Chapter 24 - The appeal and the hospital file
Victoria appealed the conviction on two grounds:
Admission of some business emails.
Use of certain statements from Lily’s forensic interview.
Not:
I’m innocent of everything.
Her appellate lawyer argued legal procedure.
The appeal would take time.
We did not wait for it to live.
But one immediate motion mattered.
She sought to prevent Boston Mercy from releasing certain incident-review materials to civil parties.
Hospital asserted peer-review privilege over protected quality discussions.
My civil case already settled.
No need fight for every internal sentence.
Then one file was not privileged:
The final patient-safety action summary.
It stated:
Contributing factors included overreliance on caregiver presentation, delayed escalation after child expressed discomfort, and insufficient visitor-role clarity.
Carmen was not disciplined.
She had escalated.
The bedside nurse received additional training but no punitive firing.
Why?
No evidence of willful misconduct.
Institution changed.
That was enough for me.
Then Carmen asked if she could visit Lily at a hospital-sponsored child-safety event.
I asked Lily.
“Yes.”
Carmen came.
No hero worship.
They colored.
Lily drew a hospital room with four adults.
Each adult had a speech bubble.
One said:
Ask me.
Another:
Tell Dad.
Another:
Tell nurse.
Another:
Tell somebody else too.
I stared.
Dr. Amy Cole later said:
“That is actually a pretty good safety plan.”
Then the original disturbing drawing.
Police returned non-evidentiary copy? The original maybe held as evidence, later could be released after trial, but appeal evidence retained. Lily did not want it.
We photographed for therapy? No need. Legal custody retained.
She said:
“Throw it away.”
I said:
“It may need to stay with the case for now.”
She groaned.
“Evidence is stupid.”
“Yes.”
Then:
“Can I make a better one?”
She did.
May you like
No one called it healing art.
It was just a drawing.
