Rabbit Notes from Overtime

Chapter 4: The Morning After

Mabel ate two strands of hay before midnight.

I watched her chew them as if she were doing me a favor. When she finished, she turned her back and tucked her nose under her chest. I gave her the medication at the time Dr. Vale had written on the sheet. She fought the syringe, then settled against my leg.

I slept on the living room floor beside her carrier.

At 6:20 in the morning, I checked that she had left droppings in the litter box. There were only a few, but they were firm. I took a photo, sent it to the clinic, and waited for their reply while I got dressed.

The clinic said to continue the medication and bring Mabel back if she stopped eating. I arranged to work from home and made sure June could check in during the day.

At 8:03, Dana called.

"Can you come in?" she asked. "I've corrected the reviewer field."

"Is the report amended?"

"It wasn't necessary to amend the result. I updated the audit note."

"Who approved it?"

"Dr. Hsu."

"Where is that documented?"

"In the system."

I opened my laptop. The report history showed a new note, entered at 7:51. It said, "Quality review completed by M. Lane. Director approval confirmed verbally." It had been entered under Dana's username.

I read it again.

"Dana, that isn't accurate."

"You reviewed the batch."

"I reviewed the original report and placed it on hold."

"The director confirmed the final result."

"Then the record should say that he approved it."

"That's what it says."

"It says I completed the quality review."

"You were assigned to the review."

"I didn't complete it."

Dana exhaled through her nose. "We don't have time to litigate a note, Mara. The shelter needs consistent paperwork. If someone audits this later, the report has a reviewer and a director approval. That's what matters."

"Not if the reviewer didn't approve it."

"You're making this personal."

"My rabbit's sick. That doesn't change what the record says."

I heard a chair scrape on the other end. "Come in at ten. We'll get Dr. Hsu to clarify it."

I agreed to join the call from home instead. Dana said the lab needed me in person, but I told her Mabel had just been seen by the vet and I wasn't leaving her alone all day.

At 10:00, I joined the conference call. Dana was in the main office. Dr. Hsu appeared on screen from his office, his glasses low on his nose. He looked tired. A wall of sample coolers stood behind him.

I asked him whether he had reviewed the repeat result.

"I reviewed what Dana sent me," he said. "I didn't see the raw instrument record."

"Did you approve CH-14 as negative?"

"I approved release based on the worksheet."

"Did you know the instrument record identifies CH-14 as a blank control?"

He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "No."

Dana cut in. "We're getting lost in terminology."

"I'm asking about the record," I said.

Dr. Hsu put his glasses back on. "Send me both files."

Dana looked straight into the camera. "I've already sent him the relevant worksheet."

"Not the instrument log."

"I'll send it now," I said.

I attached both pages to the call notes and submitted them to the controlled-document system. I also requested that the report be placed under formal quality review.

Dana didn't speak until I finished. "That will trigger a client notification."

"It should."

"It may delay the rest of the panel."

"I know."

"Then you know what it could cost."

I did know. Northstar was a small company. Cedar Hollow was one of our biggest nonprofit clients. If they lost confidence in the lab, they could take their work elsewhere.

The cost of the test delay was real. So was the cost of claiming I'd approved something I had not seen.

After the call, I checked on Mabel. She had moved from the carrier to her rug. She had also eaten a small pile of greens. I put a note in the care log Dr. Vale had given me.

Then I opened the workplace policy on report corrections and read it from the beginning.