Quincy M.E. (1976–1983): Season 8, Episode 20 - Women of Valor - full transcript
I can't stop it, it's coming.
It looks like the water's
broken. The baby's on the way.
But when this poor
woman came to me for help,
how could I say no?
Olivia looks at
childbirth for what it is,
a natural process.
My dream is to see
licensed midwives working
alongside doctors in the community.
I don't believe for one minute
that you're guilty of any crime.
This woman must be stopped.
I've got a whole string of
witnesses all set to testify.
If this hearing's a witch hunt,
we've just handed the
prosecution a burning torch.
Gentlemen, you
are about to enter
the most fascinating
sphere of police work,
the world of forensic medicine.
Mrs. Allen?
Yes?
Mrs. Allen.
I know you don't know me,
but my sister needs
help very badly.
She's having a baby, and
there's no one to help her but me.
A friend said to come to you.
Has she been to a doctor?
- Can you take her
to the hospital?
- No.
My sister doesn't have
papers. She's afraid to go there.
I'm sorry.
I won't deliver a baby
if I haven't seen the mother
during her pregnancy.
Please.
She's been in labor
since yesterday.
Something is wrong. I don't
know what else to do for her.
Please. Please.
All right. You get in
the car, I'll get my bag.
Marsha to the desk.
Stay right there, ma'am.
I'll get you a chair.
Excuse me. Who's
your doctor here, ma'am?
I don't have one.
I've been going
to the county clinic.
She's not supposed
to have the baby yet.
I brought her here because
this was the closest hospital.
How close are the contractions?
About five to six minutes apart.
Well, let's get you
inside and have a look.
Better get the
obstetrician on call.
What've we got?
A woman just came in in labor.
Name's Kenmore.
She's a county patient.
We need to have you examine her
to make sure she's
not an emergency
before we transfer
her to County General.
Okay, I'll have a look.
Mrs. Kenmore.
How long ago did the
contractions begin?
About four hours ago.
How many pregnancies
have you had, Mrs. Kenmore?
This is my third.
Marsha, can I see you a minute?
She's three centimeters dilated,
contractions are coming
every five-six minutes,
and the fetal heart
tone is 140 and stable.
It feels like the baby's
vertex at -3 station.
She's had two
pregnancies before,
so she could
deliver any time now.
That's right.
I think we should admit her.
Doctor Wallace
will have to clear it.
I know.
Yes, Doctor Reed.
Now, wait a minute.
Waiving the hospital rules
is out of the question, Doctor.
If the woman's less than
four centimeters dilated,
it's not an emergency
That's my final word, Doctor.
You'd better call an ambulance.
I think we can
get this baby out.
Push. Push.
Okay.
I've got him.
What are you doing?
Why isn't he crying?
What's wrong?
He's having trouble breathing.
Can you drive?
We have to get
him to a hospital.
The midwife said she just
couldn't get him to breathe.
I need to intubate the baby.
Nope, can't get in...
Bag again.
- What's the heart rate?
- 105 and falling.
He's not responding to
the ventilation, Doctor.
What percentage is he on?
One hundred percent oxygen.
Increase the rate.
C'mon, baby, breathe!
Severe bradycardia.
He at ninety and falling.
There's no pulse.
Start CPR.
Gimme bicarb and epinephrine.
This child never had a chance!
Olivia?
Doctor Reed,
thank goodness you're here.
I came as soon as I got your
message. What happened?
Let me tell you what
happened, Doctor Reed.
A baby this woman had
no business delivering
just died in there.
This is the sort of irresponsible
practice you encourage.
What do you think of
midwives and home births now?
Doctor!
Please hurry.
I've got to push.
Don't push, Mrs. Kenmore.
Pant if you feel
the urge to push.
We're almost there.
I'll radio ahead so
they're all ready for you.
County General, this
is Cal 88, come in.
Cal 88, this is County
General, go ahead.
This is Cal 88.
We're en route to your
facility with the OB patient
from Harrington Hospital.
ETA eight minutes.
Her contractions
are a minute apart.
The fetal heart rate is 138...
I can't...
I can't stop it, it's coming.
Okay, it's all right.
I'll take care of you.
All right, look.
It looks like the water's
broken. The baby's on the way.
I'll do an examination
and prepare to deliver.
- Stand by.
- We're standing by.
Oh, no. What is
it? What's wrong?
Mrs. Kenmore, try to relax.
Don't push.
You just keep panting.
We're almost there.
County General from Cal 88,
we've got a breech
and we're on our way in.
Have an OB team standing by.
All right, okay.
Just keep panting.
Okay, you're all right.
Just try not to push.
Keep panting.
All right.
- Doc.
- What? The OB team is waiting.
Yeah, look, I don't
think the baby made it.
What do you mean?
There's no heartbeat.
Coroner's case 83-5829.
Body is that of a
Negroid infant, female,
weight 5 pounds, 1 ounce,
length 17 inches.
This little one never even
saw the light of day, Sam.
Apparently, the baby's
oxygen supply was cut off
when the umbilical cord
became compressed
between the baby's body
and the mother's pelvis.
According to the report,
the baby was a breech birth
and died in utero
while the mother was being
transported to County General.
I guess the paramedics
couldn't handle a breech.
Most doctors can't,
without surgery.
It's a shame, there are techniques
for delivering breech babies
or if they'd gotten the
mother to the hospital on time,
they could have
saved the baby's life.
But it says here
she came from a hospital.
What?
Look, the paramedics
picked her up
at Harrington
Hospital at 5:23 pm.
And the baby was dead on
arrival at County General at 5:51.
The examining physician at Harrington
recommended that she be held.
Yet they transported her anyway.
Why would a hospital
overrule its own doctor?
I don't know, Sam. It
doesn't make sense.
But when we finish here, I'm going to
Harrington Hospital to get some answers.
If they didn't move that woman,
this baby might still be alive.
The woman was three
centimeters dilated, Doctor.
We wouldn't consider
it an emergency
unless she was over four.
Aside from that, Mrs.
Kenmore was not a patient here.
Our department
has a strict policy
of not admitting women in labor
if they have not been
seen by a staff doctor.
We're proud of the quality of medical
care we provide for maternity patients.
We can't provide that to a
woman we've never seen before.
It could be bad to our
professional reputations.
Now that's hospital policy.
Your policy led to
that child's death.
Believe me, I feel just as
badly about that as you do.
We don't like to
turn away patients,
but we've learned from
experience to avoid walk-in mothers.
Let me be frank.
These are poor women
we're talking about.
Their diet and general
health may be poor,
or they may have
medical histories
that could cause
complications during delivery.
Who knows what could happen?
If we take them in and
everything goes okay, well, fine.
That's what we're
expected to do.
But if anything goes wrong, we
get hit with an expensive lawsuit.
We can't afford to run
an open door policy
like you're advocating,
Doctor Quincy.
We wouldn't last a month.
But where are all these
poor women supposed to go,
if private hospitals like Harrington
keep turning them away?
County? They're already swamped.
Look, we didn't create
this system, you know.
A couple of
obstetricians on staff
used to treat MediCal patients,
and we had no objections.
But now, with the
new legislation,
we decided to wash our
hands of the whole thing.
You're referring to the state's
new MediCal reform legislation?
Reform.
The new law's made it
tougher on everybody,
hospitals, doctors and patients.
The reforms mean
that hospitals who
stay in the program
have to accept a lower level of
reimbursement for MediCal patients.
And they have to deal
with even more red tape.
We applied
but the State turned us down,
said our costs were too high.
So even if a doctor wanted to deliver
the baby of a MediCal patient here,
he couldn't, because you're
no longer in the program?
That's right.
Under the new law,
a hospital's in or out.
And many private
hospitals have had to get out.
And I must admit
we're one of them.
Quincy.
Quincy?
Quincy!
What's the matter?
Oh. I was just
replaying a conversation.
I can't get it out of my head.
Listen, there's someone
waiting in my office to see you.
She says it's very important.
I think you may
want to talk with her.
Okay.
- Quincy?
- What?
Well, aren't you
going to see her?
Talk to who?
Who?
It's a doctor from
Harrington Hospital.
That's where the conversation
in my head is coming from too.
