Time to Testify

Time To Testify provides a fascinating view into the private practice of obstetrics and gynecology. Dr. Jay Atwell is on duty when the wife of a JAG officer goes into labor and ruptures her uterus. The instant his scalpel enters the abdominal cavity, a sea of red floods over the edges of the table and splatters onto the green tiled floor. He worries about the baby, hopes it wouldn't be brain damaged. The first rays of dawn barely visible, he knows how little time separates light from darkness, how only minutes separated triumph from disaster, and how only seconds separate life from death. His relationship with a navy nurse is more than comradery. He leaves the navy and searchs for a place to set up practice, checks out a Catholic hospital. 'Sister Agnes, your hospital's reproductive policies are oppressive to women, offensive to my own beliefs, and incompatible with those of my profession. Do you get special absolution from the Vatican to distort the truth?" In his struggle to upgrade Clarkesville4s obstetrical department he locks horns with hospital bureaucracy and demands that obstetrical nurses be trained to scrub-in for emergency cesareans in order to meet the required thirty-minute start-up time. Vivian, his longtime patient, begs him to deliver her next baby by VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). He refuses to handle her pregnancy. Vivian ruptures her womb, loses her baby and her uterus. Dr. Atwell blames the hospital. 'I repeatedly warned this hospital4s administration that our department of obstetrics was a disaster waiting to happen and they did nothing to correct the problems. A disaster is exactly what happened." After Vivian isawarded thousands of dollars she names Dr. Atwell as a defendant in a malpractice suit. Eight years later, he stands trial. A surprise witness testifies for Vivian, but her testimony backfires. 'Dr. Atwell was the obstetrician on duty the night I was born . . . the night my mother's uterus ruptured. He performed an emergency caesarean . . . pulled me out . . . saved my life." Ellen Jones, a retired navy nurse and Dr. Atwell's old flame, attends the trial. The jury deliberates, Vivian's attorney becomes ill. The verdict is in. Setting and Location A labor and delivery ward in Northern Maryland, Portsmouth Naval Hospital, and Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Maryland. Dr. Atwell's private office, Doctors' surgical lounge, Clarkesville Memorial Hospital. The Gulf Coast of Florida. A courtroom. Main Character Dr. Jay Atwell opens doors into the real world of obstetrics. He is frustrated, but relentless and compassionate in his fight for women's rights. Other Characters Claire Foley, wife of a U.S. Navy JAG Officer Commander Ellen Jones, navy nurse Quincy Sadler, obstetrician Bill VanBuren, An Errol Flynn-type general surgeon Vivian Andrews, longtime patient Lauren La Fonte, chief nurse Reggie Lehman, hospital administrator Derek Brooks, orderly Georgette Cohen, newspaper reporter Lawyers and physicians Themes Malpractice/the legal profession VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) Professional jealousy Sterilization/abortion/religion Action Scenes Operating room-a ruptured uterus Cesarean section for breech Vaginal delivery/hydrocephalic Breech A deadly courtroom scene