.
MARISSA: So you have no clue why they're calling her to testify? Uh, San Antonio to New York City is a pretty pricy plane ticket.
There's got to be a reason that they're willing to go to so much trouble.
I'm sorry.
I don't know who she is.
Well, I guess we will all find out tomorrow.
[BRAKES SQUEAKING.]
We making a stop? I asked Benny to join us.
He's gonna sit with me in the gallery.
I need an extra set of eyes and ears.
[GRUNTS.]
Morning, fellas.
Well, isn't this a nice surprise? I was just reading about you in the newspaper here.
At least I think it's you.
The way they spelled your name made it sound like you're a part of somebody's digestive system.
"Benny Colon.
" [LAUGHS.]
Seriously, man, congratulations.
You got my vote.
Yeah, that's just 'cause you want your old office back.
So you made the announcement last night? Not me, personally, but yeah.
It's finally out there.
I think they were afraid if they didn't announce it soon, - I was going to change my mind.
- [GAVEL BANGS.]
GROSSMAN: Dr.
Collier, the defendant, Dr.
Kinsey, in her deposition, claims that she successfully deployed a REBOA for over one hour in a Colonel Mark Winston during her service in Afghanistan.
Now, you were part of the treatment team at Landstuhl - for that same soldier, correct? - Correct.
Can you tell us about Colonel Winston's injuries? Winston's unit was hit with an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.
He suffered massive abdominal wounds and had to be transferred to the Kandahar base for surgery, and then to us in Landstuhl for further treatment.
He survived the transports, but died in our care eight days later.
Oh, no GROSSMAN: Were his wounds just too severe? His wounds were very severe.
But that's not what killed him.
Well, then, what did? Well, as you mentioned, the medical team who performed the initial transport in Afghanistan, the one supervised by Dr.
Kinsey, used a REBOA to keep the colonel from hemorrhaging during flight.
Unfortunately, the transport took an hour, and that's a long time to cut off someone's blood supply.
So you're saying it was the REBOA that led to Colonel Winston's death? Essentially, yes.
The REBOA pretty much killed his legs, and Winston ultimately died of sepsis.
GROSSMAN: But this didn't happen in the case of Ryan Watkins, did it? Same cause, different complication.
In Mr.
Watkins' case, it wasn't his legs, but the end result was the same.
So, in your professional opinion, was it reasonable for Dr.
Kinsey to assume that she could successfully deploy a REBOA for such a lengthy period of time in either Colonel Winston or, for that matter, in the case of Ryan Watkins? No.
You just can't keep it in that long and expect it to work.
GROSSMAN: No further questions.
Your witness, Mr.
Palmer.
Ask the judge for a short recess.
I think the two of us should confer with Benny.
I got this.
Okay, I just listened to your testimony, Dr.
Collier, and I have to tell you I'm a little confused.
Let me see if I can't help you, then.
CHUNK: Great.
So, let's start back at the beginning.
A patient like Colonel Winston, all these abdominal wounds There any way he's gonna survive a 60-minute transport without some sort of hemorrhage control? - No.
- And without some sort of hemorrhage control, how quickly is someone in the colonel's condition likely to bleed out? 30 minutes? 15 minutes? Would he have even lasted five minutes? Less than five minutes.
CHUNK: So the options were either let the patient die on the helicopter, or deploy this REBOA and get him to a facility where he could be treated and possibly saved? Isn't that correct? - Basically, yes.
- So the REBOA bought him time.
In fact, it bought him eight days, didn't it? Because had it not been used, he would have died on day one.
Isn't that correct? Yes, that would be correct.
So let me ask you a question.
During the time that you were treating the colonel in Landstuhl, did his family come to see him? His wife, his son? Yes, I believe they did.
So the REBOA, the dreaded REBOA, actually allowed the colonel to have eight more days to spend with his family and to say goodbye to them? Isn't that correct? Yes.
I suppose it did.
Sounds like Dr.
Kinsey - made the right choice to me.
- GROSSMAN: Objection! Counsel is testifying.
RAND: Objection sustained.
The jury will ignore counsel's last question.
I do apologize, Your Honor.
No further questions.
Gosh, I knew him when he used to tell clients what color shirts to wear to their depositions.
Very impressive cross-examination, Chunk.
Thank you.
I'm glad you think so, Counselor.
Mr.
Palmer, the next time I tell you to ask for a short recess, ask for a short recess.
Bull, the man did great.
And then we will go out into the hall, you will share your thoughts, I will share my thoughts, and Mr.
Colón, who is not yet the city's D.
A.
, will offer his point of view, and then I will decide what we are going to do.
Do we all understand each other? Well, I understand what you're saying, but I don't know why you're saying it.
Because you got lucky, Chunk.
We walked into court today knowing very little about that doctor.
We didn't even know why she was testifying.
She could have just as easily answered your question that it was her medical skill that kept that man alive for eight days, and it would have been 20 had our client not used a REBOA.
But she didn't say any of that, did she? Don't confuse luck with skill.
I'm not confused.
I took a shot and it paid off.
Well, we don't take shots with other people's lives and livelihoods, and we don't ask questions we don't know the answers to.
And we certainly don't ignore the opportunity to compare notes with two people whose combined experience equals almost as much time as you've been on the planet.
He's running for office, you're going rogue.
Believe me, I'd go to court and ask the questions myself if I could.
[SCOFFS.]
Sorry.
Sorry, sorry.
I couldn't get a cab.
I ended up taking the subway.
And forgive me, I never got a chance to tell you how impressive you were yesterday, cross-examining that doctor from San Antonio.
Thank you.
Just got lucky.
KINSEY: Whatever.
It worked.
So, what does today hold? That's what we're here to ask you.
The first witness up today is Nurse Darna Bautista.
Now, she worked with you the night that Mr.
Watkins died.
Any idea what she's gonna say? [SCOFFS.]
That I'm a bitch.
She idolizes Dr.
Park.
When I said I wasn't gonna do things in exactly the way in exactly the order that Dr.
Park indicated, she looked like she was gonna have a stroke.
When you say she idolizes Dr.
Park, what does that mean? They were friends? Lovers? No, I don't think so.
