Dr. Zamo

Never lupus

At 39 years old, soon to be 40, Katya Zamolodchikova was the leader of a team of diagnosticians at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in Los Angeles. She was known to be a misanthropic medical genius who often, if not all the time, disregarded the hospital rules to solve the cases she was given. Almost every teammates Katya managed ended up quitting after a few months because of the constant arguments she prompted. She was still the best in her domain, and it was considered a privilege to work with her so it was never a problem to find new members. Katya was always reluctant to the hiring process, in her opinion she could work efficiently on her own. However her boss, Lisa Cuddy, obliged the M.D to replace Dr. Hadley, who gave her resignation a week before. Katya clashed with Cuddy about it, but eventually she had no choice but to comply. Today three new doctors would work with Katya's team, and at the end of the week she had to decide which one would stay.

Katya threw a file of the new case to Chase, Foreman and Kutner, her permanent colleagues. The new comers arrived 10 minutes later, and she tossed another file in the air above them. Two of them stayed in place with a confused look on their face, while the other caught the document.

"One point for Barbie" Katya said, dividing a white board in three columns, and making a straight line in the one titled "Barbie". She wrote "Idiot 1" and "Idiot 2" on top of the other columns. The blonde girl who grabbed the summary of the case started reading it with a smile. Her name was Trixie Mattel and she knew Katya's reputation of having eccentric work habits. She wanted this job, and she was determined to get the M.D to like her. Her appearance was already working in her favor, Katya had a thing for curvy bodies and she thought Trixie's face was delightfully beautiful.

"So. We have a case of cardiac arrest and sudden unconsciousness. The man tried to do a poor magic trick in which he was supposed to escape a tank of water while wrapped in chains. Some of you that I will not name, like Kutner, thought I was crazy to think he simply drowned. So Kutner my beloved, you better find me a good reason to why Houdini's apprentice's heart stopped beating, or else you're fired. You can bring Idiot 1 and 2 to make whatever tests you want, I'm keeping Barbie in my team." Katya explained while playing with her lighter, making her finger pass through the flame repeatedly.

"Why only me! Chase also thought he didn't drown. I will never win if you're with him plus Foreman" Kutner protested.
"Oh we have a snitch! Shame on you. Chase it's up to you. Betray your partner or summon my cruelty upon your little blonde head." Katya replied, and faked to burn a strand of the man's hair. He snapped her hand away and stood up.

"Kutner, I hate you." Chase sighed. Him, Kutner and the two Idiots left the room to go see the patient.

"Okay, now that we got rid of those dimwits, I'm gonna take a nap. You two get to know each other." Katya said.
"Zamo... You know I'll have to tell Cuddy if you do that." Foreman reminded.
"You're praying on my down fall huh? Your baldness and white lab coat don't mean you have to be serious all the time"
"I'm not even bald"
"Please! I have more hair on my pussy than you do on your head."

Trixie quietly giggled and kept her head down to read.

"Whatever Zamo. Your boss asked me to supervise you so that's what I'll do" Foreman affirmed.
"Well fine then. I'm not talking with you. Barbie, what's your name?" Katya asked. She poured herself some coffee and stared at the blonde.
"Trixie Mattel" She replied.
"Mh. Well Barbie why don't you tell us your analysis on the case?"

Katya sat down next to Foreman and they both looked up at Trixie. She was scared because she knew one wrong word or action could ruin her opportunity.

"He might have drowned in the first place, which caused a pulmonary embolism so that's why he coughed out blood. Then the other symptoms could come from a bad blood transfusion" Trixie explained, trying to stay confident, but she saw an annoyed expression appear on Katya's face.
"That's boring. I'm gonna see what the others are doing." Katya said and walked out.

Trixie sighed and sat down at the other end of the table.

"It's not stupid at all. Most times the simplest explanation is the right one" Foreman reassured.
"Thank you. Do you think she will really fire Kutner if he's wrong?"
"Oh she would definitely, but Cuddy will not let her. She's tired of having to hire someone new every month."
"Yeah. I don't understand why people give up this job. Zamo is the best and it's an honor to be in her team"
"Trust me, you'll understand" Foreman laughed.

Trixie and Foreman's beepers went off so they rushed to the MRI room where the patient was. He started bleeding internally as soon as the exam started, so they stopped and did an extemporaneous explorative surgery to stitch up the parts of his intestine that had been ripped off. Katya found a key in his gut, which the bootleg magician surely put in his mouth before his trick to unlock the chains. It unfortunately got attracted by the MRI's magnet and opened up his tissues. Once they finished the sutures the patient recovered pretty well. They gave him three units of AB positive blood to make up for his hemorrhage, and that's when his state degraded once again. Katya reunited her team in their office and asked everyone to sit down.

"Foreman what do you say?" She asked, pacing in the room.
"I'm following Mattel's idea."
"Ugh, please, don't think you have a chance to fuck her. You can stop being a suck-up" Katya huffed.
"Chase? Kutner? Anything better?" She continued.
"We should do a heart biopsy. The first symptom was cardiac arrest and we haven't really looked into it" Kutner replied.
"Now that there is no key in his body we could redo an MRI" Chase added.
"And what do the Idiots have to say?"
"I also think we should do more tests before giving an opinion" Taub said, and Adams agreed.
"Pfff... you all are so awful. Barbie can you save the day?"
"I was thinking it could be lupus. The patient-"
"It's not lupus. It's never lupus" Katya cut Trixie off. Once again the blonde was disappointed that she couldn't get Katya to agree with her.

The patient had more internal bleeding throughout the day, and his state seemed to stabilize after that. Chase and Kutner did the supplementary exams with Taub and Adams while the others silently cogitated. Trixie was convinced it was lupus, the patient told the nurse he was A positive, but when they tested his blood it showed he was AB positive. This could mean his organism produced an extra B antibody, which is why he had a bad reaction each time they transfused AB blood. Trixie knew Katya wouldn't listen to her. She excused herself from the office and while no one was around the patient, she put up an unit of A+ blood in his catheter. Her beeper buzzed but she stayed in the room, she needed to be sure she was right.

"Is your ass glued to the chair Barbie? When I call you you run to me. Why does he have a blood unit?" Katya angrily spat.
"He doesn't react to A+ blood. He has lupus"
"Are you out of your mind? If you were wrong he could've died. I'm not going to prison because you're irresponsible" Katya shouted.
"You wouldn't listen to me. I was right and I had to prove it" Trixie stated and tried to stay put together, even if she was troubled by her boss's attitude.
"All of you stay here and make sure he doesn't pass away. Mattel, we're gonna talk"

Katya's stern voice sent chills up Trixie's spine. She followed her to her personal office and Katya shut the door.

"I'm the only one who can flout the rules, unless I tell you to. You don't even work here officially. If I let Cuddy know about this your entire career is ruined. I have the power over you. So behave, and respect my directions. Besides, you're hired, Barbie" Katya said in a softer tone. Trixie was confused, she opened her mouth to say something but nothing seemed right. Katya smiled and left the room, leaving Trixie behind.