Well, don't you
want to talk to her?
Of course. Why didn't
you tell me she was here?
Doctor Quincy,
this is Doctor Reed.
- How do you do?
- How do you do, Doctor Quincy?
Why don't we all just sit down?
You were the doctor who examined
the Kenmore woman, weren't you?
Yes.
And I also understand that you
recommended she be admitted.
Yes, but I was overruled.
Hospital policy.
It's that what you
wanted to see me about?
No.
Doctor Quincy, I need
your help on another matter.
A friend of mine has
been working as a midwife
in the community for
the last several years.
The other day she was
called in at the last minute
to deliver a baby.
She should have refused,
but she's not the type
to see anyone suffer.
The baby had trouble breathing,
and she brought it to
Harrington, where it died.
The hospital pathologist's
autopsy concluded
that my friend Olivia
was responsible
for the child's death.
And so it became
a coroner's case.
But you don't think
she's responsible.
I know she isn't, Doctor Quincy.
She's an experienced midwife.
I know because I've worked
as her medical backup
for the past three years.
Doctor Quincy, Doctor
Asten tells me you're the best.
I'd like you to
re-autopsy that baby.
Can we get a copy of the
hospital autopsy report?
I'll put in a call to
them right away.
Carol, get me
Harrington Hospital.
Thank you, Doctor Quincy.
You don't know
how important this is.
If Olivia's discredited,
everything we've been working
for for the past three years
goes up in smoke.
Yeah, the full list came out
about ten o'clock this morning.
Yeah, I can have
it for you by five.
Hey, Sam. I need that
report on the Phillips case.
Well, here's the knife,
but the report
isn't finished yet.
What do ya mean,
isn't finished yet?
Quincy promised it would
be ready. Where is he?
Down at Harrington Hospital.
He's checking into
the death of a baby.
Seems like the hospital's
blaming a midwife.
A midwife? You don't
mean Olivia Allen?
Yes. Why?
Why?
He's wasting his time.
We just arrested her for
second degree murder.
Look, Quincy.
This woman is an
unlicensed midwife
practicing medicine under
the most squalid conditions.
We have the report of
an expert pathologist,
which says the baby
died of negligence
on the part of the
person who delivered it.
That's good enough for me.
But the autopsy is incomplete.
You didn't examine the brain,
the viscera weren't removed.
I don't understand
how you can use this
as a basis for
charging Olivia Allen.
Doctor Quincy, I
stand by that report.
Assistant District Attorney
Vale and I have agreed
that it's absolutely essential
to move on this immediately.
This woman must be stopped
before she causes the death
of another innocent child.
I don't understand
your reasoning.
When your hospital turns a woman
away and allows her baby to die
in a paramedic's
van, that's acceptable.
That is business as usual.
But when a midwife attempts to
help a woman no one else will touch,
and the baby
dies, that's murder.
Talk about double standards.
Suppose Mrs. Ruiz had
come to your hospital.
Would you have admitted her?
That's not the point.
That is precisely the point.
Mrs. Ruiz was an alien
and was scared to go to the
hospital and with good cause.
If she was lucky
enough to get treated,
she would have run
the risk of deportation.
That's the law,
and the law also states
that practicing medicine
without a license is illegal.
This woman has
committed a criminal act,
and I intend to
prosecute her for it.
Okay.
At least you can wait until
I complete the autopsy.
No way, Quincy. No
way am I gonna wait.
You may consider this autopsy
report incomplete, but I don't.
I've got a whole string of
witnesses all set to testify.
There will be no postponement.
But I'm still going to
do a complete autopsy.
Don't move too fast.
You may find yourselves
looking very foolish.
Oh, Doctor Quincy.
Come on in.
Everybody is at lunch.
How did the interview
with Wallace and Vale go?
Not good.
To listen to them, you'd think Olivia
was Public Enemy Number One.
It's what I was afraid of.
Why do you say that?
That's because Olivia looks
at childbirth for what it is,
a natural process.
That's threatening
to many doctors.
They're trained to rely
on using drugs and surgery
for ninety percent of the
women who give birth,
and most of that's
not necessary.
Sometimes it's even dangerous.
Doctor Wallace kept
insisting that it was safer.
Sit down, please.
You know,
I remember when
I agreed with him.
You see, I learned all
about the clinical aspects of
childbirth in medical school.
My residency began
as a great adventure.
I felt I was part
of a new breed of doctors
that could place science at the
service of nature's most wonderful gift,
life.
But it didn't turn out that way.
One day I watched a
doctor perform a cesarean
on a woman because she'd
been in labor for twelve hours.
After twelve hours, cut,
that was the medical policy.
Unfortunately, she
started to hemorrhage.
They had to remove her uterus
so she was never able
to have another child.
Isn't that just a case of
an incompetent doctor?
No.
It's the approach
of the whole system.
- Would you like some coffee?
- No, thank you.
You see, physicians are
trained to use drugs and
surgery to control processes.
So cesarean section
is used routinely
to control difficult deliveries.
That way the doctor can control
when and where
the baby is delivered
C-sections have tripled
in the last fifteen years
and that in some hospitals the
rate is as high as forty percent?
So, Doctor Quincy, I came
out of my four-year residency
totally disenchanted.
I decided to set up a practice
that specialized in
something a little more natural,
prepared childbirth.
That's care from
conception to delivery,
but without drugs and surgery.
Unless it's
absolutely necessary.
I began to accept
home births as an
alternative to the hospital.
And I think women should
have a right to choose.
When did you meet Olivia?
A few years after
I set up practice.
She'd started working
with women here
and was looking for
someone to provide her
with medical backup. I agreed.
And the medical establishment's
been on my back ever since.
And with Olivia's trial coming
up, it'll probably get a lot worse.
I know.
I've already begun to
feel a chill at the hospital.
But I'm not quitting,
Doctor Quincy.
And neither is Olivia.
That makes me
the third musketeer.
Believe me, if there's any
evidence to exonerate Olivia,
I'm gonna find it.
Thank you.
- Good morning, ladies.
- Good morning, Anne.
Good morning.
Looks like another
light day, huh?
Mrs. Harris phoned in and said
she wouldn't be able to make it
because Tommy was sick.
And two of the patients
referred by Doctor Block
phoned in cancellations.
Well...
Who's first?
Mrs. Stevenson.
All right.
Set her up in
examining room one.
All right.
How are you?
Well.
How's the other half of
the partnership doing?
Can I talk to you a minute?
Sure.
I'm concerned about this
midwife incident, Katherine.
It's got a lot of
doctors up in arms.
I'm not surprised.
The idea of a little
competition frightens them.
But it's more serious this time.
There's talk of an investigation
by the Board of Medical
Quality Assurance.
And the Executive
Committee at the hospital
is talking about
examining your records.
Let them, Walt.
My statistics are better than any
other obstetrician at that hospital.
That's not the point, Katherine.
Once they go
looking for something,
you know as well as I do they
won't let up until they find it.
Listen to me.
If you continue to
associate with this woman,
you'll ruin your career.
I've been behind you
all the way up till now.
But it's time to back off.
I can't, Walt.
Don't you think you should give
this more consideration than that?
It won't change anything.
Look, if you want to be foolish
and throw away your
career, that's your business.
But I've worked too hard.
I have to tell you,
if things get any hotter, I'm going to
have to reevaluate our partnership.
No sense in both of us
going down with the ship.
This autopsy on the Ruiz baby,
I can't believe I
won't complete it is.
The hospital
pathologist didn't do
much more than interview
the doctor that treated the baby.
What did he say the
cause of death was?
Lack of oxygen from when the
baby got stuck in the birth canal.
That doesn't fit with what
we found in the autopsy.
Take a look, these
are the slides.
This confirms my hunch.
Air was dissected through
the interstitial tissues.
It's subcutaneous soft tissue
emphysema that killed the child.
Not the delivery, as
that pathologist said.
The baby's lungs burst
like an over-inflated balloon.
Someone overdid it.
They pumped too much
oxygen into his lungs.
So you're saying
when the staff at the hospital
tried to resuscitate the baby,
they accidently killed him?
I think that's what happened.
There is one way we might
be able to find out for sure.