I just know she thinks he walks on water.
Nurse Bautista, you were one of the ER nurses working at Mercy the evening of the shooting? Yes, I was.
I was providing care for Ryan Watkins.
First under the supervision of Dr.
Park, and then under the supervision of Dr.
Kinsey.
And did you have occasion to tell Dr.
Kinsey anything about her patient? I did.
I'm guessing you're talking about normal medical information that a doctor might expect a nurse to provide.
Yes.
But I also shared something else with her.
Something I shouldn't have shared.
Something that wasn't true, although I didn't know it at the time.
What did she say to you? I honestly don't know.
Nothing beyond the usual.
GROSSMAN: And what was that? You have to understand, it was chaos that night.
There was all kinds of misinformation flying around.
At one point we heard there were three gunmen.
At another point, somebody wrote a tweet that the shooting was a terrorist operation.
We understand how stressful this situation must have been for you, Ms.
Bautista, but what is it you said to Dr.
Kinsey? When EMS brought in Mr.
Watkins into the ER that night I was led to believe that he, um, Mr.
Watkins was the shooter.
And you shared that with Dr.
Kinsey? Yes, I did.
Obviously, I don't know if that had anything to do with Dr.
Kinsey's decision, but I know it would have affected me if I had been in her shoes.
Objection.
The witness is speculating, offering her opinion.
Sustained.
Jury will ignore.
GROSSMAN: So, Nurse Bautista, in a situation like this, is it a doctor's job to determine whose life is more valuable, who deserves to be saved? Your Honor, opposing counsel is soliciting the witness's opinion using different phrasing.
Sustained.
Ms.
Grossman, the ice is paper-thin where you're standing.
You understand me? I do, Your Honor, and I withdraw the question.
No further questions.
I promise you, I have no recollection of anyone saying that any of the people we were trying to save that night might have been the shooter.
I know, I know.
Ask for a short recess.
Okay, we basically have two choices.
We can go back in there and say we have no more questions for the nurse and start our case by putting on Dr.
Kinsey.
That's a horrible choice.
Or we go back in there and say we have no questions for the nurse and rest our case as well, and stake everything on closing arguments.
Oh, my God, so we're just giving up? With all due respect, Dr.
Bull, but why wouldn't you want me to go back in there and grill that nurse? Get her to admit that she never said those things.
And how are you gonna do that? How are you going to prove someone didn't say something? How are you gonna prove a negative? It's just gonna be her word against ours, and no one is accusing her of having allowed someone to die.
But we can't let that jury think that what that nurse said is the truth.
That's why we're gonna put Dr.
Kinsey on the stand.
You can deny having heard it.
And, yes, it will still be your word against the nurse's, but at least we will have answered the accusation.
It will be on the record.
And then we will get you off the stand as quickly as possible and move on to closing arguments.
So, wait, there are no other witnesses? What about the people I saved that night? - Their family members.
- BULL: No.
The second we swear them in, opposing counsel will challenge on the basis of relevance, and we will lose.
Because your ability to help them isn't relevant to the question of whether you were reckless in your treatment of Mr.
Watkins.
I'm sorry, it just isn't.
CHUNK: Dr.
Kinsey, do you recall Nurse Bautista telling you that Ryan Watkins, the man whose life you were trying to save, was in fact the man who killed 38 people at the "We Are All from Somewhere Else" demonstration? No.
I have no recollection of that.
None.
And for what it's worth, had she told me, it would have made no difference in my decision-making with regard to Mr.
Watkins' care that night.
It's my job to help people, not to judge them.
So tell us, why'd you do what you did? Why'd you defy your superior and decide to work on someone else first? Once Dr.
Park left and I had a chance to examine Mr.
Watkins for myself, I realized, he was really far gone.
The likelihood of us saving him that night in the OR was slim at best.
It was also clear to me that whatever we did, it was going to take hours.
So when I saw that young woman, and realized with about a half an hour I could get her to a place where she could pull through I I had no choice.
And what did Dr.
Park say later on that night when he found out that Mr.
Watkins didn't make it? I actually didn't see Dr.
Park the rest of the night.
I mean, there were literally hundreds of people seeking treatment; I was pretty much on my own.
So working on your own, without any supervision, how many people did you personally save that night? I I'm not really sure how you would define "saved.
" How many people would have died that night without you having treated them? At least five that I'm aware of.
CHUNK: Five.
No further questions, Your Honor.
RAND: Very well.
Does the plaintiff have any questions for the witness? I do, Your Honor.
Just one.
So you believe that you saved five lives that night? And how many do you believe you lost? CHUNK: Objection! Asked and answered.
Never mind.
I withdraw the question.
On August 25th, as hundreds of people prepared to defy the COVID virus and stage a mass protest of our government's policies towards people born in other countries who dream of better lives in America I think you're gonna turn the jury off.
These images are so disturbing, I can't even hear what Chunk is saying.
CHUNK: on these shores Chunk.
Marissa is worried that the images are too violent, that they're gonna turn the jury off.
Well, I disagree.
The more graphic, the more in your face, the better.
See, you're trying to make the jury understand what it must have been like for Dr.
Kinsey, standing in the middle of all that, trying to save as many lives as possible.
Do you do what you're told or do you do what you know is right? - I second that.
- Yeah, but you're ex-law enforcement.
You've seen a lot of blood and guts in your life.
I mean, we've got a nursery school teacher on the jury.
A seminary student Wait a minute.
[CLEARS THROAT.]
Taylor, back it up about 30 seconds.
Okay, okay.
Stop it right there.
Isn't this the guy who testified against our client? Told our client to operate on Ryan Watkins first? Her direct superior? Yeah, that's him.
That's Dr.
Park.
Watch what he does.
Unfreeze it, Taylor.
BULL: Oh, freeze that.
Weird thing to do.
Especially in the middle of COVID.
He knows her.
CHUNK: 8:28 in the evening.
About ten minutes after Dr.
Kinsey arrived.
And this is the patient that Dr.
Park took to the OR when he told Dr.
Kinsey to take care of Ryan.
DANNY: Okay.
I'm-I'm lost.
That's two of us.
What are you guys getting at? Well, we always said this was a case about lifeboat ethics, we just didn't know there was a whole other boat involved.
