[center]Collab: Ellri and Fallen[/center]

Joseph stared at the man across from him. The aged and wrinkled face seemed fixed in morbidly serious expression, his salt and pepper hair cut fairly close to the scalp as they both seemed not move from their positions. Joseph took a deep breath before he tried for the fifth time to make a case about the medical file’s limitation and the hazards it brought with it. So far, his attempts kept hitting a solid, iceberg each time. 

“While she’s on the ship, Ms. Falk is my responsibility. Right now, I can’t even give her penicillin because as far as I know it might just kill her and I won’t risk that. There’s a high possibility she can get hurt on these missions, a damn miracle if she doesn’t or she’s inhuman. I can’t just simply send her home should she need higher medical attention.” Joseph said firmly as he stood his ground on the matter. 

“If her life is in danger, then that comes first. I would not respect any medical personnel who thought otherwise, let alone let them work with any of [i]my[/i] patients.” Baldur Ingolfsson answered, his voice clearly accented, but his language otherwise flawless. “If you’re thinking of sticking a needle in her, I would see it relevant to mention to you that that is a terrible idea. She has, as you can see from the open section of her records, fairly acute Aichmophobia. Unless you’ve got several years of experience in dealing with phobic patients, which I know you don’t have, you do not attempt to cross such. Especially not with trained killers.”

He kept his expression fairly unemotional, but firm. “If there’s information you need that isn’t gained through a basic examination, then you can send a request to me, and I will consider authorizing a release. However, as per doctor-patient confidentiality, you will need Ylva Falk’s consent. Any file I transmit will be heavily encrypted, and only she has the decryption key.” Dr. Ingolfsson knew the type that Dr. Sterling was. Stubborn, not fond of secrets being kept from them. He would, hopefully, quickly see that his stubbornness had met its match. Baldur would never let anyone break his patients’ confidentiality. Anyone.

“Without a proper medical recorder or evaluation, I won’t encourage her acceptance to be onboard. It’s too risky for my liking as I can’t give her the best care possible for whatever happens. As for her phobia, yes, I don’t have the training or experience but not all medicine is effective or able to be administered through oral doses.” Joseph said, again feeling the frustration build at being denied at giving the woman the best possible care. “You and I both know that. I won’t her just suffer or die if I can’t administer the medicine because there’s suitable solution. Currently she’s my patient while in this program and any time taken to contact you, namely in emergency events, wastes precious time.” 

He took a breath and added. “If I have access to her file then at least I can properly prepare medicines for oral doses or other means. At least know what are some possible alternatives within reason.” 

“Anything you’re likely to need for regular emergencies is available in the open records. I have been working with patients with classified medical records for over a decade now, so I know well what can and can’t be kept private.” He smiled innocently. “You can always [i]try[/i] using needles on her, but I don’t say you weren’t warned against it when the consequences come up and bite you. I’ve been trying for years to cure that particular phobia, with not even a hint of success.”

“However, if she is unconscious, then the phobia naturally doesn’t have any effect. Just do not let her know she was injected, and it should be ok.” He sat for a moment, then spoke again. “By the way, I would recommend avoiding MRI’s and such. She had some surgery a decade back where she had to get an implant that messes with how those work. Its listed in the open records. Its a pain to deal with, but nothing that makes things impossible. So long as you avoid needles and don’t try to thwart her idiosyncrasies, she’s actually a reasonable girl. She can also help you get a few things done quickly, like blood analysis, both for herself and for other patients. And if you ever have a viral problem, she’s your expert.”

“If that was the case, I might as well let her do my job…” Joseph replied in a bitter and defensive tone. 

“Trust a non-M.D. with medicinal work? Are you insane?” he replied, cutting Dr. Sterling’s answer off. “Besides, while she can do the analysis, she’s won’t know what tests to run. That’s where you need an expert like yourself.”

“Instead of interrupting me, you should let me finish with my sarcasm first.” Joseph, his annoyance clear at having his sentence cut off early, as he started again. “If that was the case, I might as well let her do my job but then I wouldn’t be where I am if I did that. I don’t intend to allow Ms. Falk to do her own tests here or any time in the foreseeable future. However, I do aim to give her best care I can and your restrictions on her file prevents that.” 

“You actually planned to tell her whose tests she would be running? I always consider it best to simply number each sample and connecting results with names on my own. Keeps sensitive information from getting into the wrong hands.” He nodded. “The restrictions can’t be lifted. Patient confidentiality. You’ll get used to seeing such issues the more you work with the military. Especially if you work with high-ranked personnel or people that deal with the deeper secret operations. I’ll help you out where I can, but patient confidentiality is always first.”