They must have monitored
the baby's vital signs
while he was at the hospital.
Those records are
not included in the file.
I know. We've got
to get a hold of them.
Excuse me, Doctor Quincy.
There's a woman here to see you.
Says it's very important.
I put her in your office.
Her name's Olivia Allen.
Olivia Allen? I'll
say it's important.
Thanks, Pete.
I'm Doctor Quincy, Mrs. Allen.
Please, call me Olivia.
I can't tell you how glad I was to
hear that you made bail so quickly.
- Thank you.
- Let's go to my office.
Doctor Quincy,
I've been a midwife for more
years than I care to remember.
Nothing like this has
ever happened to me.
If I did anything to cause
the death of that child...
Oh, no.
See, the autopsy
isn't completed yet.
Olivia, can you tell me exactly
what happened during the delivery?
Well,
I didn't attend the whole labor.
Mrs. Ruiz went thirty-six hours
unattended before they called me.
When I arrived,
she was fully
dilated and pushing.
I prepared her
and attempted to
deliver the baby,
but as he started to
come, the shoulders stuck,
we had a shoulder dystotia.
That's a difficult birth.
Come in, come in.
- Sit down, please.
- Thank you.
This is very important, Olivia.
Do you have any idea how long
the baby was stuck in the birth canal?
I don't know for sure.
It couldn't have taken me
more than a minute or two
to get the baby out.
But I knew right
away it was in trouble.
I gave it immediate CPR
and rushed it to the hospital.
Was there a pulse?
Yes. It was very
faint, but it was there.
Doctor Quincy,
I didn't want to
attend this delivery.
But when this poor
woman came to me for help,
how could I say no?
Usually, if I'm going
to deliver a baby,
I insist on seeing the mother
through her entire pregnancy.
That way, if there
are any problems,
I can confer with a knowledgeable
physician, like Doctor Reed.
But the rest of the
medical community
hasn't exactly welcomed
you with open arms, has it?
The attitude towards
midwives here is very different
from where I come from,
Jeffersonville, Texas.
Midwives were legal there.
We only had one obstetrician
to cover the entire county.
He actually assisted me
in setting up my own
midwife training program.
You were training
other midwives?
Yes. I ran a school.
We gave courses on nutrition,
female anatomy,
how to screen a
patient for complications.
We required our students
to assist at a hundred births
before being qualified to
deliver a baby on their own.
And your program was well
accepted by the community?
We were swamped.
Anyway, after my husband
died, I moved to L.A.
I looked around and
there seemed to be
a terrible need for
midwives here too.
But I didn't anticipate
all this opposition.
From doctors.
From doctors, and the state.
You see
California law doesn't
recognize lay midwives.
We don't exist.
That's why we're so vulnerable.
What about nurse midwives?
The ones with additional
medical training.
They're recognized by the state.
Yes.
But even though
they're licensed,
they need to be
backed up by a doctor.
Most of them
practice in hospitals.
But most private
hospitals and many doctors
won't provide that
kind of support.
Even though midwives'
services are so badly needed?
It's becoming a real crisis.
More and more women
have been coming to me.
Especially since the county
closed so many clinics
and started charging a
twenty dollar fee for each visit.
So they can't get the prenatal
care they need within the system?
Right. That's why I've been
working with a legislator
trying to get a bill to
license lay midwives.
But the powerful medical
groups denounce us as unsafe.
Olivia,
I have to be the
devil's advocate now.
Are lay midwives unsafe?
Doctor Quincy,
I'm not just a
childbirth educator
who thought it would
be fun to deliver babies.
I was trained.
And I've never, never
advocated allowing
untrained people
to practice midwifery.
I see.
But my real concern
is prenatal care.
And Doctor Reed agrees with me.
But I'm worried about her.
Why?
She's a fine young doctor, and I
don't want to see her destroyed.
I know they're going to try
to drag her down through me.
Hi, Steve.
Oh, Katherine.
Glad I ran into you.
Listen, about that
tennis match on Sunday.
I won't be able to make it. I've
decided to go to the lake instead.
Oh. That is disappointing.
How about next weekend?
Sarah and I are playing with
Susan and Jack next weekend.
In two weeks then.
Why don't I call
you? I gotta go.
- Hi, Mandy.
- Hi, Doctor Reed.
How's Mrs. Warren?
She must be way overdue by now.
Oh, no. She had
her baby yesterday.
Oh?
Yes. Doctor Brown
consulted. But I attended.
I thought you wanted me to
consult on your first delivery.
I was advised that it would be better
to have Doctor Brown supervise me.
Advised? By whom?
I'm not at liberty to say.
I see.
Look, Doctor Reed.
All sorts of rumors
are floating around
about your
unprofessional techniques.
They say that you're
putting your patients at risk.
Even if they aren't true,
I'm just a first-year resident.
I've got to spend three
more years at this hospital.
I can't afford to make enemies.
I'm sorry.
Excuse me, Doctor Reed.
Oh, Doctor Reed.
The trouble I see
in your tea leaves.
What will happen at
the hearing, Sharon?
Vale will present
evidence to show
that a murder's been committed
and that you committed it.
If the magistrate is convinced,
he'll bound you over for trial.
The defense usually doesn't
present its case at prelim,
but I'm gonna lay
it all out for 'em.
I don't believe for one minute
that you're guilty of any crime,
and I'm not waiting for
a public trial to prove it.
So you're going to ask to
have the charges dismissed?
Exactly.
In the meantime,
Olivia, it's important for you
not to see any more patients.
Vale would use that against you.
But I can't just abandon them.
Don't worry, Olivia.
You can start referring
them to me right away.
Good. That's settled then.
Oh, Doctor Quincy.
Here are those
records you asked for.
Well, thanks.
I think I'm on to something. I
hope these records can confirm it.
I'm counting on
it, Doctor Quincy.
That pathologist's report is
the most damaging piece
of evidence Vale has.
We'll be in real trouble
if you can't disprove it.
How dare you turn
over those records
to the Coroner's Office
without my permission?
Doctor Wallace, Doctor Quincy is
a Deputy Medical Examiner and
he has every right to those records.
That's not your
decision to make.
There's no place on this staff for
you and your ideas, Doctor Reed.
I'm suspending your
privileges temporarily
until the Executive
Medical Committee meets.
I intend to ask them to revoke
those privileges permanently.
All right.
Good.
Now, I want to see you
and your mother in my office.
You lie here nice and still
and Anne will be
in in just a moment
to help you get dressed, okay?
- See ya later.
- Bye.
Here's a list of dos and don'ts.
Oh, thank you, Doctor
Reed. And thank you, Olivia.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
And I want to see
you again in a week.
Bye.
You're worried, aren't you?
Her blood pressure was
normal last time I saw her.
But now that it's
up I'm concerned.
Since her reflexes are okay,
it doesn't look like
preeclampsia, does it?
No, I don't think so.
Since there are
no other symptoms.
But we'll have to
keep an eye on her.
She may have to
deliver in a hospital.
Yes, Anne?
Oh, great. Put him through.
Doctor Thompson calling
about my hospital privileges.
Yes, Doctor Thompson,
this is Doctor Reed
Oh, I see.
Yes, well...
Thank you for
getting back to me.
Yes.
Goodbye.
Don't tell me.
Meadow View's turned down my
application for temporary privileges.
Katherine.
I feel so responsible for
everything that's happening to you.
I don't want to hear that
kind of talk from you, Olivia.
Nothing could be
further from the truth.
Look.
It's been a long day.
You take care
and I'll see you at
the hearing, huh?
All right.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye-bye.
I'm sorry.
Goodbye.
Was that Doctor Reed who called?
Yeah.
They're trying to railroad her by
denying her hospital privileges.
She may have to
close her practice.
I can't believe it.
Did you see the same
thing I did here, Sam?
When the baby first
arrived at the hospital,
the EKG rhythm strip
showed a heartbeat.
It was slow, but it
looks fairly normal.
Then while they were
trying to resuscitate him,
it went to a flat line.
His heart stopped.
So the baby's heart was beating
when he got to the hospital,
and the team did over ventilate.
You're right, Quince.
This baby might have survived.
Yeah, it looks like it.
Unfortunately, this
isn't a twelve-lead EKG.