[SCOFFS.]
Between now and tomorrow morning, I need you to find out everything that you can about that woman on the gurney.
I'll be damned if I go back into that courtroom and ask a question I don't already know the answer to.
Your Honor, with your permission I know that we already rested our case But before we begin closing arguments, the defense would like to call one last witness.
Actually, we would like to recall one last witness.
If Dr.
Park could take the stand.
Dr.
Park, I appreciate you coming in last minute to testify in court today.
Now, I have to be honest with you, I need your help.
I've actually never served on a medical malpractice case before.
And I'd be dishonest with you if I told you that I had any understanding whatsoever of medical ethics.
How it all works.
What it means.
Now, you, as the head surgeon at Mercy Hospital, this is something you know a lot about, am I right? Actually, I've written a number of papers, presided over a number of seminars on the topic, yes.
CHUNK: So baseline question.
What happens when doctors let their personal feelings get in the way of treating a patient? Well, all kinds of bad things can happen.
Physicians have been known to freeze, to second-guess themselves.
But I guess the biggest concern you see and hear about is doctors making bad calls because they're not thinking clearly.
They're not thinking critically.
Thank you.
Thank you, Dr.
Park.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Oh.
Actually, just one last thing.
[SIGHS.]
When they brought Ryan Watkins in that night, how many patients did they bring in with him? Including Ryan, three.
- He and two others.
- Okay.
So we know that you told Dr.
Kinsey to operate on Ryan Watkins first.
Now, that person she actually chose to treat, did she come in with Ryan? Yes.
And what about the third? Did we ever hear about what happened to the third? I took her up to the OR for immediate surgery.
I see.
And-and what was the extent of her injuries? She had been shot in the shoulder.
CHUNK: And would you say that her injuries were more urgent than the abdominal gunshot wound suffered by Ryan Watkins? Or the hemopneumothorax that Dr.
Kinsey treated? Dr.
Park? I need you to answer the question.
No.
I would not say her injuries were more urgent than those sustained by the two patients you asked me about.
That's odd.
So if her injuries were less than severe, why did you decide to operate on her first? Dr.
Park, did you know the patient that you worked on? Yes.
Personally? Yes.
She's Nurse Bautista's 20-year-old daughter.
My goddaughter.
So is that why you treated her first? If you had not known that patient, if you had not let this affect you, who would you have taken up to that operating room? [VOICE BREAKING.]
: Ryan Watkins.
CHUNK: So if there was an error in judgment that night, it was not Dr.
Kinsey's, was it? No.
It was not.
[WHISPERS.]
: I told you he was the right man for the job.
CHUNK: Can you stop all that racket? Some of us are in the midst of our own private euphorias and you're ruining it with the sound of all this manual labor.
Well, well, well.
- If it isn't Clarence Darrow.
- [CHUNK CHUCKLES.]
Hey.
Congratulations again.
You killed it today.
[LAUGHS.]
I did.
BENNY: Yeah.
What brings you out on this cold and wintery night? Couldn't sleep.
I'd close my eyes and I'd keep seeing the jury handing down that verdict.
That look of satisfaction and pride on Bull's face.
[CHUCKLES.]
The gratitude on Dr.
Kinsey's.
I'm a grown man and it is embarrassing to be this much in love with what you do for a living, you know? Anyway, I, uh, I got out, took a walk.
Tried to clear my head.
Walked across the bridge when suddenly I realized, I might die of frostbite and I'm in desperate need of a clean bathroom.
Mention my name, you get a good seat.
I already did.
[LAUGHS.]
You know, the other night in Bull's SUV? I was ready to quit.
Mm.
I figured.
I've been ready to quit about a half a dozen times over the years.
Really? What stopped you? I don't know.
I get one foot out the door, and then I realize he was mostly right about whatever it was he was saying or talking about.
Plus, I think we make each other smarter.
Better.
He's a really, really smart dude, Chunk.
And I don't think he would want you around if he didn't think you were a smart dude, too.
Congratulations again, Chunk.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I got to finish my interior decorating so I can go home and get some sleep.
[EXHALES.]
: And at least eight dead at the We Are All from Somewhere Else - Can we go any faster? - I'm doing my best, ma'am.
after a gunman opened fire with an automatic weapon.
In addition to the dead, we're receiving reports of as many as 200 people injured.
Okay, hang on a second! Hang on.
Rapid track! Trauma Bay Four! Walking wounded needs to be escorted to Station One! Dr.
Kinsey! I got here as fast as I could.
Dr.
Park could really use you in Bay One.
PARK: Kinsey, you made it! I'm taking this one up to the OR.
I need you to jump on this fellow behind me.
- What do we have? - Ryan Watkins.
Male, lower abdominal gunshot wound.
Next OR should open in ten minutes.
Get started on him as soon as you can.
Will do.
Oh, man, not a lot left to put back together.
Like a river.
How is his pulse? Last I checked, thready.
Barely there.
[WOMAN GASPING.]
Dr.
Kinsey? We're losing this patient.
Her oxygen is in the toilet.
She's not getting any air.
Looks like a pneumothorax.
Oh, no.
Sounds like she's got blood in her lungs.
Potential hemopneumo.
How long has she been like this? How long has she not been breathing? I called you the moment I noticed.
Just got a text.
The OR is ready.
We got to get going on this guy or might as well just send him directly to the morgue.
Doctor, we got to go.
You know what a REBOA is? Heard of it.
Never seen it done.
I want to give him one.
It'll stop his bleeding for 20, 30 minutes.
That'll give me a chance to work on her.
That way maybe we can save them both.
Isn't that kind of the definition of a Hail Mary? I don't know, I'm not into football, and I don't go to church.
I need a REBOA and some chest tubes, stat.
NURSE: You're really going to use a REBOA? But Dr.
Park told you to operate on him now.
I know.
But I'm not even sure we can save him.
In fact, the only thing I'm certain of is, we take the time to get him over to the OR, we're absolutely losing her.
But what if it doesn't work? What if we lose them both? It's going to work.
I think I need to have a quick chat with Dr.
Park.
Walk away from that patient, don't bother coming back.
