Bad Blood

A Novel

Victor Wallberg, complaining of sudden excruciating abdominal pain, calls his neighbor, Dr. Clifford Harris. Harris instantly recognizes the symptoms of a catastrophic abdominal event requiring immediate surgery. He calls an ambulance, and the patient is transported to a nearby hospital where Harris operates successfully. While in the Post-operative Intensive Care Unit, the patient develops an acute onset of intraabdominal bleeding requiring a second operation from which the patient does not survive. Dr. Harris diagnoses a rare bleeding disorder, only to have his diagnosis called into question when an autopsy demonstrates the true cause of death to be an overdose of the medication used in an effort to save the patients life. Post-operative investigation results in a suspicion of murder levied on Dr. Harris. Did the doctor kill his patient and why?