I can't tell from this if his heart
muscle was functioning normally.
Is Annette still
down in Histopath?
Yeah, she was just
finishing up when I left.
Tell her she's not finished yet.
I want tetrazolium blue
stain on the heart muscle.
That'll tell us if it
was functioning.
Right.
Well, that's all I'm asking.
There's no way I'm going to
take responsibility for this girl.
Walt, I've already been
turned down at three hospitals.
I've got a dozen
applications out.
I'm bound to be
approved at one of them.
Meanwhile,
I don't anticipate
any problems with this
girl, but she's only seventeen
and I'd feel better
knowing that if she does
need to be in a hospital,
you were there to cover for me.
I don't take referrals
from midwives.
Walt.
This is from me.
She is not your patient.
Look, Katherine,
all I want is a nice quiet
little practice somewhere,
where women call
up for appointments,
come in when
they're supposed to,
and get their babies
delivered on time.
And you're not being fair to me
when you get me
involved in your crusades.
You're right.
I'm sorry.
Katherine, look.
I might as well tell you.
I've been offered
a full partnership
with the new medical corporation
opening up on Fifth Street.
It's available the first of next month.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to take it.
Walt, you know I can't manage the
overhead on these offices without you.
What am I going to do?
Katherine, I'm sorry, but that question
is a little late in coming, isn't it?
Your Honor,
the people contend
that Olivia Allen is responsible
for this infant's death
as surely as if
she had walked in
to rob a bank and killed
an innocent bystander,
and that she should be bound
over for trial in Superior Court
and held to answer
to the charge of murder
in the second degree.
Order!
Order!
Look at this, Quince.
The inner muscle layers of
the heart are badly damaged.
They deteriorated.
They're ischemic.
With the degree of
ischemia in these tissues,
the damage took place before
the baby reached the hospital.
The EKG was misleading.
Electrical impulses were
still coming from the heart,
but the damage was so bad it
wasn't contracting effectively.
So the hospital was right.
The baby was dead from lack
of oxygen by the time they got it.
That's right, Sam.
If this hearing's a witch hunt,
we've just handed the
prosecution a burning torch.
Blood supplies to the baby's
brain may have been cut off
when the baby's
neck became trapped
against the pelvic
bone of the mother.
The lack of oxygen
resulted in the baby's death.
As a pathologist, Doctor,
is it your opinion that the
baby could have been saved?
Yes, indeed.
There was no evidence
of congenital abnormality.
With early
resuscitation efforts,
there's no question in my mind
that this baby
could have survived.
Order!
Order!
I have no further
questions for this witness.
Do you wish to reexamine?
Yes, I most certainly do.
You'd better get over here
right away, Doctor Reed.
It's Margaret Tracy.
I'm on my way.
What's going on?
The judge recessed for ten
minutes to check an opinion.
- What's the matter?
- Margaret Tracy's
gone into labor.
I've got to go.
What timing.
You're our first witness.
Olivia, I'm sorry.
Don't worry about me. Just go.
That's great.
She had to go.
She's taking over Margaret
Tracy. She was my patient.
And the baby won't wait.
And your case won't wait either.
Quince?
The brain looks
okay from the outside.
The tissue's hard
enough to section now.
Let's cut through and
see what we can find.
How you feeling, Margaret?
- Okay.
- Good. That's my girl.
- Here, lie down, honey.
- All right.
All right. Okay.
All right.
Here we are.
Heart rate is
one-forty and stable.
Good.
Anne, did you check
her blood pressure?
A moment before you arrived.
It's one-twenty over eighty.
Her cervix is dilating rapidly.
That's great! It
should go quickly.
Mrs. Allen,
you've made a regular practice
of delivering babies
in this community.
You practice medicine,
but you're not a doctor,
are you, Mrs. Allen?
I do not practice medicine
when I deliver babies, Mr. Vale.
I don't use drugs
and I don't perform surgery.
Isn't it true that before the recent
advances in medical science,
women and their infants
died in untold numbers?
Years ago, women
and their babies died
from infection and
unsanitary conditions.
Today they die because they
don't get the prenatal care they need.
My dream is to see
licensed midwives working
alongside doctors in the community
to establish a
prenatal care system.
Does your dream encompass
every quack and would-be practitioner
that fancies herself a midwife?
I said licensed
midwives, Mr. Vale.
This country ranks
seventeenth in the world
in infant mortality, Mr. Vale.
Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain,
who use midwives,
have statistics far
better than ours.
Come now, Mrs. Allen.
From what I understand,
you midwives rely on massages
and belly rubs
in your deliveries.
Well, birth doesn't have
to be painful, Mr. Vale.
It can be...
It is a beautiful and
sensuous experience
for a woman that only
another woman can understand.
Ever since time began,
women have helped
other women to give birth.
That's midwifery, Mr. Vale.
I don't think you can
ever stamp out a bond
that is as strong
as life itself.
How you doing, darling?
I'm fine, Mom.
Is my baby coming
soon, Doctor Reed?
Your baby'll be here.
Don't try to rush it.
Everything's looking good.
No further questions.
- Mrs. Allen, how long have you...
- Sharon.
Your Honor, I would now like to call
Doctor Quincy from the Coroner's Office.
You are excused, Mrs. Allen.
The court will
call Doctor Quincy.
Doctor Quincy,
you just told me you completed
a full autopsy on the Ruiz baby?
Yes, I did.
Can you tell this
court what you found?
The EKG record from
Harrington indicated
that the baby's heart was beating
when he reached the hospital.
However, when we looked at
the heart under the microscope,
we found that part
of the baby's heart
was dead long before
it reached the hospital.
So even though the EKG
was recording a signal,
the baby's heart was
not beating effectively
when the ICU team
started treating him.
So they couldn't
have saved the baby?
That's right.
What are you saying,
Doctor Quincy?
Are you saying
that your autopsy confirmed
Doctor Brenner's results
that Mrs. Allen killed the baby?
No indeed.
Here's my report.
We dissected the brain, something
Doctor Brenner failed to do,
and discovered a large vascular
malformation of the brain stem,
with hemorrhage and
compression of the ventricles.
What does this
mean, Doctor Quincy?
This defect in the brain caused
the damage we found to the heart,
not Olivia Allen.
Even if the baby had
been born in a hospital,
it would not have survived.
Neither a midwife nor the most
sophisticated medical facilities
could have kept that baby alive.
Olivia Allen was not
responsible for this child's death.
Pressure's holding at
one-thirty over eighty.
Good. Okay, honey, bear down.
Keep bearing down,
honey. Bear down.
I can see the baby.
The head is beginning to crown.
Keep pushing.
Keep pushing.
One more push. Keep pushing.
There, I've got her.
It's a girl.
I did it, I did it.
Oh, Mom.
Can I hold my baby now?
Olivia?
That's two out of two.
We won today.
I think that she's beautiful.
You should have seen
Wallace's face when I resigned.
I thought he was
gonna have a baby.
Well, he never figured
you'd improve your position.
I still don't believe it.
Chief of the new OB
Department at Parker Memorial.
You know, they believe as we do,
that women that want to
have a natural childbirth
should be able to
do so, at a hospital,
- if they want to.
- What a great idea.
Yes, and as soon as that
midwife legislation is passed,
we'll be opening
a training program
with Olivia as chief instructor.
Voila! In honor of Olivia.
That doesn't look
like ribs to me.
Ribs? Who said
anything about ribs?
That's crawfish gumbo.
Specialty of Louisiana
Creole cooking.
Louisiana?
But Jeffersonville is in Texas.
- It is?
- Yeah.
Oh, well, same part
of the country, isn't it?
Kissing cousins.
Excuse me. I got a call.
Parker Memorial sounds
like a wonderful opportunity
for you and Katherine
to work together.
Yes, but I'm afraid
that's still in the future.
After that bad publicity,
I'm thinking this
might be a good time
to go back to Jeffersonville.
At least I can practice there.
I hate to see you go.
I'll miss it here, too.
I've made so many
wonderful friends here.
Including you.
Thank you.
I hate to break up
our dinner party,
but Mrs. Donaldson's
just gone into labor.
It's Muriel.
She's one of mine.
Well?
