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I remember the fear on their faces. And the
referrals. I don't blame them for taking to the "tall grass". I know *I* couldn’t have endured it.
Dr. Berger was at the top of his field and a pleasure to work with.
And understanding my circumstances would see me virtually pro-bono.
And upfront with me about his. And the trial. But it
wasn’t until a half-decade after his death that I learned what
heroism this brave captain had demonstrated indeed. Standing
by his patients and enduring it for over a decade and "going down
with his ship". A secretary disappears.
You can no longer afford it. As your resources are decimated.
And there is more. Saddeningly more. You wind up quite
isolated and alone. Abandoned. As you stand up to it all and its Wrongfulness
thinking perhaps your reputation will protect you. Deluded
perhaps, thinking that Justice and Wisdom will prevail and save the
day. But instead, are simply callously "ground up into the
gears" by it all. Wisdom did eventually prevail.
If not Justice. Perhaps his ordeal and sacrifice helped spur it on. And he did not die in
vain.
I remember as he sat behind his desk that day as those two pages I
wrote for him just began to tremble in his hands.
"Are these Towering
Oaks of Hope, Wisdom and Courage the ones you cut down?"
Castigating any and all involved in ANY this.
Had they no conscience?
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It's an easy
mistake. And I don't think the Medical Board thought
much of it either. A pregnancy is so easy to hide.
Until it's too late. In fact, "back in the bad old days
known as the Dark Ages of fear, ignorance and
repression", you'd see the
headlines "DA Smashes Abortion Ring" or whatever it was.
Somehow lost in all this was the simple fact that there
were Decent and Honest physicians who'd put it ALL on
the line then too for these poor and unfortunate women.
And prosecuted for it. Before it was legal. And saved many a desperate
young woman's life from the "backstreet butchers" or
worse "do-it-yourself". But this never made the
headlines back then. |
I pin upon Dr. Philip A. Berger, with a
Salute of the Highest Respect and Deepest Admiration,
my own personal
"Congressional Medal of Honor".
For demonstrating to me valor in his field above and beyond the call
of duty and for giving his very last on our behalf. For
believing in us and most notably, me personally. And for putting
it ALL on the line for us. And enduring it until he was driven
to his death by an Attorney General whose name I don't know and hope
no one else does or was either. And I told Kitty Petty to her face
at a meeting that I'd like to see
that despicable name I don't know who was turned out of office at
the next election
put on trial for murder and
she didn’t turn away. I told her this after a phone call with
her. When I "saw it all". She didn’t know about the
trial. I didn’t know how he died.
Thanks Dr. Berger. Thanks for "enduring it ALL"
A grateful patient,
Geoffrey |