“It’s also my job to ensure she’s not a health risk to others as well as won’t develop them later. I can’t do that without a history.” Joseph then added, failing to see the humor or the fact he had just finished denying he was going to allow her to do her own tests. It seems sarcasm wasn’t in the man’s experience and sadly he wasn’t going to waste time teaching it. 

“There’s very little history of relevance. She’s hardly ever sick, and she’s not one of those patient zero carriers. So long as she’s been my patient, she’s always been meticulous about her health and hygiene. Far more so than most. From what I understand, it is due to the nature of her work.”

Joseph leaned back into his chair and wheeled it to the side. For a moment, brief, his attention had turned to his computer which flickered to life again. On the display screen was the patient’s file which contained barely anything he found helpful, mainly the basics complete with name, date of birth, and other needed information to prove she was Ms. Ylva Falk. The red tape prevented anything else for him to view and merely reminded him of his frustrations in the first place. Currently they only seemed to be growing worse with this conversation then better as he had originally hoped would’ve happened. 

“Yes, I can see how little of her history there is thanks to your confidential policy. I’ve only got your words as to what is relevance, unable to see it with my own eyes to determine it. To be bluntly honest Dr. Ingolfsson, I trust documents a little more than a doctor who red tapes his patient’s files.” His voiced seemed more than little bitter about the truth of it. Personally Joseph thought the man was being highly bride by his patients, the woman in question as well, which now was a stopping way. “Either way, I’m authorized to create my own basic medical records while she’s onboard the ship. So long as it’s within reasonable measures and acceptable requests that doesn’t break any laws, there’s nothing breaking your red tape. One of the things required is a most recent medical examination and full evaluation, including blood tests results, before I can clear her for duty.”

He paused, his mouse clicked and the screen went black again. Joseph turned back to Ylva’s doctor once again with his frown etched hard into his face. 
 
“Per her father’s request, I performed a full medical check-up on her thirteen days ago. If she consents, I will release the necessary data to you. While I am her doctor, it wasn’t my decision to make her in-depth medical records top secret.” Baldur took deep breath, gathering his thoughts. “While you may think so, the secrecy surrounding these records is not limited to my systems. Whatever the reason, she is on a short list of people whose medical records, as well as various other records I am unfamiliar with, are accessible only with person’s own consent or with a [i]very[/i] deep level of security clearance, possibly even to the level of NATO high command. Who else is on that list I have no idea of.”

“If I recall correctly, it is NATO directive ME/62-F/2003, though the exact contents escape me. If you can’t find said directive, then they haven’t granted you clearance to even see it. Why they stamp a directive about secrets as a secret I have no idea, it certainly does not make much sense to me.”

Dr. Ingolfsson saw that the other doctor was still bothered by all this. “One thing you should know about that directive. It specifies that in-depth records for the personnel on said secret list cannot be kept on non-encrypted, non-isolated systems. There are a number of other provisions as well, but the gist of it is that in-depth records can’t be kept in regular systems. Not even on the computer systems of supposedly non-existent starships. The more you work with military secrets, the more often you will see things like this. It takes time to get used to, but there’s little to do about it. It is simply obey or find a new job.”

Joseph had been about to reply when his head snapped to the sound of the door opening. Dr. Niven entered, his fact looked from Dr. Ingolfsson then to him and it only took a few moments to put the situation together. One he likely had started when he showed Joseph the red taped file in the first place. Dr. Sterling raised a white eyebrow at the man when he let off a slight sigh and finally closed the door behind him, the knob clicked tightly shut. Facing him, Dr. Niven tried reason. “Dr. Sterling, there’s another patient awaiting your attention for his physical and blood tests. Could you and Dr. Ingolfsson do this another time?” 

Joseph looked ready to spit nails as his eyes narrowed a moment longer, then his shoulders slacked and he relaxed back against the chair. It squeaked against his weight before he submitted...for now. “Very well, Dr. Ingolfsson, we’ll continue this discussion later. Despite that, I still need recent blood samples for tests and I need to be present according to order given from higher up on the command chain. However that can be done another time. The ship doesn’t leave for several more hours and there’s plenty of time.”

He stood up and moved pass Dr. Niven as he suddenly stopped, his mind remembered his manners then added a polite goodbye.