“No,” Corinne admits. “I was called for an emergency C-section for one of my other patients. Our charge nurse, Marie, accompanied me to the OR, which is her job. That meant Ruth was the only nurse left on the floor. So I grabbed her and asked her to watch over Davis.” She hesitates. “You have to understand, we’re a tiny hospital. We have a skeletal staff. And when a medical emergency happens, decisions are made quickly.”
Beside me, Howard scribbles a note.
“A stat C-section takes twenty minutes, tops. I assumed I’d be back in that nursery before the infant even woke up.”
“Did you have any concern about leaving Davis in Ruth’s care?”
“No,” she says firmly. “Ruth’s the best nurse I’ve ever met.”
“How long were you gone?” Odette asks.
“Too long,” Corinne says softly. “By the time I got back, the baby was dead.”
The prosecutor turns to Kennedy. “Your witness.”
Kennedy smiles at Corinne as she walks toward the witness stand. “You say you worked with Ruth for seven years. Would you consider yourself friends?”
Corinne’s eyes dart to me. “Yes.”
“Have you ever doubted her commitment to her career?”
“No. She has pretty much been a role model for me.”
“Were you in the nursery for any of the time that a medical intervention was taking place with Davis Bauer?”
“No,” Corinne says. “I was with my other patient.”
“So you didn’t see Ruth take action.”
“No.”
“And,” Kennedy adds, “you didn’t see Ruthnottake action.”
“No.”
She holds up the piece of paper Howard has passed to her. “You stated, and I quote,When a medical emergency happens, decisions are made quickly.Do you remember saying that?”
“Yes…”
“Your stat C-section was a medical emergency, right?”
“Yes.”
“Wouldn’t you also say that a newborn suffering a respiratory seizure qualifies as a medical emergency?”
“Um, yes, of course.”
“Were you aware that there was a note in the file that said Ruth was not to care for this baby?”
“Objection!” Odette says. “That’s not what the note said.”
“Sustained,” the judge pronounces. “Ms. McQuarrie, rephrase.”
“Were you aware that there was a note in the file that said no African American personnel could care for the baby?”
“Yes.”
“How many Black nurses work in your department?”
