Professionsl Ethics

By Alex Markman

Almost all Jews left city N* in Ukraine during mass emigration of the 1980s and 1990s. A handful remained: Misha, a 27 years old surgeon, was one of them. In love with Oxana, a beautiful nurse, fond of Ukraine and passionate about his work, he thought of his life as wonderful and rewarding. One day Oxana told him that two scary guys dropped by in the hospital when he was in an operation room and left a message that they would be waiting for him in the local tavern. When they met, Misha recognized his childhood friends, Jewish boys who later became vicious gangsters. They came to town after serving seven years in prison for armed robbery. There was a brawl with the local thugs in the tavern, and Misha was a victim. The drama unfolded left Misha with the toughest choice of his life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asteroid Publishing
• Release date: Feb 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463361276

Book preview

PROFESSIONAL

ETHICS

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

ALEX MARKMAN

From collection The Drama and Mockery of Fate

Professional Ethics

Alex Markman

Copyright © 2012 Alex Markman

Published by Alex Markman at Smashwords

All rights reserved.

eISBN: 9780463361276

Professional Ethics is a work of fiction. Names, characters and events are the products of author’s imagination. Any resemblance to real persons, organizations or events is coincidental and not intended by the author.

In the early 1970s, the N* city in Ukraine was home to almost one hundred thousand Jews. In 2005 only a few families remained. For some of these the emigration adventure seemed too dangerous, too tiresome, and beyond their physical and mental abilities. Others did not want to leave the Ukraine just because they loved it. They could not explain to their relatives in Israel or elsewhere why they loved it, perhaps because love has no common ground with logic or argument. Their children grew, got an education and a profession. Most of them left the country, or were about to leave, but there were always a few who had no such plans. Doctor Misha Slutskis was one of them.

At the age of twenty-seven he was an accomplished surgeon. Amiable and amusing, he skilfully dodged conflicts and confrontations in the local hospital, where he worked. Patients and medical personnel held him in high esteem for his professional excellence. He thought that life was beautiful and promised to be even better. He had to change his mind on the last day of August, which brought dark clouds of worry over his head.

Four hours in the hospital operating room had drained the last drop of Misha’s energy. Once the surgery was over, he went out through the building’s back door, removed his protective breathing mask and glanced around. Fresh, warm breeze, bright blue sky and the pristine quiet of the hospital grounds brought his mind to the land of tranquility. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the crisp summer air. For a minute or so he reflected upon the surgery, summing it up, so to speak. The patient was hanging on to his life; however, when the final stitch fixed his flesh, Misha knew that the guy would live. The mix of pride, joy and belief in his skills was overwhelming. He had just snatched a human life back from the dreadful claws of death. One has to be a surgeon to understand this feeling. Now, to fully experience the intensity of the experience, he needed seclusion.

Misha pulled a cigarette from the pack, flipped his American gas lighter – a gift from one of his grateful patients – and inhaled deeply. He smoked only two or three cigarettes a day, but enjoyed them immensely. A clear indicator of addiction, he thought. Time to quit.

A feeble sound behind his back made him spin around. Oxana, a hospital nurse, stood there, her pink, full lips stretched in a smile. Her large, dark eyes had a peculiar lustre, which for him, was a manifestation of her physical and mental health and wild desires of youth. She was twenty years old.

You were born with a smile, Misha said, while smoking his cigarette. He