TECHNICIAN: Here's your REBOA and your chest tubes.
Great.
Let's make some miracles.
Let's hail some Marys.
Hey.
Ah I can't lie.
Feel pretty strange about this.
No.
Bull's right.
You need your own office.
I've been a lawyer for a minute and a half.
I can work in the conference room.
I'm happy to work in the conference room.
But you're Benjamin Colón.
Hell, rumor has it that you're running for D.
A.
of the greatest city in the world.
[SIGHS.]
You need a place of your own, man.
You need an office where you can hang that law degree up on the wall.
Well, you've got a law degree.
I certainly do.
And now I'm working towards a wall to hang it on.
Sorry to break up this legal convention, but the big guy is waiting for you in the conference room.
I had just finished my rounds at the hospital about two and a half hours earlier.
I was climbing out of the shower when one of the ER nurses called, and said they were expecting I thought she said hundreds of patients.
But then I thought I must have misheard.
But then she said there was some kind of mass casualty situation and they were calling in every off-duty doctor in the area.
It was all hands on deck.
Hmm.
How many patients did Mercy actually receive that night? Over 200.
All with penetrating gunshot wounds.
And the deceased Uh, Ryan Watkins He was your first patient? He was supposed to be.
Soon as I got there, I conferred with Dr.
Park, the chief trauma surgeon.
And he was taking another patient up to the OR, so he told me to get started on Mr.
Watkins.
Was there any special reason why Dr.
Park wanted you to operate on Watkins first? I mean, it sounds like there were plenty of people needing immediate care.
No.
I think Dr.
Park just considered his injuries the most critical.
But then I saw this woman.
And to my eye, she was in as equally bad shape as Mr.
Watkins.
She had a lot of blood and air in her chest.
Struggling to breathe.
I needed to drain that blood and air fast or we'd lose her.
But if I had operated on him first, that woman absolutely would have died while waiting for treatment.
Whereas if I could just keep Mr.
Watkins alive for a half hour, I could definitely save her and maybe save him, too.
You know, one way, I'm staring at a likely lose-lose situation.
The other, I was certain at least one of them was going to live.
That's why you used this REBOA thing? I'm sorry.
What is a REBOA? It stands for Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta.
It's a kind of internal tourniquet.
A balloon catheter that you position in a person's aorta to prevent them from bleeding out.
It buys you time.
Which was what I needed.
But it didn't work.
Well, the other patient needed chest tubes.
That should have taken 20 minutes, tops.
But once I got in there, it was more complicated than I had anticipated.
And by the time I got her stable and got back to Mr.
Watkins, 40, 45 minutes had gone by.
And he-he didn't make it.
I tried, but CHUNK: So, the plaintiff, Mr.
Watkins' mother, is saying that the REBOA should never have been used.
Especially not for 40 minutes.
They are arguing that the REBOA is not even considered an acceptable standard of care.
I'm not denying it's a controversial technique.
I mean, usually it's only a stop-gap measure to buy you the ten, 15 minutes it takes to get a patient into the OR and opened up.
For what it's worth, I've personally made the REBOA work for up to an hour.
Before I went into trauma, I was a military medic in Afghanistan, and I used it there all the time.
Well, it'd be great if we could get someone in to testify to that Other than you.
You know, I didn't see your picture on the website.
Ex-Excuse me? When I was researching the Trial Analysis Corporation.
I remember reading about a lawyer, but I don't think he was you.
Mr.
Palmer has been with the firm for over five years in a variety of capacities.
He's handled several cases on his own, but he did just officially pass the bar this last summer.
But do you have any experience in medical malpractice? This firm has handled hundreds of medical malpractice cases, and I personally have super But Mr.
Palmer? This will be my first.
There's another attorney here.
And he has lots of experience in medical No.
I'm the trial scientist.
I'm the tactician.
And I am telling you he's the one to plead this case.
Now, if you don't agree with that, there are plenty of other companies I'm sure you can go to that would be happy to take your money.
But, Dr.
Kinsey, this is a jury trial.
It's six people.
And they're going to decide whether you're innocent or guilty.
They are going to decide whether you live the rest of your life in relative comfort or all-consuming debt.
They're gonna decide whether you get to use the salutation "Doctor" in front of your name ever again.
The other side is going to bring all kinds of sage, old men who will offer intimidating and confusing medical testimony.
They'll try and bully their way to a verdict.
Now, here's what I know.
You give people a choice between something they understand and something they don't understand, they will almost always lean in the direction of the thing they understand.
This case isn't about medicine.
It's about being able to talk to six people.
Being able to put them in your shoes when you had to make the decisions you had to make.
And I'm telling you, this is the man for the job.
Now are we going to court or not? I appreciate your confidence in me.
It's no big deal.
I meant what I said.
I think you're the right man for the job.
I think the jurors are going to appreciate being talked to by someone like them.
Someone who doesn't eat, sleep and drink medical malpractice.
Someone who's just trying to figure out what really happened here.
So, voir dire.
You have any thoughts? So, in a perfect world, we would love to be talking to people who are at least willing to entertain the idea that Dr.
Kinsey, finding herself in an impossible situation, made the best decisions she could if not to save every life, then to save most lives.
It really is a case study in lifeboat ethics.
It is funny.
Not one press report I've read mentions that Dr.
Kinsey saved five other lives that day.
Truth is, our client's a hero.
The jury needs to hear that.
And they need to hear it during voir dire.
Everybody here know who Sully Sullenberger is? Yeah.
He's the pilot who landed the plane on the Hudson River.
That's him.
Man behind the "Miracle on the Hudson.
" A hero.
Right? Anybody remember why he had to land that plane on the river? Yes.
The plane hit some birds, I think.
Yes, it did.
And it put that man in an impossible situation.
Air traffic control had already ordered him back to the airport.
He was convinced he wouldn't make it.
So he improvised and decided to attempt a water landing.
Didn't ask for permission.
No time.
He just did it.
And managed to save every passenger on that plane.
A hero right? Juror 21.
It says here that you were a police officer.
How do you feel about that? The man was given an order and he defied it.
Oh, I think everything worked out the way it was supposed to.
The man was declared a hero.
