Last Dance, Last Chance

“small thinkers” to impede him.
    Anthony continued to claim that he had current hospital privileges. One lie begat another, and Anthony’s lies continued to pile up. In 1995, he was terminated by the Individual Practice Association of Western New York, Inc. In November, he applied to an HMO to be part of its staff. But once again, he lied, claiming that he had never been the target of malpractice claims or illegal actions and had not been denied hospital privileges in the previous ten years. He lied and said there were no proceedings currently against him, that judgments had never been brought against him, and that he had never been the object of peer-review proceedings. Indeed, he had been beleaguered by every one of these questions. Everywhere he turned, it seemed that someone was investigating him or suing him.
     
    Debbie Pignataro had no idea how many lies Anthony was telling. As far as she could see, his practice was going well. He was very popular with his patients, and she believed him when he said he knew everything there was to know about ear, nose, and throat ailments. She no longer spent much time in his office; he was doing so well, he assured her, that he had hired a full staff so that she could spend most of her time with their children.
    Anthony seemed happy and fulfilled at last. He was working hard to hone his skills in plastic surgery, traveling often to attend teaching conferences in this medical art. He wanted to be able to offer his patients a full range of cosmetic surgery, including breast reduction or augmentation.
    It also never occurred to Debbie that Anthony might be unfaithful to her again. That early affair had happened so long ago, and they had worked through it and stayed together. Anthony had been so sweet for the whole year after she found the tapes and cards in the back seat of their car. He had literally begged her to forgive him, and he had promised that he would never cheat on her again if only she would take him back. Her father had warned her not only to forgive but to forget, and to give her marriage another try. They had survived the death of their baby and all of the disappointments Anthony had in his residency programs. They had been together all the way. Debbie felt that any couple who had been through so much had forged a bond that could never be broken.
    Debbie loved her home, her husband, and her children. Their duplex in West Seneca was very nice, with a big kitchen, dining room, and living room. Upstairs, there was a master bedroom, and Ralph and Lauren each had their own room. They had a rec room in the basement, where the windows were now protected by bars to ward off any other vandals who might try to get in.
    But that was less of a danger now; building was going on around them, and families were moving in all up and down the street. She had friends and neighbors close by.
    Debbie told herself there were no perfect marriages, and she accepted hers for what it was—the good and the bad. Anthony was still critical of her, and he seldom helped around the house or suggested that she take some time for herself. He was drinking more than he should, and that worried her. But the good times offset the bad, and although Anthony could make her cry when he complained about her appearance, Debbie never thought about leaving him now. They were both close to forty, and they were settled down. At least, Debbie was settled down. She never looked at another man; she hadn’t since the moment she first saw Anthony.
    Despite what Anthony had told the investigator, he was doing a lot more than tummy tucks. He needed to make as much money as he could from plastic surgery to offset jobs he had lost. The part-time practice in Warsaw ended when the elderly doctor returned to his office after his recovery from open heart surgery. Anthony felt he had been dropped because the doctor was East Indian and that he was jealous of how popular Anthony was with his patients.
    “I had done an outstanding job of keeping the practice going for him,” Anthony said. “So I was shocked and disappointed that his first order of business was to remove me from his office. He didn’t like the rural populous [ sic ] of the area preferring a white American doctor without a heavy foreign accent.”
    So once again, Anthony felt that jealousy had made another doctor turn against him. He said he was just as happy to be able to devote full time to his own practice.
    And he was about to become a national