What are you waiting for?
I'm gonna need all
the help I can get.
It looks like the water's
broken. The baby's on the way.
But when this poor
woman came to me for help,
how could I say no?
Olivia looks at
childbirth for what it is,
a natural process.
My dream is to see
licensed midwives working
alongside doctors in the community.
I don't believe for one minute
that you're guilty of any crime.
This woman must be stopped.
I've got a whole string of
witnesses all set to testify.
If this hearing's a witch hunt,
we've just handed the
prosecution a burning torch.
Gentlemen, you
are about to enter
the most fascinating
sphere of police work,
the world of forensic medicine.
Mrs. Allen?
Yes?
Mrs. Allen.
I know you don't know me,
but my sister needs
help very badly.
She's having a baby, and
there's no one to help her but me.
A friend said to come to you.
Has she been to a doctor?
- Can you take her
to the hospital?
- No.
My sister doesn't have
papers. She's afraid to go there.
I'm sorry.
I won't deliver a baby
if I haven't seen the mother
during her pregnancy.
Please.
She's been in labor
since yesterday.
Something is wrong. I don't
know what else to do for her.
Please. Please.
All right. You get in
the car, I'll get my bag.
Marsha to the desk.
Stay right there, ma'am.
I'll get you a chair.
Excuse me. Who's
your doctor here, ma'am?
I don't have one.
I've been going
to the county clinic.
She's not supposed
to have the baby yet.
I brought her here because
this was the closest hospital.
How close are the contractions?
About five to six minutes apart.
Well, let's get you
inside and have a look.
Better get the
obstetrician on call.
What've we got?
A woman just came in in labor.
Name's Kenmore.
She's a county patient.
We need to have you examine her
to make sure she's
not an emergency
before we transfer
her to County General.
Okay, I'll have a look.
Mrs. Kenmore.
How long ago did the
contractions begin?
About four hours ago.
How many pregnancies
have you had, Mrs. Kenmore?
This is my third.
Marsha, can I see you a minute?
She's three centimeters dilated,
contractions are coming
every five-six minutes,
and the fetal heart
tone is 140 and stable.
It feels like the baby's
vertex at -3 station.
She's had two
pregnancies before,
so she could
deliver any time now.
That's right.
I think we should admit her.
Doctor Wallace
will have to clear it.
I know.
Yes, Doctor Reed.
Now, wait a minute.
Waiving the hospital rules
is out of the question, Doctor.
If the woman's less than
four centimeters dilated,
it's not an emergency
That's my final word, Doctor.
You'd better call an ambulance.
I think we can
get this baby out.
Push. Push.
Okay.
I've got him.
What are you doing?
Why isn't he crying?
What's wrong?
He's having trouble breathing.
Can you drive?
We have to get
him to a hospital.
The midwife said she just
couldn't get him to breathe.
I need to intubate the baby.
Nope, can't get in...
Bag again.
- What's the heart rate?
- 105 and falling.
He's not responding to
the ventilation, Doctor.
What percentage is he on?
One hundred percent oxygen.
Increase the rate.
C'mon, baby, breathe!
Severe bradycardia.
He at ninety and falling.
There's no pulse.
Start CPR.
Gimme bicarb and epinephrine.
This child never had a chance!
Olivia?
Doctor Reed,
thank goodness you're here.
I came as soon as I got your
message. What happened?
Let me tell you what
happened, Doctor Reed.
A baby this woman had
no business delivering
just died in there.
This is the sort of irresponsible
practice you encourage.
What do you think of
midwives and home births now?
Doctor!
Please hurry.
I've got to push.
Don't push, Mrs. Kenmore.
Pant if you feel
the urge to push.
We're almost there.
I'll radio ahead so
they're all ready for you.
County General, this
is Cal 88, come in.
Cal 88, this is County
General, go ahead.
This is Cal 88.
We're en route to your
facility with the OB patient
from Harrington Hospital.
ETA eight minutes.
Her contractions
are a minute apart.
The fetal heart rate is 138...
I can't...
I can't stop it, it's coming.
Okay, it's all right.
I'll take care of you.
All right, look.
It looks like the water's
broken. The baby's on the way.
I'll do an examination
and prepare to deliver.
- Stand by.
- We're standing by.
Oh, no. What is
it? What's wrong?
Mrs. Kenmore, try to relax.
Don't push.
You just keep panting.
We're almost there.
County General from Cal 88,
we've got a breech
and we're on our way in.
Have an OB team standing by.
All right, okay.
Just keep panting.
Okay, you're all right.
Just try not to push.
Keep panting.
All right.
- Doc.
- What? The OB team is waiting.
Yeah, look, I don't
think the baby made it.
What do you mean?
There's no heartbeat.
Coroner's case 83-5829.
Body is that of a
Negroid infant, female,
weight 5 pounds, 1 ounce,
length 17 inches.
This little one never even
saw the light of day, Sam.
Apparently, the baby's
oxygen supply was cut off
when the umbilical cord
became compressed
between the baby's body
and the mother's pelvis.
According to the report,
the baby was a breech birth
and died in utero
while the mother was being
transported to County General.
I guess the paramedics
couldn't handle a breech.
Most doctors can't,
without surgery.
It's a shame, there are techniques
for delivering breech babies
or if they'd gotten the
mother to the hospital on time,
they could have
saved the baby's life.
But it says here
she came from a hospital.
What?
Look, the paramedics
picked her up
at Harrington
Hospital at 5:23 pm.
And the baby was dead on
arrival at County General at 5:51.
The examining physician at Harrington
recommended that she be held.
Yet they transported her anyway.
Why would a hospital
overrule its own doctor?
I don't know, Sam. It
doesn't make sense.
But when we finish here, I'm going to
Harrington Hospital to get some answers.
If they didn't move that woman,
this baby might still be alive.
The woman was three
centimeters dilated, Doctor.
We wouldn't consider
it an emergency
unless she was over four.
Aside from that, Mrs.
Kenmore was not a patient here.
Our department
has a strict policy
of not admitting women in labor
if they have not been
seen by a staff doctor.
We're proud of the quality of medical
care we provide for maternity patients.
We can't provide that to a
woman we've never seen before.
It could be bad to our
professional reputations.
Now that's hospital policy.
Your policy led to
that child's death.
Believe me, I feel just as
badly about that as you do.
We don't like to
turn away patients,
but we've learned from
experience to avoid walk-in mothers.
Let me be frank.
These are poor women
we're talking about.
Their diet and general
health may be poor,
or they may have
medical histories
that could cause
complications during delivery.
Who knows what could happen?
If we take them in and
everything goes okay, well, fine.
That's what we're
expected to do.
But if anything goes wrong, we
get hit with an expensive lawsuit.
We can't afford to run
an open door policy
like you're advocating,
Doctor Quincy.
We wouldn't last a month.
But where are all these
poor women supposed to go,
if private hospitals like Harrington
keep turning them away?
County? They're already swamped.
Look, we didn't create
this system, you know.
A couple of
obstetricians on staff
used to treat MediCal patients,
and we had no objections.
But now, with the
new legislation,
we decided to wash our
hands of the whole thing.
You're referring to the state's
new MediCal reform legislation?
Reform.
The new law's made it
tougher on everybody,
hospitals, doctors and patients.
The reforms mean
that hospitals who
stay in the program
have to accept a lower level of
reimbursement for MediCal patients.
And they have to deal
with even more red tape.
We applied
but the State turned us down,
said our costs were too high.
So even if a doctor wanted to deliver
the baby of a MediCal patient here,
he couldn't, because you're
no longer in the program?
That's right.
Under the new law,
a hospital's in or out.
And many private
hospitals have had to get out.
And I must admit
we're one of them.
Quincy.
Quincy?
Quincy!
What's the matter?
Oh. I was just
replaying a conversation.
I can't get it out of my head.
Listen, there's someone
waiting in my office to see you.
She says it's very important.
I think you may
want to talk with her.
Okay.
- Quincy?
- What?
Well, aren't you
going to see her?
Talk to who?
Who?
It's a doctor from
Harrington Hospital.
That's where the conversation
in my head is coming from too.
Well, don't you
want to talk to her?
Of course. Why didn't
you tell me she was here?
