.
- In the criminal justice system,
sexually based offenses
are considered especially heinous.
In New York City, the dedicated detectives
who investigate these vicious felonies
are members of an elite squad
known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
[dramatic tones]
- Keep making buzzer beaters like that,
and you'll be playing for the Liberty.
- I wish.
Remember that game against Dallas?
- Tina Charles finds Zellous in the corner with five seconds.
Zellous launches a three,
and swish, the Liberty win.
- Lily, we're not on the court anymore.
- [mocking] We're not on the court anymore.
- She's such a dork.
- Yeah, I'm so sick of this stupid game.
- You weren't sick of it on my turn.
- Day's officially over anyway, so.
- Hey, not until your mom picks you up.
And actually, it's that time again.
- No, guys, no.
- [whispering indistinctly] - Eww.
Which guy? - That one, see?
There. - That one?
- You have to go over there and--right over there.
- No, no.
- You have to do it, Zoe.
- Fine, but then I'm done, right?
- Maybe, if you don't die of humiliation.
[giggles]
- Okay.
- Oh, my God, she is actually doing it.
- Literally the best day of my life.
- Hi.
both: Red Parrot!
- Red Parrot!
- Lily, Lisa, have you girls seen Zoe?
- Not since we got off the bus after the game.
- She's not answering her cell phone.
- Maybe the battery died.
- I've run this sports center for 20 years.
This has never happened.
- This place have security cameras?
- It's not in the budget. - When was Zoe last seen?
- According to her friends, she never returned
to the Rec Center when the bus pulled up after a game.
- These friends still here?
- Yes, and we called in their parents.
These are detectives.
They need to talk to Lily and Lisa.
- So, you two were the last ones to see Zoe?
- Mm-hmm.
- Okay, what happened?
- Lily, we have to tell the truth.
- That's right, young lady.
- What the hell did they do? - Nothing.
- Lisa.
- Okay, ladies, listen to me.
You're not in trouble, all right?
We just--we just need to know what happened.
so we can find Zoe.
She's your friend, right?
So just take a breath and tell me what happened.
- So when we got off the bus,
we dared her to kiss some rando on the street.
- A man.
- What?
- Okay, then what happened?
- Zoe went over to him,
then we went inside.
Now she's gone.
[dramatic music]
*
You Zoe's basketball coach?
- Please tell me you found her. - Not yet,
but we do have a few questions. - This is my worst nightmare.
- It's a tough job, a lot of kids to be responsible for.
We're sure you do your best.
- Can you describe the man that Zoe approached
after she got off the bus? - She was with a man?
- You didn't see them together?
- No, and I'm almost certain I accounted for everyone when--
- Almost certain?
- I always do a head count,
but maybe it was when we got on the bus.
- Where was Zoe the last time you saw her?
- Right over there with the man.
- What did he look like?
- I don't know. Tall?
- He had light brown skin, like, Indian, maybe?
- What about his hair? Was it short? Was it long?
What color was it?
- I couldn't tell because of his helmet.
- A helmet?
So, he had a bike?
- Yeah, the ones you could rent.
He was taking it out of the rack.
- Okay, and which dock was he taking it out of?
- Right at the end.
- Yeah, the very first one.
- BikeNYC's got digital docking.
They'll have his name and address.
Thank you.
[heavy knocking at door]
David Gidumal. Police.
[banging]
- If Zoe's in there, exigent circumstances,
right, Counselor?
- Right about here.
- Clear.
[sighs]
Oh, we got lucky.
The guy's got a Find My Phone app on his computer.
Let's see.
It says...
He should be here.
- What the hell?
- Stop. - NYPD.
- You David Gidumal?
- Y-yeah, what are you doing here?
- Where's the girl? - What girl?
- The girl! - What girl?
- She's missing.
And she was last seen with you.
- You think--wait.
I was taking out a bike, and she tapped my shoulder.
I turned around and she kissed me on the cheek and ran away.
Her friends shouted, "Red Parrot."
- Red Parrot? - I was as confused as you are.
- Okay, so then what happened?
- She ran away with her friends, giggling.
Then they went into the Rec Center.
- Now hold on, you're absolutely sure
you saw all three of them go inside?
- Positive.
- All right, you're gonna have to
come with us until we can confirm your story.
- My door-- I can't leave it like this.