They made a movie out of it.
He was played by Tom Hanks.
[LAUGHING.]
: I don't think it gets any better than that.
Ground control to Major Tom? Diana Merrick.
Former NYPD.
Took an early retirement after getting injured on the job.
BULL: Injured how? Suspect stabbed her during an arrest and then she apparently took him down with a fire extinguisher.
Hit him with it.
A woman of action.
That's our kind of girl.
Your Honor, juror 21 is acceptable to the defense.
Nice work, Counselor.
We make a pretty good team.
Well, all I'm doing is following your lead.
Like I said, we make a pretty good team.
[CHUCKLES.]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
BENNY: There he is.
Oh, hustler, hustler.
[LAUGHS.]
Survived your first day on the medical malpractice beat? Other side threw in the towel.
Gave up.
Offered to pay us money to go away.
- Ooh.
You are knee-deep now.
- Yeah.
- Keep shoveling.
- [LAUGHS.]
Bull know you're here? Nah, but so what? Actually, I came by to tell you I think I'm good.
Okay.
So tell me about tomorrow.
Opening statements.
Plaintiffs are gonna say that my client made a bad decision she had no right to make, and I'm gonna tell them about a woman who found herself in the middle of a perfect storm, made the best choices she could, and saved five lives.
- First witness? - Dr.
Park.
Now, he's gonna testify that he told her to operate on the plaintiff first.
I'm gonna try to imply that it was actually he who was derelict, since he clearly didn't consider thoroughly the conditions of the other patients in the trauma bay.
Sounds smart.
Why, thank you, sir.
[CHUCKLES.]
I'm gonna go.
Just beware of the bank shot.
Come again? - Damn.
- No, no.
Oh, yeah.
The bank shot.
So you think you know why the plaintiff is calling a witness, and y-you may be right.
But a lot of the time, the other side will call a witness with a whole other purpose entirely.
The witness will say everything you expect him to say, but then, just at the last minute, boom, he'll throw a whole new fact pattern out there.
Bank shot.
- So what do I do? - Two things.
One, do your best.
Two, stop saying you're good.
You shouldn't be good until this is all over.
And then, only if you've won.
Stay scared, Chunk.
Bank shots can come out of nowhere.
GROSSMAN: Let's talk about the evening of the shooting.
How soon after you got the call did you have someone reach out to Dr.
Kinsey and ask her to return to the hospital? I believe it was within minutes.
GROSSMAN: And when she arrived, did you tell Dr.
Kinsey to take Mr.
Watkins up to the OR for surgery as soon as a room became available? - I did.
- And even though she received that directive from you, her superior, that's not what Dr.
Kinsey did, is it? - PARK: No.
- Now, you mentioned that Dr.
Kinsey decided to deploy a REBOA.
Had you been consulted, would you have approved of this decision? No, I would not.
In my 27 years, I've actually never used a REBOA.
As far as I know, the mainstream medical community has still not reached a decision as to when, where or even if the REBOA should be used.
It comes with a slew of complications and high mortality rates.
Are you surprised the use of the REBOA resulted in Ryan Watkins' death? - No.
- No further questions for this witness, Your Honor.
I'm not a doctor, but I sense we're bleeding out here.
Before I begin my questioning, I'd just like to thank you, Dr.
Park, you and the entire Mercy Hospital team, for all of your hard work during that awful night.
Thank you.
Now, you testified that mere minutes after receiving the call about the mass shooting, you directed someone to call Dr.
Kinsey and see if she'd be able to come back to work.
- Yes.
- Even though she just finished a 12-hour shift.
Yes.
You must hold her in pretty high regard, wouldn't you say? I suppose so.
In fact, you hired her, didn't you? I was among the people on the committee that weighed in on her hiring, yes.
I think it stands to reason that at some point you had a high degree of faith in Dr.
Kinsey's decision-making.
Wouldn't you say? And it's Chunk Palmer on the 20.
I'm waiting for an answer, Dr.
Park.
GROSSMAN: Objection, Your Honor.
Relevance.
This trial is not about why Dr.
Kinsey was hired.
It is about why she did what she did after being given specific instructions by her superior.
Objection sustained.
Ask another question, Counselor.
Situations like this, a-a mass shooting, are fast-moving - and fluid, aren't they? - Of course.
And so, as patients are moved from EMS to emergency room doctors to trauma surgeons, quite often their condition changes rapidly, doesn't it? That's correct.
And am I safe in assuming that, ideally, you would want them to be reassessed as often as possible? - Of course.
- So, the night that you decided that Mr.
Watkins should be operated on prior to anyone else, isn't it possible that while that was the right decision when you made it, it might not have been the right decision five or ten minutes later? And isn't it possible that on Dr.
Kinsey's subsequent, more thorough examination, and faced with two critically wounded patients, she could reasonably disagree with your assessment? She lost a patient.
If she had done what you told her, she could have lost two.
- Bingo.
- GROSSMAN: Objection, Your Honor.
- Counsel is testifying.
- [GAVEL BANGS.]
Objection sustained.
The jury will disregard counsel's last statement.
It's already forever burned in their brains.
RAND: Mr.
Palmer? You do know the difference between a question - and a statement, don't you? - You bet he does.
I do, Your Honor, and I apologize to the court and to the jury and the witness.
Your apology's accepted.
You get one, Mr.
Palmer.
Any more questions for this witness? Not at this time, Your Honor.
GROSSMAN: Permission to redirect? RAND: Go ahead, Ms.
Grossman.
GROSSMAN: Now, Dr.
Park, this isn't the first time that Dr.
Kinsey has gone rogue while on your watch, is it? No, it is not.
GROSSMAN: Could you elaborate for us, please? PARK: It was three months or so after Dr.
Kinsey joined our staff.
We had a patient, a car crash victim.
Upon examination we realized she had cirrhosis liver disease And had developed ascites, essentially an accumulation of fluid in the abdomen which can cause kidney or liver failure if left untreated.
And you had Dr.
Kinsey work on this patient? Yes.
A common procedure is to drain the fluid through what's called therapeutic paracentesis.
You have to very carefully hold a needle while the fluid drains.
If the patient moves or if the needle slips, it could puncture the liver, causing internal bleeding.
