Chapter 19 - THE FIRST DAY OF TRIAL
The prosecutor opened with medication.
No emotional hospital scene first.
Smart.
Pharmacist.
Dispensing records.
Then app audit.
Data engineer explained:
Entries added days later.
Edited.
Not what medically happened, just what user recorded.
Then notebook.
Bernice’s handwriting authenticated by her own admission.
March 12:
Logged as given because G checks constantly.
The jury saw.
Then Dr. Patel.
“Did you authorize alternate-day controller medication?”
“No.”
“Did you tell Bernice to decide dose frequency?”
“No.”
“Could she reasonably decide whether every mild symptom required rescue medication under the action plan?”
“Some judgment exists in symptom assessment, but not to override scheduled controller therapy or deliberately delay rescue when action-plan criteria are met.”
Good.
Then causation.
“Did Bernice cause August hospitalization?”
“I cannot state that.”
Defense relaxed.
Then:
“Could her actions increase risk?”
“Yes.”
“Did Elodie have genuine asthma?”
“Yes.”
“Was she pretending?”
“No evidence of that.”
Simple.
Then defense:
“Can anxiety worsen perception of breathlessness?”
“Yes.”
“Can overuse of rescue inhalers have downsides?”
“Yes.”
“Can parents become anxious about asthma?”
“Yes.”
“Did Griffin sometimes contact your office excessively?”
I clenched jaw.
Dr. Patel smiled slightly.
“He was an attentive parent.”
Not answer.
Defense pushed.
“More than average?”
“Sometimes.”
There.
Truth.
The case allowed both.
I had anxiety.
Bernice had still overridden treatment.
May you like
Then hospital physical incident would come.
Colette tomorrow.
