ABSTRACT
The two-year-old girl was resting peacefully in the critical care unit of a Southern, well-staffed, medium-sized surgical specialty hos pital. She had received multiple blood transfusions after severe splenic traumatic injury that required surgical intervention with spleen re moval due to uncontrollable hemorrhage. Physically, everything looked fine up to this point. However, the surgeon, Phil Castellar, a middle-aged, abrupt, and unmannered professional, had previously indicated to father and mother that Rosie Mercado, the patient, would not require any organ extraction and that the surgery was for explor atory purposes only. He had gone on to say that the spleen should not be removed under any circumstances, especially in young chil dren, because the procedure could make the patient more suscep tible to infections. Mr. Mercado and his wife, Annie, were well aware of the state of affairs. They even remembered the doctor s exact words: “Do not let anyone touch the spleen. It will be tragic!”