And so you had Dr.
Kinsey perform this procedure? That's correct.
But apparently, there was an urgent situation down the hall, and instead of stopping the procedure and pulling the needle out to go and attend to the problem, Dr.
Kinsey decided to tape the needle in place, I suppose hoping that it would auto-drain while she was off assisting down the hall.
GROSSMAN: Is that something that's recommended while performing this procedure? No.
Absolutely not.
You never leave a sharp instrument sticking out of a patient unattended.
Luckily, I came by to check on the procedure.
I pulled the needle, preserving the patient's safety, and had a very long talk with Dr.
Kinsey.
The thing is, it was clever, but not responsible medicine.
GROSSMAN: So, it appears that Dr.
Kinsey has a history of maverick medical procedures that risk patient health.
Objection.
Counsel is testifying.
Rephrase, Ms.
Grossman.
I'll withdraw the statement.
No further questions.
BULL: Where the hell did that come from? CHUNK: Bank shot.
KINSEY: You have to understand.
From my perspective, it was a nonevent.
The woman's abdomen was draining just fine and I was attending to another patient.
Dr.
Park came by, and I wasn't doing it the way he would do it, but that doesn't mean I was doing it improperly.
I don't mean to cast aspersions, but Park, he's the kind of guy who's gonna keep making his bed until it's absolutely perfect, even when the house is on fire.
Be that as it may, the plaintiff's attorney has already planted it in the jury's mind that you're some kind of rebel doctor, willing to compromise your patient's well-being for the satisfaction of doing it your way.
CHUNK: Do you know a Dr.
Kendra Collier? Name rings a bell.
Uh, maybe the military? Maybe Afghanistan? CHUNK: Well, she's on this revised witness list and is first up to testify tomorrow.
Sorry.
In case it jogs your memory, she is a critical care physician out of San Antonio? Never been to San Antonio.
TAYLOR: Okay, how's this? From 2004 to 2009, she worked at Landstuhl Regional Medical Facility in Germany.
Okay.
Military doctor, I got that part right, but I never served in Germany.
MARISSA: So you have no clue why they're calling her to testify? Uh, San Antonio to New York City is a pretty pricy plane ticket.
There's got to be a reason that they're willing to go to so much trouble.
I'm sorry.
I don't know who she is.
Well, I guess we will all find out tomorrow.
[BRAKES SQUEAKING.]
We making a stop? I asked Benny to join us.
He's gonna sit with me in the gallery.
I need an extra set of eyes and ears.
[GRUNTS.]
Morning, fellas.
Well, isn't this a nice surprise? I was just reading about you in the newspaper here.
At least I think it's you.
The way they spelled your name made it sound like you're a part of somebody's digestive system.
"Benny Colon.
" [LAUGHS.]
Seriously, man, congratulations.
You got my vote.
Yeah, that's just 'cause you want your old office back.
So you made the announcement last night? Not me, personally, but yeah.
It's finally out there.
I think they were afraid if they didn't announce it soon, - I was going to change my mind.
- [GAVEL BANGS.]
GROSSMAN: Dr.
Collier, the defendant, Dr.
Kinsey, in her deposition, claims that she successfully deployed a REBOA for over one hour in a Colonel Mark Winston during her service in Afghanistan.
Now, you were part of the treatment team at Landstuhl - for that same soldier, correct? - Correct.
Can you tell us about Colonel Winston's injuries? Winston's unit was hit with an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.
He suffered massive abdominal wounds and had to be transferred to the Kandahar base for surgery, and then to us in Landstuhl for further treatment.
He survived the transports, but died in our care eight days later.
Oh, no GROSSMAN: Were his wounds just too severe? His wounds were very severe.
But that's not what killed him.
Well, then, what did? Well, as you mentioned, the medical team who performed the initial transport in Afghanistan, the one supervised by Dr.
Kinsey, used a REBOA to keep the colonel from hemorrhaging during flight.
Unfortunately, the transport took an hour, and that's a long time to cut off someone's blood supply.
So you're saying it was the REBOA that led to Colonel Winston's death? Essentially, yes.
The REBOA pretty much killed his legs, and Winston ultimately died of sepsis.
GROSSMAN: But this didn't happen in the case of Ryan Watkins, did it? Same cause, different complication.
In Mr.
Watkins' case, it wasn't his legs, but the end result was the same.
So, in your professional opinion, was it reasonable for Dr.
Kinsey to assume that she could successfully deploy a REBOA for such a lengthy period of time in either Colonel Winston or, for that matter, in the case of Ryan Watkins? No.
You just can't keep it in that long and expect it to work.
GROSSMAN: No further questions.
Your witness, Mr.
Palmer.
Ask the judge for a short recess.
I think the two of us should confer with Benny.
I got this.
Okay, I just listened to your testimony, Dr.
Collier, and I have to tell you I'm a little confused.
Let me see if I can't help you, then.
CHUNK: Great.
So, let's start back at the beginning.
A patient like Colonel Winston, all these abdominal wounds There any way he's gonna survive a 60-minute transport without some sort of hemorrhage control? - No.
- And without some sort of hemorrhage control, how quickly is someone in the colonel's condition likely to bleed out? 30 minutes? 15 minutes? Would he have even lasted five minutes? Less than five minutes.
CHUNK: So the options were either let the patient die on the helicopter, or deploy this REBOA and get him to a facility where he could be treated and possibly saved? Isn't that correct? - Basically, yes.
- So the REBOA bought him time.
In fact, it bought him eight days, didn't it? Because had it not been used, he would have died on day one.
Isn't that correct? Yes, that would be correct.
So let me ask you a question.
During the time that you were treating the colonel in Landstuhl, did his family come to see him? His wife, his son? Yes, I believe they did.
So the REBOA, the dreaded REBOA, actually allowed the colonel to have eight more days to spend with his family and to say goodbye to them? Isn't that correct? Yes.
I suppose it did.
Sounds like Dr.
Kinsey - made the right choice to me.
- GROSSMAN: Objection! Counsel is testifying.
RAND: Objection sustained.
The jury will ignore counsel's last question.
I do apologize, Your Honor.
No further questions.
