Spotlight Saturday: Guest Post and Giveaway with Sherry Gorman, MD, author of It's Nothing Personal

Hi, everyone!

Welcome to another edition of Spotlight Saturday at Darlene's Book Nook, where we feature authors and their books!

We will be joined today by Sherry Gorman, MD (pen name Kate O'Reilley).


About Sherry:

Sherry Gorman, MD is the author of two medical thrillers, and is well underway on writing her third novel.  Her first novel, “It’s Nothing Personal,” was published in January 2013.  It is a work of fiction, based on Dr. Gorman’s involvement in a high profile medical malpractice case.  Initially, Dr. Gorman wrote her debut novel under a pen name, Kate O’Reilley.  Over time, however, her courage and conviction that she should not hide her identity led her to republish “It’s Nothing Personal” under her real identity.

Dr. Gorman subsidizes her writing endeavors by practicing anesthesiology.  Her goal is to eventually write full time and retire from anesthesia.

While using her pen name, Sherry created a popular blog.  The blog provided a venue for Sherry to demonstrate her satire and irreverent wit.  Beginning March 24, 2013, Kate vs World will be retired.  Sherry will begin a medical blog geared for the general public.  The Write MD will focus on exposing hot/controversial medical topics from an insider’s perspective.  Unwilling to relinquish her creative outlet, Sherry will also continue her humorous posts under her new blog, Nitty Gritty Doc.

In her spare time, Sherry enjoys any ocean activity, running and spending time with her husband and daughter.  

CONNECT ONLINE WITH SHERRY:

Website| The Write MD Blog | Nitty Gritty Doc Blog 
Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook

Welcome to Darlene's Book Nook, Sherry!

Sherry has written a guest post, so I will now turn the floor over to her!

My Inspiration for It’s Nothing Personal

by Sherry Gorman, MD

Some people feel inspired to write, and then they go about the arduous task of creating a story.  In my situation, things worked in reverse.  My story was thrust upon me with fury and venom.  When the dust settled, I was urged by close friends and co-workers to document my experiences.  From the depths of misery, the words poured from my soul, and It’s Nothing Personal was born.  

On a cold winter’s day in 2009, a surgical scrub technician named Kristen Parker was allegedly targeting unsuspecting anesthesiologists.  According to Parker’s testimony, if she found herself alone in an operating room, she would seize the opportunity – the opportunity to feed her drug addiction.  Reportedly, she would steal syringes of Fentanyl, a powerful and addictive intravenous narcotic, from anesthesiologists’ carts.  In order to conceal her theft, she stated that she would replace the stolen syringe with one containing saline and bearing a Fentanyl sticker.  To the naked eye, the two syringes would have been indistinguishable.  As time passed, however, Parker apparently became lazy.  Instead of substituting clean syringes for the stolen ones, she would simply refill the syringes that she had used to inject herself.  Purportedly, anesthesiologists used these syringes on patients during surgical procedures.  Unfortunately, the syringes were contaminated with Parker’s deadly hepatitis C virus.

What ensued was a public health scare of epic proportions.  Over five thousand terrified patients were tested en masse for the virus.  Meanwhile, anesthesiologists at my hospital silently prayed that they would be spared and that none of their patients would end up infected.  I was one of those doctors, selfishly hoping that it would involve somebody else, but not me.

Six months later, I was sued.  My patient’s attorneys were among the most aggressive, ruthless, and successful malpractice lawyers in the region.  As the lawsuit progressed, the stakes increased considerably.  The plaintiff’s attorneys threatened to include punitive damages in the charges against me.  If that happened, they could go after my personal assets.  I was thrown into a dangerous and very cunning game of chess, but instead of fighting to protect my king, I was fighting for my life.

On my lawyer’s orders, I was locked in a world where I could talk to a very select group of individuals – my attorneys and my husband.  Isolated from my peers, I dealt the grief, guilt, despair, embarrassment, self-doubt, and immeasurable sadness on my own.  For over two solid years, the malpractice suit dominated my existence.  There wasn’t a day that went by where it didn’t creep into my consciousness – some days more than others.  During that time, I felt so alone, so tarnished, and so inferior.

The ordeal didn’t just unleash its devastation upon me.  My husband and daughter both lived under a cloud of uncertainty and dread.  Everything was falling apart.

When the situation finally came to a close, I felt obligated to document my experience.  Although It’s Nothing Personal is a work of fiction, it is inspired by my personal journey through hell.  As much as it is a story of sadness and corruption, it is also a story of survival.

Thanks so much for joining us today, Sherry!

 

One lucky winner will win a copy of Sherry's medical thriller, It's Nothing Personal.

Anesthesiologist, Dr. Jenna Reiner, was blindsided on a January morning by an incident that would forever change her life. A scrub technician at her hospital was stealing narcotics from anesthesiologists, injecting those same narcotics into her veins, and returning the contaminated syringes, knowing they would be used on patients. The scrub tech was infected with hepatitis C, a deadly virus.

Unknowingly, anesthesiologists at St. Augustine Hospital were injecting their patients with hepatitis C laden syringes. When Dr. Jenna Reiner administered anesthesia, she was holding a murder weapon in her hands. Dr. Reiner was about to find out that not only was her hospital at risk, but her entire life was about to be turned upside down. The scrub tech’s addiction evolved into a public health scare, potentially affecting thousands. Unfortunately, on that fateful day, Dr. Reiner and her patient fell victim to an addict.

The ensuing medical malpractice suit filed by Allison Anders, a ruthless attorney, becomes a battle for survival for Jenna and her family. For Dr. Reiner, the lawsuit is personal. Jenna Reiner faces more demons than she thought imaginable as she fights against greed, brutality, accusations, and a corrupt legal system. Will Dr. Reiner prevail? Or will the system win?

Inspired by true events, It's Nothing Personal is a story of endurance and pain beyond imagination.

Buy Links:

Amazon Kindle / Amazon Paperback

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The giveaway is open to Canada/US mailing addresses only and will close at 12:00 AM CST on March 30, 2013.

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