She went back to Dr. Harmon’s clinic the following day. She brought the new X-rays, Dr. Singh’s written report, and a notebook where she’d written down everything she wanted to say. She had not decided yet what she was going to do beyond this conversation, but she needed to look him in the eye and give him the chance to explain.
Dr. Harmon looked at the report for a long time. Then he looked at his own notes. He said that osteosarcoma was notoriously difficult to differentiate from arthritic change on an X-ray, that even experienced vets made this error, that the presentation had been genuinely ambiguous. He said he understood this was devastating news and he was sorry she was going through it. He did not say he had made a mistake. He made it seem as if these things happened.
Rachel listened to all of it. She asked him once, directly, whether he believed his reading of the original X-ray had been correct. He paused and said he had made his best clinical judgment at the time. She thanked him, picked up her folder, and left. She sat in the car park for a while. Then she drove to Copper, went home, and started making calls.