Gosh, I knew him when he used to tell clients what color shirts to wear to their depositions.
Very impressive cross-examination, Chunk.
Thank you.
I'm glad you think so, Counselor.
Mr.
Palmer, the next time I tell you to ask for a short recess, ask for a short recess.
Bull, the man did great.
And then we will go out into the hall, you will share your thoughts, I will share my thoughts, and Mr.
Colón, who is not yet the city's D.
A.
, will offer his point of view, and then I will decide what we are going to do.
Do we all understand each other? Well, I understand what you're saying, but I don't know why you're saying it.
Because you got lucky, Chunk.
We walked into court today knowing very little about that doctor.
We didn't even know why she was testifying.
She could have just as easily answered your question that it was her medical skill that kept that man alive for eight days, and it would have been 20 had our client not used a REBOA.
But she didn't say any of that, did she? Don't confuse luck with skill.
I'm not confused.
I took a shot and it paid off.
Well, we don't take shots with other people's lives and livelihoods, and we don't ask questions we don't know the answers to.
And we certainly don't ignore the opportunity to compare notes with two people whose combined experience equals almost as much time as you've been on the planet.
He's running for office, you're going rogue.
Believe me, I'd go to court and ask the questions myself if I could.
[SCOFFS.]
Sorry.
Sorry, sorry.
I couldn't get a cab.
I ended up taking the subway.
And forgive me, I never got a chance to tell you how impressive you were yesterday, cross-examining that doctor from San Antonio.
Thank you.
Just got lucky.
KINSEY: Whatever.
It worked.
So, what does today hold? That's what we're here to ask you.
The first witness up today is Nurse Darna Bautista.
Now, she worked with you the night that Mr.
Watkins died.
Any idea what she's gonna say? [SCOFFS.]
That I'm a bitch.
She idolizes Dr.
Park.
When I said I wasn't gonna do things in exactly the way in exactly the order that Dr.
Park indicated, she looked like she was gonna have a stroke.
When you say she idolizes Dr.
Park, what does that mean? They were friends? Lovers? No, I don't think so.
I just know she thinks he walks on water.
Nurse Bautista, you were one of the ER nurses working at Mercy the evening of the shooting? Yes, I was.
I was providing care for Ryan Watkins.
First under the supervision of Dr.
Park, and then under the supervision of Dr.
Kinsey.
And did you have occasion to tell Dr.
Kinsey anything about her patient? I did.
I'm guessing you're talking about normal medical information that a doctor might expect a nurse to provide.
Yes.
But I also shared something else with her.
Something I shouldn't have shared.
Something that wasn't true, although I didn't know it at the time.
What did she say to you? I honestly don't know.
Nothing beyond the usual.
GROSSMAN: And what was that? You have to understand, it was chaos that night.
There was all kinds of misinformation flying around.
At one point we heard there were three gunmen.
At another point, somebody wrote a tweet that the shooting was a terrorist operation.
We understand how stressful this situation must have been for you, Ms.
Bautista, but what is it you said to Dr.
Kinsey? When EMS brought in Mr.
Watkins into the ER that night I was led to believe that he, um, Mr.
Watkins was the shooter.
And you shared that with Dr.
Kinsey? Yes, I did.
Obviously, I don't know if that had anything to do with Dr.
Kinsey's decision, but I know it would have affected me if I had been in her shoes.
Objection.
The witness is speculating, offering her opinion.
Sustained.
Jury will ignore.
GROSSMAN: So, Nurse Bautista, in a situation like this, is it a doctor's job to determine whose life is more valuable, who deserves to be saved? Your Honor, opposing counsel is soliciting the witness's opinion using different phrasing.
Sustained.
Ms.
Grossman, the ice is paper-thin where you're standing.
You understand me? I do, Your Honor, and I withdraw the question.
No further questions.
I promise you, I have no recollection of anyone saying that any of the people we were trying to save that night might have been the shooter.
I know, I know.
Ask for a short recess.
Okay, we basically have two choices.
We can go back in there and say we have no more questions for the nurse and start our case by putting on Dr.
Kinsey.
That's a horrible choice.
Or we go back in there and say we have no questions for the nurse and rest our case as well, and stake everything on closing arguments.
Oh, my God, so we're just giving up? With all due respect, Dr.
Bull, but why wouldn't you want me to go back in there and grill that nurse? Get her to admit that she never said those things.
And how are you gonna do that? How are you going to prove someone didn't say something? How are you gonna prove a negative? It's just gonna be her word against ours, and no one is accusing her of having allowed someone to die.
But we can't let that jury think that what that nurse said is the truth.
That's why we're gonna put Dr.
Kinsey on the stand.
You can deny having heard it.
And, yes, it will still be your word against the nurse's, but at least we will have answered the accusation.
It will be on the record.
And then we will get you off the stand as quickly as possible and move on to closing arguments.
So, wait, there are no other witnesses? What about the people I saved that night? - Their family members.
- BULL: No.
The second we swear them in, opposing counsel will challenge on the basis of relevance, and we will lose.
Because your ability to help them isn't relevant to the question of whether you were reckless in your treatment of Mr.
Watkins.
I'm sorry, it just isn't.
CHUNK: Dr.
Kinsey, do you recall Nurse Bautista telling you that Ryan Watkins, the man whose life you were trying to save, was in fact the man who killed 38 people at the "We Are All from Somewhere Else" demonstration? No.
I have no recollection of that.
None.
And for what it's worth, had she told me, it would have made no difference in my decision-making with regard to Mr.
Watkins' care that night.
It's my job to help people, not to judge them.
So tell us, why'd you do what you did? Why'd you defy your superior and decide to work on someone else first? Once Dr.
Park left and I had a chance to examine Mr.
Watkins for myself, I realized, he was really far gone.
The likelihood of us saving him that night in the OR was slim at best.
It was also clear to me that whatever we did, it was going to take hours.
So when I saw that young woman, and realized with about a half an hour I could get her to a place where she could pull through I I had no choice.
And what did Dr.
Park say later on that night when he found out that Mr.
Watkins didn't make it? I actually didn't see Dr.
Park the rest of the night.
I mean, there were literally hundreds of people seeking treatment; I was pretty much on my own.
