Author’s note. This story deals with immunization for childhood diseases and how in this fictional account it went terribly wrong. All of the study I have done indicates that this situation could happen if someone got careless. There have been reactions to immunizations and for some they are serious but these immunizations have saved many lives. I set a hypothetical situation surrounding this. I write this to show to those who do this work that they must be right every time. There is no room for error. I personally have worked with the immunization for H1N1 otherwise known as Swine Flu.  I know there are risks but they are far below the risks of the diesase.

December 20 2001 Harrisburg PA

Dr. Stanley Warner looked at the body on the table and shook his head. These cases were tough for him. The report said, “Katie Franklin, white female, 22 years old, small build, five foot three, blond hair.” Without a close look at the face it could be Lori, his second daughter. He looked further, “gunshot wound to the chest”. He heard the newscast on the way to work. She was a night clerk, alone in a convenience store. A customer found her just after five AM on the floor behind the counter in a pool of blood. She died in ER at about 6:30 AM. Just before she was shot she tripped the security camera but was unable to reach the phone to alert police. The camera took pictures of her assailant but was not connected to provide an alarm. Stan shook his head. Such a waste.

Stan remembered his words of his forensics professor. “When someone dies, no matter what the circumstances, it is essential to determine the actual cause of death and prove it beyond a shred of doubt. Without that certainty, if the death is the result of criminal activity the accused could challenge the charges against him and possibly gain a not guilty verdict because of your inept work. If he goes free he is likely to kill again.  You are morally responsible for that death.  But even worse, if you do a sloppy job we may miss the opportunity to learn everything from that death that may help others. Without that we cheat the person of one last chance to make this world a better place in their death. You are a critical link in the chain that will bring justice for that person. If that link is broken, justice will almost certainly not be attainable.  You are the critical link for that person to make their last contribution to society.” Stan vowed he would never give a killer such an opportunity or cheat that person of that one last opportunity to do good. He worked hard to keep that vow.  His autopsies were complete, thorough and solid. In more than thirty years no attorney had ever been able to effectively challenge his word.

With the initial phase complete, it appeared to be a routine job since his findings confirmed the police report. The victim succumbed to cardiac arrest due to loss of blood. The surgeons just couldn’t fix the damage fast enough. Although the gunshot wound was serious and the damage to her body serious she would have survived if she been able to summon aid within a reasonable amount of time. She was shot at 3:14 AM, the camera confirmed that, and she was still alive when she arrived at the hospital over two hours later. She died in the OR after over an hour of surgery. Prompt treatment would have saved her life but she could not move to call the police or trip the emergency button. The bullet shattered her last rib, tore through her right lung, and lodged in her spine.

The fragments of the rib and the bullet that tore her right lung caused bleeding. The bullet in her spine caused paralysis in her legs. Still alive and conscious she dragged herself across the floor but could not lift herself high enough to reach the phone. The convenience store had not seen fit to have the camera alarms connected to the police station. Had this been done, Katie would have been paralyzed but she would have survived. Even that paralysis may have been reversed or diminished by prompt surgery to remove the bullet. Stan made a note to make an anonymous call her family and make that known to them but only after the killer was convicted. If they decided to sue the store, so be it. To do it sooner would be to give the killer a possible defense. Stan had made calls like that before but he was careful to not give a defense attorney any help. He hated people who preyed on others.

This portion of the autopsy was the easy part but Stan needed to cover every contingency and he would. Sections of every organ would be taken and examined. He could not allow a defense attorney to claim she died of latent high blood pressure after the assailant was gone. It would be several hours before the report on the various sections would be available. He noted on the report that her uterus felt more solid than normal for a woman her age. He took sections and continued his task. When he finished, he returned the body to storage and he began his next case. He had drawn another tough one for him, a seventeen-year-old black female who died in an auto accident. She reminded him of his youngest daughter. He proceeded with the same careful plodding. This was a potential wrongful death suit. She was walking home from work on a sidewalk when a drunk ran off the street, took out five parking meters and pinned her to a tree.  This one had to be done right. But then, every autopsy had to be done right. Just after noon George Fowler, head of the micro-pathology lab called and asked Stan to drop over. Stan was now working on his fourth of the day, an elderly male who died without any recent history of illness. He asked if it was important and George replied, “It really is. Can you come now?”

George met him at the door. “Stan, I have a problem. I think you might have made a mistake and I want to give you a chance to correct it while we have the bodies here and before it becomes a real problem.”

“Sure, what’s up? Did I miss dotting an “i” on a report?”

“No, Stan, it’s a little more than that. I think you mislabeled a tissue sample, actually, I think you took two samples from one patient and sent them over as one being from each patient.”

“I don’t believe that’s possible. I clear everything from one patient before I start the next one. I wouldn’t have a sample from the first one to confuse.”

“Look at this first.”

Stan looked in the microscope as directed. “Now look at this.” The two slides showed tissue that looked the same. “These are the samples you marked “uterus” from both women you handled this morning. They are both grossly abnormal and have the same very unusual abnormality.”

