SV, Continued

The Satanic Nurses, Part II

If Gwynn would have thought about her comment before she made it, she would have phrased it differently. That lapse was so unlike her. Bitesmiler was one who planned everything; she considered every utterance and every tilt of her head as vitally important to her message and her image. It wasn’t until much later that she would look back and ponder what was responsible for her poor choice of words.

When Brett Ledderer saw the CNN Headline News segment, he smiled at Bitesmiler’s comment. “You’ve shafted the patients, bitch,” he said aloud, though no one was there to hear, “and now you’re asking that your members get the same treatment! Happy to oblige!” Ledderer, CEO of one of the largest health care systems in the U.S., Benifica Medical, had done battle with Bitesmiler on many occasions and he always found the ultimate, obligatory handshake and smile for the media upon reaching a compromise to be repugnant. Benifica, which owned and operated hospitals and emergency treatment centers in 40 states, had been forced to redirect more than $7 billion away from direct patient care since Bitesmiler began attacking the company’s practices and use it, instead, for increased salaries and benefits for nurses and as a reserve fund to fight the increasing number of malpractice suits brought against the company. Ledderer hated Bitesmiler. If he could have been assured that he would never have been caught, he would have taken her out in his yacht, drowned her, and dumped her concrete-weighted body in the Atlantic. But Ledderer was not a bad man, not a mean-spirited man. He was, though, a man who, when pushed hard enough, reacted badly.

Brett Ledderer, despite his position and his wealth, had a self-deprecating sense of humor that bordered on the absurd. During a speech to the Health Care Executives New Century Forum, he described his efforts to hire a new Executive Vice President for Medical Research. “I wooed Dr. Regarola for weeks, visiting his office several times to try to get a sense of the man, what he wanted, and how Benifica could help him achieve his vision. I offered him the position and waited for his response. Tragically, he was offered a similar position with a competitor, which he accepted and went on to initiate a new medical protocol which has saved at least 10,000 lives to date.”