So working on your own, without any supervision, how many people did you personally save that night? I I'm not really sure how you would define "saved.
" How many people would have died that night without you having treated them? At least five that I'm aware of.
CHUNK: Five.
No further questions, Your Honor.
RAND: Very well.
Does the plaintiff have any questions for the witness? I do, Your Honor.
Just one.
So you believe that you saved five lives that night? And how many do you believe you lost? CHUNK: Objection! Asked and answered.
Never mind.
I withdraw the question.
On August 25th, as hundreds of people prepared to defy the COVID virus and stage a mass protest of our government's policies towards people born in other countries who dream of better lives in America I think you're gonna turn the jury off.
These images are so disturbing, I can't even hear what Chunk is saying.
CHUNK: on these shores Chunk.
Marissa is worried that the images are too violent, that they're gonna turn the jury off.
Well, I disagree.
The more graphic, the more in your face, the better.
See, you're trying to make the jury understand what it must have been like for Dr.
Kinsey, standing in the middle of all that, trying to save as many lives as possible.
Do you do what you're told or do you do what you know is right? - I second that.
- Yeah, but you're ex-law enforcement.
You've seen a lot of blood and guts in your life.
I mean, we've got a nursery school teacher on the jury.
A seminary student Wait a minute.
[CLEARS THROAT.]
Taylor, back it up about 30 seconds.
Okay, okay.
Stop it right there.
Isn't this the guy who testified against our client? Told our client to operate on Ryan Watkins first? Her direct superior? Yeah, that's him.
That's Dr.
Park.
Watch what he does.
Unfreeze it, Taylor.
BULL: Oh, freeze that.
Weird thing to do.
Especially in the middle of COVID.
He knows her.
CHUNK: 8:28 in the evening.
About ten minutes after Dr.
Kinsey arrived.
And this is the patient that Dr.
Park took to the OR when he told Dr.
Kinsey to take care of Ryan.
DANNY: Okay.
I'm-I'm lost.
That's two of us.
What are you guys getting at? Well, we always said this was a case about lifeboat ethics, we just didn't know there was a whole other boat involved.
[SCOFFS.]
Between now and tomorrow morning, I need you to find out everything that you can about that woman on the gurney.
I'll be damned if I go back into that courtroom and ask a question I don't already know the answer to.
Your Honor, with your permission I know that we already rested our case But before we begin closing arguments, the defense would like to call one last witness.
Actually, we would like to recall one last witness.
If Dr.
Park could take the stand.
Dr.
Park, I appreciate you coming in last minute to testify in court today.
Now, I have to be honest with you, I need your help.
I've actually never served on a medical malpractice case before.
And I'd be dishonest with you if I told you that I had any understanding whatsoever of medical ethics.
How it all works.
What it means.
Now, you, as the head surgeon at Mercy Hospital, this is something you know a lot about, am I right? Actually, I've written a number of papers, presided over a number of seminars on the topic, yes.
CHUNK: So baseline question.
What happens when doctors let their personal feelings get in the way of treating a patient? Well, all kinds of bad things can happen.
Physicians have been known to freeze, to second-guess themselves.
But I guess the biggest concern you see and hear about is doctors making bad calls because they're not thinking clearly.
They're not thinking critically.
Thank you.
Thank you, Dr.
Park.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Oh.
Actually, just one last thing.
[SIGHS.]
When they brought Ryan Watkins in that night, how many patients did they bring in with him? Including Ryan, three.
- He and two others.
- Okay.
So we know that you told Dr.
Kinsey to operate on Ryan Watkins first.
Now, that person she actually chose to treat, did she come in with Ryan? Yes.
And what about the third? Did we ever hear about what happened to the third? I took her up to the OR for immediate surgery.
I see.
And-and what was the extent of her injuries? She had been shot in the shoulder.
CHUNK: And would you say that her injuries were more urgent than the abdominal gunshot wound suffered by Ryan Watkins? Or the hemopneumothorax that Dr.
Kinsey treated? Dr.
Park? I need you to answer the question.
No.
I would not say her injuries were more urgent than those sustained by the two patients you asked me about.
That's odd.
So if her injuries were less than severe, why did you decide to operate on her first? Dr.
Park, did you know the patient that you worked on? Yes.
Personally? Yes.
She's Nurse Bautista's 20-year-old daughter.
My goddaughter.
So is that why you treated her first? If you had not known that patient, if you had not let this affect you, who would you have taken up to that operating room? [VOICE BREAKING.]
: Ryan Watkins.
CHUNK: So if there was an error in judgment that night, it was not Dr.
Kinsey's, was it? No.
It was not.
[WHISPERS.]
: I told you he was the right man for the job.
CHUNK: Can you stop all that racket? Some of us are in the midst of our own private euphorias and you're ruining it with the sound of all this manual labor.
Well, well, well.
- If it isn't Clarence Darrow.
- [CHUNK CHUCKLES.]
Hey.
Congratulations again.
You killed it today.
[LAUGHS.]
I did.
BENNY: Yeah.
What brings you out on this cold and wintery night? Couldn't sleep.
I'd close my eyes and I'd keep seeing the jury handing down that verdict.
That look of satisfaction and pride on Bull's face.
[CHUCKLES.]
The gratitude on Dr.
Kinsey's.
I'm a grown man and it is embarrassing to be this much in love with what you do for a living, you know? Anyway, I, uh, I got out, took a walk.
Tried to clear my head.
Walked across the bridge when suddenly I realized, I might die of frostbite and I'm in desperate need of a clean bathroom.
Mention my name, you get a good seat.
I already did.
[LAUGHS.]
You know, the other night in Bull's SUV? I was ready to quit.
Mm.
I figured.
I've been ready to quit about a half a dozen times over the years.
Really? What stopped you? I don't know.
I get one foot out the door, and then I realize he was mostly right about whatever it was he was saying or talking about.
Plus, I think we make each other smarter.
Better.
He's a really, really smart dude, Chunk.
And I don't think he would want you around if he didn't think you were a smart dude, too.
Congratulations again, Chunk.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I got to finish my interior decorating so I can go home and get some sleep.
[EXHALES.]