- Call a locksmith; the Department will reimburse you.
- Hey, Loo. Yeah, the bike guy checks out,
and if he's telling the truth, we're thinking Zoe might
still be in the Rec Center.
- I want a grid search-- every storage room,
every utility space, every office checked
top to bottom. Go.
- Okay, she's gotta be here somewhere.
- How do you know?
- Kids don't go anywhere without their cell phones.
- Zoe?
[louder] Zoe?
I need some help in here!
Fin, get up to the gym immediately.
Help me out. Over here.
- Okay, move all this stuff out the way.
Get it out of here.
[equipment creaking, crashing]
- Zoe? Zoe?
Can you hear me, honey? Zoe?
- Okay, somebody call a bus!
- Stay with me, Zoe, I got you. They're on their way.
Help is on the way, okay, honey?
[whispers] Honey, stay with me.
Stay with me, Zoe, stay with me.
.
- So they're taking her to Mercy Hospital.
It's one of the best pediatric ICUs in the city.
One of you can ride with Zoe.
- This officer will take you and follow the ambulance.
- I will, oh, my God. - Thank you.
- Is Zoe gonna be okay?
- We don't know at this point.
- You have any idea why she was in the gym?
- She wasn't supposed to be in there.
The girls were told to change,
get what they need from their lockers,
and wait by the front door for their pick-ups.
- [sighs] Okay, go with him, please.
- How's she doing? - Uh, we'll see.
- Any signs of sexual assault?
- Not according to the EMTs.
- So--so she was here the entire time
her two friends told us otherwise?
- Take them in.
I wanna see if they know why and how Zoe ended up
in her underwear, unconscious, behind those bleachers.
- Listen, Lily,
what happened is in the past-- that's done.
But you can make up for it right now
by telling me the truth.
I know that you didn't wanna hurt Zoe.
I know that.
- How did Zoe fall under the bleachers?
- It was just a stupid prank.
- Okay.
What was the prank?
- Red Parrot.
Lisa saw it on YouTube.
- I-It's this thing where for a whole day,
you have to do any dare your friends tell you to.
Lily went first.
Yesterday was my turn.
- Today was Zoe's day.
First, she had to spill her soda at lunch.
- Then tell Coach Clare she had bad breath.
- And then you dared her to kiss the man on the bike?
- Only on the cheek, though.
- And then when we got back to the Rec Center to change...
- It was supposed to be her last dare.
She had to run a lap around the gym
in her underwear.
- We thought it'd be funny to throw her clothes up
on the bleachers, and she started climbing up
to get them, we ran away.
- I didn't know she fell and hurt her head.
- Lily said if we told somebody
we were pranking her, we'd get in trouble.
- I'm so sorry.
- It was an accident.
- I wish I never played that game.
I wish I didn't run away.
I'm really, really sorry.
- Any news?
- Zoe's still in surgery.
They're trying to relieve the pressure in her brain.
It's been hours, and we haven't heard anything.
- Is there anything that we can get you?
- No.
Maybe just say a prayer for her?
- Yes, of course.
- How did this happen? Do you know yet?
- We talked to Lisa and Lily again.
Let's just say it was a prank gone wrong.
- Oh, my God.
- It was an accident, and...
The girls are remorseful,
to say the least.
- Mr. and Mrs. Bergkamp--
can we talk privately for a moment?
- That's never a good sign.
- [gasping]
- I don't understand, Doctor.
I was so hopeful.
When I found Zoe, she was-- she was breathing.
- The impact caused cerebral edema--
brain swelling.
We tried to relieve the pressure
by fenestration with a burr hole into the skull,
but the swelling was too severe.
She died during surgery.
- Damn. - And if...
We had found her earlier?
- I doubt it would've made a difference.
I'm sure the M.E. will declare manner of death accidental.
If you'll excuse me.
- Hey, Rollins, when you were a kid,
what was the dumbest thing you ever did?
- [clears throat] Me and Stevie Harris
used to steal our dads' .22s and go
shoot cans off a stump, and one day,
I-I dared him to go down to the stump
and just hold the can an arm's length out.
Dead-eye Amanda shoots a bullet hole
right through the sleeve of his sweatshirt.
- You know what, remind me never to go
to the practice range with you.
- Remind me never to let Jesse leave the house.
- Hey, any word on your missing kid?