Stan looked again and had to agree. The two samples looked the same. “Let’s go back and get one sample of each and see which one I messed up.” He would concede that it appeared he made a mistake but he didn’t know how.

They returned to the storage room and obtained two small samples of tissue then returned to the micro lab. Ten minutes later, after exercising extreme care in handling to avoid any mix-up, they looked at the new set of slides. They were identical. Samples taken under suspicion confirmed the original ones were correct.

Stan had not made a mistake. George shook his head. “I would have bet they came from the same body.”

“So did I when I saw the slides. How often do you see something like this, a uterus this badly scarred?” Stan asked.

“Only a few, lifetime maybe fifty, let’s say ten in the last year. All were young. Most were hookers. That’s where we get the big hits in this kind of thing. This is one real coincidence.”

“What does this mean?”

“I’ve seen it in older women, ones who couldn’t have children who had a history of internal infections. These gals must have gotten into some real bad bugs. Probably from screwing around.”

Stan got up, they shook hands and he departed after an apology from George.

Stan was eating dinner when he realized George’s theory was wrong. In case of violent deaths of females it was essential to determine if a sexual assault or rape had occurred because this could impact what charges were filed and it might help the police in locating the assailant. The two young women were virgins. It might have escaped him had his youngest daughter and the only one at home had not mentioned during dinner that one of her friends had apparently lost her virginity. “She’s knocked up, I mean pregnant.” Lucy reported. “She says she only did it twice and only with one guy. He must be a real stud. Two times and she’s pregnant.”

“It only takes once,” Beth told her.

“I know but one of the other girls claims she’s done it at least twenty times, and with a couple of guys and nothing happened to her.”

“Is she on the pill or doing something?”

“She claims not. Says if you stand up right away it runs out and nothing happens.”

“Don’t bet on it. Do you know what you call a girl who believes that?”

“No?”

“Pregnant.” Stan left the table to call George leaving the girls to discuss human sexuality and fertility. After explaining the situation Stan asked George why he was so sure the two young women had not gotten serious infections from sexual contact. George replied that he had seen the condition but only in women who had been sexually active and ones who had a history of some serious PID. Stan asked him for an OB/GYN who had a case like that, thanked him and hung up.

The next morning Stan called Dr. Joan Butler’s office and asked if the doctor could call him some time during the day. The call came in about a half hour later.

“Hi, Stan.” Dr. Butler began. “Want to get out of down there and work on the living?”

“Actually, the reverse. I want you to look at one of my cases, tell me what I’ve got here. George tells me you had a couple of patients with the same problem.”

“I’ll be in the hospital in about a half hour to see patients. Should be done by ten. Could I drop down then?”

“Sure, that’ll be fine. My patients don’t mind waiting.”

Joan laughed, “Mine don’t either when they are here for an exam.”

Stan had both bodies moved to the autopsy room just before ten. When Dr. Butler arrived he handed her the two charts. “Both have damage indicating real serious infections, and they are virgins. George theorized they had picked up some bug from having sex but that doesn’t wash.”

Dr. Butler examined both women and the slides. “I’m in agreement with George. If it weren’t for the physical evidence of virginity, I’d have bet on it too. I don’t have an explanation.”

A check was made of both women’s medical records. There was no indication of any pelvic infections or unexplained bellyaches. After some conversations with other OB/GYN’s the two reports were filed with the notes but with no explanation.

Table of contents.  Note – if you bookmark this document and  keep it open you can click on the chapters to read them.

Alpha Four Chapter 01: Two Autopsies

Alpha Four Chapter 02: Lori Warner and Chad Martin

Alpha Four Chapter 03: Bad News for Lori and Chad

Alpha Four Chapter 04: The Bad News Gets Worse

Alpha Four Chapter 05: Bad News for Lori and Chad

Alpha Four Chapter 06: Notifying the Country

Alpha Four Chapter 07: Joan is Drafted

Alpha Four Chapter 08: Non-pregnant in the House of Representatives

Alpha Four Chapter 09: Peggy Kramer Opts for Another Role

Alpha Four Chapter 10: Peggy Kramer’s Surgery Brings a Surprise

Alpha Four Chapter 11: Peggy Kramer Back in the House with a Belly

Alpha Four Chapter 12: Peggy Kramer is Back on the Campaign Trail

Alpha Four Chapter 13: Opposition Surfaces

Alpha Four Chapter 14: Successes Help the Program

Alpha Four Chapter 15: There Are Ways to Evade the Draft

Alpha Four Chapter 16: Kim Plans to Evade the Draft

Alpha Four Chapter 17: Kim , An Unsuccessful Draft Dodger

Alpha Four Chapter 18: Kim is Arrested

Alpha Four Chapter 19: The Rich and Famous Exposed

Alpha Four Chapter 20: Some of the Rich and Famous are Responsible

Alpha Four Chapter 21: Peggy Kramer Gets a Boost

Alpha Four Chapter 22: Joan Has an Audience in the Delivery Room

Alpha Four Chapter 23: Stan is Recognized