Page 42 of Trusting Trey
“I’m Greek. We take the bull by the horns. I’m not sure if I should apologize for that or be proud of it,” I said, with half a laugh.
“In this case, be proud of it. What you did was the final nail in Garrison’s coffin.”
I nodded. “Mr. Livingston told me he fired him today. I feel terrible. I didn’t want anyone else to lose a job because of me.”
“He’s completely at fault for losing his job. All you did was throw gasoline on an already smoldering fire.”
I rubbed my temple. “I’m confused why he would fire him. Was it a simple case of not agreeing with him about letting you go?”
“No, if only it were that,” he said and I motioned for him to keep going. “It turns out that they were investigating the department for false insurance claims.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Garrison was head of the department, right?” he asked and I nodded. “He submits the codes to the insurances and Medicare who then pay us for the services. Garrison decided to skim off the top, so he was claiming more expensive prosthetic feet than what the patient got, and charging for legs the patient never received. He billed for braces that were never made etc.”
I waved my hand a little. “But how does that work? He’s not receiving the payments, the hospital is.”
“Yup, but if you’re married to the billing coordinator, it’s easy to skim that off the top when the payments come in.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “How can people be that dishonest about patient care? They’re the reason the insurance wouldn’t pay for a wheelchair!” I exclaimed angrily. “The insurance is being taken every time they turn around.”
He rubbed my back a little and kissed my temple. “You’re right. It frustrates me when I can’t get the insurance to pay for what the patient needs. I don’t understand, nor will I ever understand, not putting the patient first.”
“So, Mr. Livingston fired him because of the billing issues?”
He rubbed his hands on his pants and stood, pacing in front of me. “He not only fired him, but he brought the police into the situation. The police arrested him. He, and his wife, will be facing some heavy charges.”
“What does that have to do with him firing you because you’re dating me?” I asked, leaning back on the bed.
“About two weeks ago I mentioned to him that a patient told me they had been billed for supplies they didn’t need or receive. I asked him to look into it for me and he assured me he would. Then, the week he fired me, I had another patient tell me their insurance notified them their leg had been paid and they owed a twenty percent deductable, but they didn’t have a new leg made. I was starting to get suspicious, but didn’t say anything. I had planned after the holidays to sit down with Mr. Livingston and convince him to go through the billing for the department. I knew the evidence had to be there.”
“Garrison suspected you knew and fired you before you could make trouble for him.”
He nodded and turned to face me. In the low light of the room, I noticed his bloodshot and tired eyes, mussed hair, and a slump to his shoulders that wasn’t usually there. This had been weighing on him and I didn’t even notice.
I leaned forward and hugged him, his body relaxing as I held him. “I’m sorry I was lost in my own anger and hurt that I didn’t see how much this was bothering you. When I came out and saw you crying I knew I had gone too far. I truly am sorry for meddling in something that could have backfired badly for you.”
He kept hold of me, his nose buried in my neck and his breath warm on my chest. He kissed his way up to my ear and whispered into it. “I’m not mad at you, sweetheart. I was scared and the fear overtook me. You were the easiest person for me to lash out at and I regret that. Eventually, Mr. Livingston would have figured out what happened, but it may have been too late if I had already taken another position. Your bringing it to his attention now, saved both him and me a lot of work.”
I leaned back to look at him, holding his face. “Why?”
“Well, now that Garrison is gone, they need a new department head. Mr. Livingston just offered me the job.”
“What?” I exclaimed, excitedly. “You’re kidding me, right? You took it, I hope!” I was excited and asking questions without even thinking about them.
He chuckled as he held my shoulders to calm me. “I told Mr. Livingston I would have to talk to my partner about it, but she would probably be okay with it.”
I grabbed my phone and handed to him. “Are you kidding me? I’m more than okay with it. This is your career, Trey, not mine. Call the man back and tell him yes!”
He took the phone, but didn’t dial. “You have to understand things would change a little bit here. The hours are the same, and I don’t have as many on-call hours, but there will be meetings and patient consults that I won’t be able to get out of to take you to physical therapy. That’s going to be a problem we will have to figure out.”
I shook my head. “I already did. Now that I have this new wheelchair I can ride the bus by myself, or use the STRIDE bus and schedule it to pick me up and drop me off for my therapy. The new chair has given me my freedom back, Trey.”
He rested his forehead on mine and kissed my nose. “Nothing makes me happier to hear. I didn’t think about the bus, but you’re right, we are only a few blocks from the hospital, so it shouldn’t be too hard for you. Of course, if I know ahead of time that you have an appointment with Dr. Fatma, I can always schedule around that.”
I frowned. “I got a letter in the mail telling me that Dr. Fatma is leaving and going to work in the Twin Cities at Regions Hospital.”
He brushed a piece of hair away from my face. “How come you didn’t tell me?”