Doctor Quincy,
this is Doctor Reed.
- How do you do?
- How do you do, Doctor Quincy?
Why don't we all just sit down?
You were the doctor who examined
the Kenmore woman, weren't you?
Yes.
And I also understand that you
recommended she be admitted.
Yes, but I was overruled.
Hospital policy.
It's that what you
wanted to see me about?
No.
Doctor Quincy, I need
your help on another matter.
A friend of mine has
been working as a midwife
in the community for
the last several years.
The other day she was
called in at the last minute
to deliver a baby.
She should have refused,
but she's not the type
to see anyone suffer.
The baby had trouble breathing,
and she brought it to
Harrington, where it died.
The hospital pathologist's
autopsy concluded
that my friend Olivia
was responsible
for the child's death.
And so it became
a coroner's case.
But you don't think
she's responsible.
I know she isn't, Doctor Quincy.
She's an experienced midwife.
I know because I've worked
as her medical backup
for the past three years.
Doctor Quincy, Doctor
Asten tells me you're the best.
I'd like you to
re-autopsy that baby.
Can we get a copy of the
hospital autopsy report?
I'll put in a call to
them right away.
Carol, get me
Harrington Hospital.
Thank you, Doctor Quincy.
You don't know
how important this is.
If Olivia's discredited,
everything we've been working
for for the past three years
goes up in smoke.
Yeah, the full list came out
about ten o'clock this morning.
Yeah, I can have
it for you by five.
Hey, Sam. I need that
report on the Phillips case.
Well, here's the knife,
but the report
isn't finished yet.
What do ya mean,
isn't finished yet?
Quincy promised it would
be ready. Where is he?
Down at Harrington Hospital.
He's checking into
the death of a baby.
Seems like the hospital's
blaming a midwife.
A midwife? You don't
mean Olivia Allen?
Yes. Why?
Why?
He's wasting his time.
We just arrested her for
second degree murder.
Look, Quincy.
This woman is an
unlicensed midwife
practicing medicine under
the most squalid conditions.
We have the report of
an expert pathologist,
which says the baby
died of negligence
on the part of the
person who delivered it.
That's good enough for me.
But the autopsy is incomplete.
You didn't examine the brain,
the viscera weren't removed.
I don't understand
how you can use this
as a basis for
charging Olivia Allen.
Doctor Quincy, I
stand by that report.
Assistant District Attorney
Vale and I have agreed
that it's absolutely essential
to move on this immediately.
This woman must be stopped
before she causes the death
of another innocent child.
I don't understand
your reasoning.
When your hospital turns a woman
away and allows her baby to die
in a paramedic's
van, that's acceptable.
That is business as usual.
But when a midwife attempts to
help a woman no one else will touch,
and the baby
dies, that's murder.
Talk about double standards.
Suppose Mrs. Ruiz had
come to your hospital.
Would you have admitted her?
That's not the point.
That is precisely the point.
Mrs. Ruiz was an alien
and was scared to go to the
hospital and with good cause.
If she was lucky
enough to get treated,
she would have run
the risk of deportation.
That's the law,
and the law also states
that practicing medicine
without a license is illegal.
This woman has
committed a criminal act,
and I intend to
prosecute her for it.
Okay.
At least you can wait until
I complete the autopsy.
No way, Quincy. No
way am I gonna wait.
You may consider this autopsy
report incomplete, but I don't.
I've got a whole string of
witnesses all set to testify.
There will be no postponement.
But I'm still going to
do a complete autopsy.
Don't move too fast.
You may find yourselves
looking very foolish.
Oh, Doctor Quincy.
Come on in.
Everybody is at lunch.
How did the interview
with Wallace and Vale go?
Not good.
To listen to them, you'd think Olivia
was Public Enemy Number One.
It's what I was afraid of.
Why do you say that?
That's because Olivia looks
at childbirth for what it is,
a natural process.
That's threatening
to many doctors.
They're trained to rely
on using drugs and surgery
for ninety percent of the
women who give birth,
and most of that's
not necessary.
Sometimes it's even dangerous.
Doctor Wallace kept
insisting that it was safer.
Sit down, please.
You know,
I remember when
I agreed with him.
You see, I learned all
about the clinical aspects of
childbirth in medical school.
My residency began
as a great adventure.
I felt I was part
of a new breed of doctors
that could place science at the
service of nature's most wonderful gift,
life.
But it didn't turn out that way.
One day I watched a
doctor perform a cesarean
on a woman because she'd
been in labor for twelve hours.
After twelve hours, cut,
that was the medical policy.
Unfortunately, she
started to hemorrhage.
They had to remove her uterus
so she was never able
to have another child.
Isn't that just a case of
an incompetent doctor?
No.
It's the approach
of the whole system.
- Would you like some coffee?
- No, thank you.
You see, physicians are
trained to use drugs and
surgery to control processes.
So cesarean section
is used routinely
to control difficult deliveries.
That way the doctor can control
when and where
the baby is delivered
C-sections have tripled
in the last fifteen years
and that in some hospitals the
rate is as high as forty percent?
So, Doctor Quincy, I came
out of my four-year residency
totally disenchanted.
I decided to set up a practice
that specialized in
something a little more natural,
prepared childbirth.
That's care from
conception to delivery,
but without drugs and surgery.
Unless it's
absolutely necessary.
I began to accept
home births as an
alternative to the hospital.
And I think women should
have a right to choose.
When did you meet Olivia?
A few years after
I set up practice.
She'd started working
with women here
and was looking for
someone to provide her
with medical backup. I agreed.
And the medical establishment's
been on my back ever since.
And with Olivia's trial coming
up, it'll probably get a lot worse.
I know.
I've already begun to
feel a chill at the hospital.
But I'm not quitting,
Doctor Quincy.
And neither is Olivia.
That makes me
the third musketeer.
Believe me, if there's any
evidence to exonerate Olivia,
I'm gonna find it.
Thank you.
- Good morning, ladies.
- Good morning, Anne.
Good morning.
Looks like another
light day, huh?
Mrs. Harris phoned in and said
she wouldn't be able to make it
because Tommy was sick.
And two of the patients
referred by Doctor Block
phoned in cancellations.
Well...
Who's first?
Mrs. Stevenson.
All right.
Set her up in
examining room one.
All right.
How are you?
Well.
How's the other half of
the partnership doing?
Can I talk to you a minute?
Sure.
I'm concerned about this
midwife incident, Katherine.
It's got a lot of
doctors up in arms.
I'm not surprised.
The idea of a little
competition frightens them.
But it's more serious this time.
There's talk of an investigation
by the Board of Medical
Quality Assurance.
And the Executive
Committee at the hospital
is talking about
examining your records.
Let them, Walt.
My statistics are better than any
other obstetrician at that hospital.
That's not the point, Katherine.
Once they go
looking for something,
you know as well as I do they
won't let up until they find it.
Listen to me.
If you continue to
associate with this woman,
you'll ruin your career.
I've been behind you
all the way up till now.
But it's time to back off.
I can't, Walt.
Don't you think you should give
this more consideration than that?
It won't change anything.
Look, if you want to be foolish
and throw away your
career, that's your business.
But I've worked too hard.
I have to tell you,
if things get any hotter, I'm going to
have to reevaluate our partnership.
No sense in both of us
going down with the ship.
This autopsy on the Ruiz baby,
I can't believe I
won't complete it is.
The hospital
pathologist didn't do
much more than interview
the doctor that treated the baby.
What did he say the
cause of death was?
Lack of oxygen from when the
baby got stuck in the birth canal.
That doesn't fit with what
we found in the autopsy.
Take a look, these
are the slides.
This confirms my hunch.
Air was dissected through
the interstitial tissues.
It's subcutaneous soft tissue
emphysema that killed the child.
Not the delivery, as
that pathologist said.
The baby's lungs burst
like an over-inflated balloon.
Someone overdid it.
They pumped too much
oxygen into his lungs.
So you're saying
when the staff at the hospital
tried to resuscitate the baby,
they accidently killed him?
I think that's what happened.
There is one way we might
be able to find out for sure.
They must have monitored
the baby's vital signs
while he was at the hospital.
Those records are
not included in the file.
