Side by Side

Summary

Seven years ago, a life was lost on my operating table. The official inquiry concluded it was due to a botched rescue.

The patient’s family splashed the hospital’s sign with red paint, then camped outside day and night, demanding my life for the one I’d taken. My own father, ashamed of the disgrace I’d brought upon our family, forbade me from wearing mourning black at his funeral.

I was stripped of my license for gross negligence and spent the next seven years in prison.

When I was released, I moved north, to a remote forestry station in the mountains, and became a warden.