Deadly Care

In 1998, Tom Davidson and his wife set out to save the life of their four-month-old daughter, who needs surgery for a congenital heart defect. And they run afoul of the law, because the waiting list for this type of surgery - in the nationalized health care cooperative to which they are assigned - is longer than daughter Becky can be expected to live without surgery. Tom attempts to bribe a doctor, a new health care crime, and is arrested. As the story unfolds, Becky's life is saved by a surgeon in a foreign land. But her father is still on trial. When his attorney tells him he can plead guilty and perhaps get off easy, Tom says, "Becky fought for her life on that operating table, but does the life she won belong to her or to the government? That's what this trial's about, and I'm going to see it through."