The Gold Watch Game

I was looking forward to resuming surgical rotations after spending a year in the research lab. We still had to take call and cover service while in the lab. Despite my protestations, I had been relegated to the SICU for every third night and every third weekend for the year. Other research residents had gotten the choice assignments of covering junior resident surgical call. They got to operate while I got to put in central lines, a-lines, replace tracheostomies, and take care of post-op hearts. My operating was restricted to research animals. I suspected that it was because I got on the wrong side of Pricilla^*. Pricilla was the only female surgery attending, and she was in charge of resident assignments. I discovered Pricilla didn’t like me, and no one would override her.

My suspicion was this had to do with a problem that had occurred my internship year. I was on the neurosurgery rotation when a medical student on her clerkship, Juanita^*, came to me appearing frantic. The chief resident, Joe^*, had demanded she accompany him to radiology to check CAT scans on patients. It was the weekend and radiology was a ghost town. With no one around, the chief resident proceeded to grab Juanita and began assaulting her. She escaped but was clearly traumatized. I told her to stay with me and not accompany Joe no matter what he requested. She should make sure there were people around wherever she went. I would report the situation to Pricilla the following day.

The next day I went to Pricilla and told her what had happened. She responded, “I have forgiven Joe a lot because I thought he was a good surgeon.”

After recovering from stunned disbelief, thoughts whirled through my head. “Joe, a good surgeon?” “Forgiven Joe a lot?” Had he done this before? It was okay to assault a student. Joe had done two wrong level laminectomies in the last 2 weeks, so no, he wasn’t a good surgeon. He was a jack ass.

“Don’t go there,” I told myself, it is irrelevant.

“This is a significant problem. Something needs to be done. His assault is criminal behavior. I have a med student who is terrorized.” I said.

I watched Pricilla’s expression. “Thanks for letting me know.” She said. It was clear the conversation was over.

I left Pricilla’s office, disillusioned. I was going to have to tell Juanita that I was unable to get a suitable response from Pricilla. I didn’t know if she would take any action. If Juanita had any other channels, she had better use them. After that interaction, Pricilla and I interacted as little as possible. It was clear our value systems were significantly different. It was always rocky when our paths crossed. We had vastly different views on patient management. I turned out to be right in a couple of dicey situations, which infuriated her all the more.

Fourth year was comprised of four three-month rotations in which we served as chief resident on the service except for the 3-month stretch on general surgery where we were the senior resident. They were Pediatric, Transplant, Cardiothoracic, and General Surgery. General Surgery was last for me. Case volume on these services was unpredictable. As a surgery resident, I wanted to operate.

My year began on a service advertised as having a new hotshot attending. The service began well. We were busy, and I was getting along well with the new attending. It was almost as if I could do no wrong. He was letting me do most of the cases, and there were lots of anastomoses to sew and other delicate procedures. He was to be the attending for my entire 3-month stretch. There were a few cases that I was allowed to do independently, which was generally a signal of the attending’s confidence in one’s performance. He was full of praise, and our patients were doing well.

That lasted a month. The change was subtle at first. He showed up in the OR as I was closing and came behind me ostensibly to...