I know. We've got
to get a hold of them.
Excuse me, Doctor Quincy.
There's a woman here to see you.
Says it's very important.
I put her in your office.
Her name's Olivia Allen.
Olivia Allen? I'll
say it's important.
Thanks, Pete.
I'm Doctor Quincy, Mrs. Allen.
Please, call me Olivia.
I can't tell you how glad I was to
hear that you made bail so quickly.
- Thank you.
- Let's go to my office.
Doctor Quincy,
I've been a midwife for more
years than I care to remember.
Nothing like this has
ever happened to me.
If I did anything to cause
the death of that child...
Oh, no.
See, the autopsy
isn't completed yet.
Olivia, can you tell me exactly
what happened during the delivery?
Well,
I didn't attend the whole labor.
Mrs. Ruiz went thirty-six hours
unattended before they called me.
When I arrived,
she was fully
dilated and pushing.
I prepared her
and attempted to
deliver the baby,
but as he started to
come, the shoulders stuck,
we had a shoulder dystotia.
That's a difficult birth.
Come in, come in.
- Sit down, please.
- Thank you.
This is very important, Olivia.
Do you have any idea how long
the baby was stuck in the birth canal?
I don't know for sure.
It couldn't have taken me
more than a minute or two
to get the baby out.
But I knew right
away it was in trouble.
I gave it immediate CPR
and rushed it to the hospital.
Was there a pulse?
Yes. It was very
faint, but it was there.
Doctor Quincy,
I didn't want to
attend this delivery.
But when this poor
woman came to me for help,
how could I say no?
Usually, if I'm going
to deliver a baby,
I insist on seeing the mother
through her entire pregnancy.
That way, if there
are any problems,
I can confer with a knowledgeable
physician, like Doctor Reed.
But the rest of the
medical community
hasn't exactly welcomed
you with open arms, has it?
The attitude towards
midwives here is very different
from where I come from,
Jeffersonville, Texas.
Midwives were legal there.
We only had one obstetrician
to cover the entire county.
He actually assisted me
in setting up my own
midwife training program.
You were training
other midwives?
Yes. I ran a school.
We gave courses on nutrition,
female anatomy,
how to screen a
patient for complications.
We required our students
to assist at a hundred births
before being qualified to
deliver a baby on their own.
And your program was well
accepted by the community?
We were swamped.
Anyway, after my husband
died, I moved to L.A.
I looked around and
there seemed to be
a terrible need for
midwives here too.
But I didn't anticipate
all this opposition.
From doctors.
From doctors, and the state.
You see
California law doesn't
recognize lay midwives.
We don't exist.
That's why we're so vulnerable.
What about nurse midwives?
The ones with additional
medical training.
They're recognized by the state.
Yes.
But even though
they're licensed,
they need to be
backed up by a doctor.
Most of them
practice in hospitals.
But most private
hospitals and many doctors
won't provide that
kind of support.
Even though midwives'
services are so badly needed?
It's becoming a real crisis.
More and more women
have been coming to me.
Especially since the county
closed so many clinics
and started charging a
twenty dollar fee for each visit.
So they can't get the prenatal
care they need within the system?
Right. That's why I've been
working with a legislator
trying to get a bill to
license lay midwives.
But the powerful medical
groups denounce us as unsafe.
Olivia,
I have to be the
devil's advocate now.
Are lay midwives unsafe?
Doctor Quincy,
I'm not just a
childbirth educator
who thought it would
be fun to deliver babies.
I was trained.
And I've never, never
advocated allowing
untrained people
to practice midwifery.
I see.
But my real concern
is prenatal care.
And Doctor Reed agrees with me.
But I'm worried about her.
Why?
She's a fine young doctor, and I
don't want to see her destroyed.
I know they're going to try
to drag her down through me.
Hi, Steve.
Oh, Katherine.
Glad I ran into you.
Listen, about that
tennis match on Sunday.
I won't be able to make it. I've
decided to go to the lake instead.
Oh. That is disappointing.
How about next weekend?
Sarah and I are playing with
Susan and Jack next weekend.
In two weeks then.
Why don't I call
you? I gotta go.
- Hi, Mandy.
- Hi, Doctor Reed.
How's Mrs. Warren?
She must be way overdue by now.
Oh, no. She had
her baby yesterday.
Oh?
Yes. Doctor Brown
consulted. But I attended.
I thought you wanted me to
consult on your first delivery.
I was advised that it would be better
to have Doctor Brown supervise me.
Advised? By whom?
I'm not at liberty to say.
I see.
Look, Doctor Reed.
All sorts of rumors
are floating around
about your
unprofessional techniques.
They say that you're
putting your patients at risk.
Even if they aren't true,
I'm just a first-year resident.
I've got to spend three
more years at this hospital.
I can't afford to make enemies.
I'm sorry.
Excuse me, Doctor Reed.
Oh, Doctor Reed.
The trouble I see
in your tea leaves.
What will happen at
the hearing, Sharon?
Vale will present
evidence to show
that a murder's been committed
and that you committed it.
If the magistrate is convinced,
he'll bound you over for trial.
The defense usually doesn't
present its case at prelim,
but I'm gonna lay
it all out for 'em.
I don't believe for one minute
that you're guilty of any crime,
and I'm not waiting for
a public trial to prove it.
So you're going to ask to
have the charges dismissed?
Exactly.
In the meantime,
Olivia, it's important for you
not to see any more patients.
Vale would use that against you.
But I can't just abandon them.
Don't worry, Olivia.
You can start referring
them to me right away.
Good. That's settled then.
Oh, Doctor Quincy.
Here are those
records you asked for.
Well, thanks.
I think I'm on to something. I
hope these records can confirm it.
I'm counting on
it, Doctor Quincy.
That pathologist's report is
the most damaging piece
of evidence Vale has.
We'll be in real trouble
if you can't disprove it.
How dare you turn
over those records
to the Coroner's Office
without my permission?
Doctor Wallace, Doctor Quincy is
a Deputy Medical Examiner and
he has every right to those records.
That's not your
decision to make.
There's no place on this staff for
you and your ideas, Doctor Reed.
I'm suspending your
privileges temporarily
until the Executive
Medical Committee meets.
I intend to ask them to revoke
those privileges permanently.
All right.
Good.
Now, I want to see you
and your mother in my office.
You lie here nice and still
and Anne will be
in in just a moment
to help you get dressed, okay?
- See ya later.
- Bye.
Here's a list of dos and don'ts.
Oh, thank you, Doctor
Reed. And thank you, Olivia.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
And I want to see
you again in a week.
Bye.
You're worried, aren't you?
Her blood pressure was
normal last time I saw her.
But now that it's
up I'm concerned.
Since her reflexes are okay,
it doesn't look like
preeclampsia, does it?
No, I don't think so.
Since there are
no other symptoms.
But we'll have to
keep an eye on her.
She may have to
deliver in a hospital.
Yes, Anne?
Oh, great. Put him through.
Doctor Thompson calling
about my hospital privileges.
Yes, Doctor Thompson,
this is Doctor Reed
Oh, I see.
Yes, well...
Thank you for
getting back to me.
Yes.
Goodbye.
Don't tell me.
Meadow View's turned down my
application for temporary privileges.
Katherine.
I feel so responsible for
everything that's happening to you.
I don't want to hear that
kind of talk from you, Olivia.
Nothing could be
further from the truth.
Look.
It's been a long day.
You take care
and I'll see you at
the hearing, huh?
All right.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye-bye.
I'm sorry.
Goodbye.
Was that Doctor Reed who called?
Yeah.
They're trying to railroad her by
denying her hospital privileges.
She may have to
close her practice.
I can't believe it.
Did you see the same
thing I did here, Sam?
When the baby first
arrived at the hospital,
the EKG rhythm strip
showed a heartbeat.
It was slow, but it
looks fairly normal.
Then while they were
trying to resuscitate him,
it went to a flat line.
His heart stopped.
So the baby's heart was beating
when he got to the hospital,
and the team did over ventilate.
You're right, Quince.
This baby might have survived.
Yeah, it looks like it.
Unfortunately, this
isn't a twelve-lead EKG.
I can't tell from this if his heart
muscle was functioning normally.
