Because this blog is supposed to be helping to make coherent sense out of the complicated mess that is E's backstory, I've been trying to keep it all in rough chronological order. However, last night, I moved up my in-game time-table a little, and the blog isn't caught up to "now" yet. So. Presented out of order for necessary informational purposes...
What your character can find out:
Asking around the hospital (any hospital):
One of E's "appointments" has apparently been job interviews and applications at every hospital in Paragon City. He started in Atlas Park and Galaxy City... then King's Row, Skyway City, and Steel Canyon... then Talos Island and Independence Port... He's been turned down every time so far. Officially, they won't discuss why. Unofficially, it becomes obvious fairly quickly that Dr. Jason Pace has been black-listed because he left Longbow.
Asking around the Steel Canyon Medical Center:
It's pretty easy to find out this is where E has been spending the most time. He's been coming in several times a day. While there, he lends a hand where he (legally) can, anywhere from offering suggestions to the staff to pushing a mop in the hallways. When it's time for his appointment, he and a team of young doctors lock themselves away in one of the experimental labs.
Poking around the experimental labs:
The labs in question are heavily shielded to contain harmful side-effects of super-powers, including explosions, fires, and yes, radiation. The equipment being used by or on E is all radioactive to some degree or another.
Grilling the staff, breaking into records, or any number of... less-than-legal information gathering techniques:
E has been co-leading and participating in a series of experiments. The object is to find a substance that will absorb or neutralize the radiation in his system. So far, the experiments have been unsuccessful, but the other doctors involved think "the preliminary results so far have been promising" (i.e. they're pretty hopeful they're on the right track). Unfortunately, the side-effects so far have included pain (especially when using his powers, "...but that's to be expected."), fluctuations in rad count and even changes in the type of radiation being emitted ("See? The experiments are working!"). The containment suit apparently helps dull the pain and regulate the fluctuations. All those involved are fascinated with and amazed by the suit.
E apparently assembled this team himself, hand-picking a number of young doctors who not only had experience in radiation and super-powers but who also had radical treatment ideas.
Player's Note
If there's something your character would check into or more specific questions you want to ask, feel free to add them as comments to this post, and I'll try to answer/respond.
How is he?
Dr. Pace is resting comfortably (i.e. unconscious) in an isolation ward. His injuries have been seen to, and he is listed in "guarded" condition. Visitors are out of the question due to his condition and the fact that the radiation levels in the ward are well above "safe".
Apologies to all of Team 2.0 for keeping them up so late last night. :-D
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4 comments:
Have the experiments been documented? If so, how, and could they be accessed through the medical records department, or are they only located on the floor and are somehow listed as "classified" or given the patient name of "John Doe"? (spoiler: I don't plan on having Mase find out anything anyway, just a scene the muse is playing with.)
They are being documented (E can be pretty meticulous about that sort of thing), but as the experiments are technically unsanctioned, the records are being kept safely out of public reach. Not knowing how medical records are kept, your suggestion of them being marked "classified" and using case numbers or "John Doe" instead of real names sounds good.
IRL, medical records containing personal health information (PHI) fall under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (or "HIPAA"). It regulates how PHI is maintained, secured, and distributed. There are specific circumstances under which PHI is disclosed to a third party, the most obvious being a court order.
PHI includes not only the information in your file, but conversations health care providers have had with *others* about your medical care. [Interesting, right? So someone else could conceivably spill the beans about someone's medical condition to another colleague.]
You can request a report about how your PHI is used and why.
I seem to recall that PHI loses its status when files are redacted to remove personally identifiable information. For medical studies and research projects, an alphanumeric identifier is one method to reference a patient.
So, there you go: some tools you can play with for story purposes.
--Kit
I was an MR clerk and analyst just as the HIPAA regulations came into effect, but even before that dissemination of PHI was closely guarded. Records could not leave the department unless it was an emergency. You could take as much notes as you wanted, but you couldn't photocopy ANYTHING. In the little scene I wrote where I mentioned the clerk had to follow a doctor to his office - that actually happened.
Technically, after this little scene, both the clerk and the doctor would have been fired, even though Nate only skimmed the record.
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