Is Annette still
down in Histopath?
Yeah, she was just
finishing up when I left.
Tell her she's not finished yet.
I want tetrazolium blue
stain on the heart muscle.
That'll tell us if it
was functioning.
Right.
Well, that's all I'm asking.
There's no way I'm going to
take responsibility for this girl.
Walt, I've already been
turned down at three hospitals.
I've got a dozen
applications out.
I'm bound to be
approved at one of them.
Meanwhile,
I don't anticipate
any problems with this
girl, but she's only seventeen
and I'd feel better
knowing that if she does
need to be in a hospital,
you were there to cover for me.
I don't take referrals
from midwives.
Walt.
This is from me.
She is not your patient.
Look, Katherine,
all I want is a nice quiet
little practice somewhere,
where women call
up for appointments,
come in when
they're supposed to,
and get their babies
delivered on time.
And you're not being fair to me
when you get me
involved in your crusades.
You're right.
I'm sorry.
Katherine, look.
I might as well tell you.
I've been offered
a full partnership
with the new medical corporation
opening up on Fifth Street.
It's available the first of next month.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to take it.
Walt, you know I can't manage the
overhead on these offices without you.
What am I going to do?
Katherine, I'm sorry, but that question
is a little late in coming, isn't it?
Your Honor,
the people contend
that Olivia Allen is responsible
for this infant's death
as surely as if
she had walked in
to rob a bank and killed
an innocent bystander,
and that she should be bound
over for trial in Superior Court
and held to answer
to the charge of murder
in the second degree.
Order!
Order!
Look at this, Quince.
The inner muscle layers of
the heart are badly damaged.
They deteriorated.
They're ischemic.
With the degree of
ischemia in these tissues,
the damage took place before
the baby reached the hospital.
The EKG was misleading.
Electrical impulses were
still coming from the heart,
but the damage was so bad it
wasn't contracting effectively.
So the hospital was right.
The baby was dead from lack
of oxygen by the time they got it.
That's right, Sam.
If this hearing's a witch hunt,
we've just handed the
prosecution a burning torch.
Blood supplies to the baby's
brain may have been cut off
when the baby's
neck became trapped
against the pelvic
bone of the mother.
The lack of oxygen
resulted in the baby's death.
As a pathologist, Doctor,
is it your opinion that the
baby could have been saved?
Yes, indeed.
There was no evidence
of congenital abnormality.
With early
resuscitation efforts,
there's no question in my mind
that this baby
could have survived.
Order!
Order!
I have no further
questions for this witness.
Do you wish to reexamine?
Yes, I most certainly do.
You'd better get over here
right away, Doctor Reed.
It's Margaret Tracy.
I'm on my way.
What's going on?
The judge recessed for ten
minutes to check an opinion.
- What's the matter?
- Margaret Tracy's
gone into labor.
I've got to go.
What timing.
You're our first witness.
Olivia, I'm sorry.
Don't worry about me. Just go.
That's great.
She had to go.
She's taking over Margaret
Tracy. She was my patient.
And the baby won't wait.
And your case won't wait either.
Quince?
The brain looks
okay from the outside.
The tissue's hard
enough to section now.
Let's cut through and
see what we can find.
How you feeling, Margaret?
- Okay.
- Good. That's my girl.
- Here, lie down, honey.
- All right.
All right. Okay.
All right.
Here we are.
Heart rate is
one-forty and stable.
Good.
Anne, did you check
her blood pressure?
A moment before you arrived.
It's one-twenty over eighty.
Her cervix is dilating rapidly.
That's great! It
should go quickly.
Mrs. Allen,
you've made a regular practice
of delivering babies
in this community.
You practice medicine,
but you're not a doctor,
are you, Mrs. Allen?
I do not practice medicine
when I deliver babies, Mr. Vale.
I don't use drugs
and I don't perform surgery.
Isn't it true that before the recent
advances in medical science,
women and their infants
died in untold numbers?
Years ago, women
and their babies died
from infection and
unsanitary conditions.
Today they die because they
don't get the prenatal care they need.
My dream is to see
licensed midwives working
alongside doctors in the community
to establish a
prenatal care system.
Does your dream encompass
every quack and would-be practitioner
that fancies herself a midwife?
I said licensed
midwives, Mr. Vale.
This country ranks
seventeenth in the world
in infant mortality, Mr. Vale.
Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain,
who use midwives,
have statistics far
better than ours.
Come now, Mrs. Allen.
From what I understand,
you midwives rely on massages
and belly rubs
in your deliveries.
Well, birth doesn't have
to be painful, Mr. Vale.
It can be...
It is a beautiful and
sensuous experience
for a woman that only
another woman can understand.
Ever since time began,
women have helped
other women to give birth.
That's midwifery, Mr. Vale.
I don't think you can
ever stamp out a bond
that is as strong
as life itself.
How you doing, darling?
I'm fine, Mom.
Is my baby coming
soon, Doctor Reed?
Your baby'll be here.
Don't try to rush it.
Everything's looking good.
No further questions.
- Mrs. Allen, how long have you...
- Sharon.
Your Honor, I would now like to call
Doctor Quincy from the Coroner's Office.
You are excused, Mrs. Allen.
The court will
call Doctor Quincy.
Doctor Quincy,
you just told me you completed
a full autopsy on the Ruiz baby?
Yes, I did.
Can you tell this
court what you found?
The EKG record from
Harrington indicated
that the baby's heart was beating
when he reached the hospital.
However, when we looked at
the heart under the microscope,
we found that part
of the baby's heart
was dead long before
it reached the hospital.
So even though the EKG
was recording a signal,
the baby's heart was
not beating effectively
when the ICU team
started treating him.
So they couldn't
have saved the baby?
That's right.
What are you saying,
Doctor Quincy?
Are you saying
that your autopsy confirmed
Doctor Brenner's results
that Mrs. Allen killed the baby?
No indeed.
Here's my report.
We dissected the brain, something
Doctor Brenner failed to do,
and discovered a large vascular
malformation of the brain stem,
with hemorrhage and
compression of the ventricles.
What does this
mean, Doctor Quincy?
This defect in the brain caused
the damage we found to the heart,
not Olivia Allen.
Even if the baby had
been born in a hospital,
it would not have survived.
Neither a midwife nor the most
sophisticated medical facilities
could have kept that baby alive.
Olivia Allen was not
responsible for this child's death.
Pressure's holding at
one-thirty over eighty.
Good. Okay, honey, bear down.
Keep bearing down,
honey. Bear down.
I can see the baby.
The head is beginning to crown.
Keep pushing.
Keep pushing.
One more push. Keep pushing.
There, I've got her.
It's a girl.
I did it, I did it.
Oh, Mom.
Can I hold my baby now?
Olivia?
That's two out of two.
We won today.
I think that she's beautiful.
You should have seen
Wallace's face when I resigned.
I thought he was
gonna have a baby.
Well, he never figured
you'd improve your position.
I still don't believe it.
Chief of the new OB
Department at Parker Memorial.
You know, they believe as we do,
that women that want to
have a natural childbirth
should be able to
do so, at a hospital,
- if they want to.
- What a great idea.
Yes, and as soon as that
midwife legislation is passed,
we'll be opening
a training program
with Olivia as chief instructor.
Voila! In honor of Olivia.
That doesn't look
like ribs to me.
Ribs? Who said
anything about ribs?
That's crawfish gumbo.
Specialty of Louisiana
Creole cooking.
Louisiana?
But Jeffersonville is in Texas.
- It is?
- Yeah.
Oh, well, same part
of the country, isn't it?
Kissing cousins.
Excuse me. I got a call.
Parker Memorial sounds
like a wonderful opportunity
for you and Katherine
to work together.
Yes, but I'm afraid
that's still in the future.
After that bad publicity,
I'm thinking this
might be a good time
to go back to Jeffersonville.
At least I can practice there.
I hate to see you go.
I'll miss it here, too.
I've made so many
wonderful friends here.
Including you.
Thank you.
I hate to break up
our dinner party,
but Mrs. Donaldson's
just gone into labor.
It's Muriel.
She's one of mine.
Well?
What are you waiting for?
I'm gonna need all
the help I can get.