- Lieutenant found her in the gym, unconscious.
She died a few minutes ago.
- Ah, homicide? - Seems like an accident.
- Two of her little friends were playing a prank,
and I guess the poor kid slipped
and fell head first off the top of the bleachers.
- Is it something we might wanna refer to Family Court?
- Both the girls already got kicked out of their sports camp
for not telling the truth about what happened.
Plus, they have to live with this the rest of their lives.
- If every 12 year old were arrested for lying,
you wouldn't wanna see my rap sheet.
- We can send you our reports if you wanna pursue this.
- Nah, it's heartbreaking,
but these girls don't sound like Thelma and Louise.
Seems like the right call.
- Hi.
We just wanted to offer our condolences.
Detective Tutuola and I both have kids, and...
We just can't imagine what-- what you're both going through.
- Anything you need?
- Thanks.
- [stammers] I just wanna walk.
Zoe's ring.
I meant to take it. It was my mom's.
- Well, we can arrange to get that back to you.
- No, I would really like to have it back right now.
- Yeah.
I'll be back.
Come on.
- What's this?
- She had surgery on her head.
Why is there an incision down to her waist?
- And guess what? When you wake up,
you're gonna feel all better,
and you're gonna get to have all the Jell-O you want.
What's your favorite flavor?
- Dr. Franchella?
- Detectives.
I'm with the bravest kid in New York right now.
- We need to speak with you ASAP.
- I'll be right back.
What's going on?
- Zoe Bergkamp's incision-- the one on her chest?
- Yes?
- Why'd you cut her open like that?
- To harvest her organs--
two beautiful kidneys, a liver, and a heart.
- Did the Bergkamps sign off on this?
- [soft sigh] Well, not exactly.
- Yes or no?
- No.
- Where are the organs right now?
- The liver and the kidneys are in refrigeration here.
The heart is on its way to a hospital in Buffalo.
- Call the driver and have him turn around now.
- It's actually a helicopter.
It's on the roof.
- Okay, you stay with her.
- Are you kidding me?
NYPD!
Stop.
- What's the problem?
- I need to take custody of this cooler.
The organ may be evidence of a crime.
- There's a terminally ill boy
being prepped right now for a heart transplant.
- He's gonna have to wait for another one.
- It's a miracle we have this one.
He's been on the list for three years.
So we're good to go?
- I don't know, I, uh,
I need more time.
- It's wheels up now,
or this kid's probably gonna die.
.
- We've--we've located your daughter's organs,
and they are still here in the hospital.
- Why'd she take them without our permission?
- We're gonna address that at another time,
but--but right now, we need to make a decision
about--about Zoe's heart.
- They took out her heart?
- It was being harvested for transplantation.
Right now, there's a helicopter on the roof
waiting to take it to Buffalo
for a little boy who's very sick.
- Please tell me this isn't happening.
- Can we have a few days to figure this out?
- Unfortunately, no.
Um...
If the helicopter doesn't leave in the next ten minutes,
then-- then the heart is useless.
- Useless?
- I'm sorry... [stammers]
Came out wrong.
I'm very sorry that I have to ask you about this right now,
but you have a chance to save a little boy's life,
so we need to make a decision.
- Meredith, maybe we should--
- No.
It's just not right.
I mean, I mean, there are pieces of her missing.
- Okay. Okay.
- Please, Lieutenant, you're making a huge mistake--
- I wish I had a choice.
- You do. Just give me the cooler.
I'll say I ignored your orders.
- I can't let you do that.
You'd be committing a crime.
- I promise I'll turn myself in
once I get that heart to Buffalo.
What if this was your sick kid,
and that was the answer to all your prayers?
- Liv, maybe you and I got here too late.
- I can't.
I'm sorry.
- I just don't understand why
this is a matter for the police.
- And it may not be. I just wanna get all the facts.
- It's really very simple.
When Zoe Bergkamp hit her head,
her brain swelled inside her skull.
We did everything we could in surgery to vent the pressure,
but the fluid was crushing the brain stem.
That's light's out.
She was pronounced dead by neurological criteria.
Her heart was beating,
but for all intents and purposes, she was gone.
That's the textbook scenario for harvesting,
- So you just took it upon yourself
to assume that the parents would consent?
- I did.
- But you didn't even have a brief conversation with them.
- Truthfully, I couldn't risk them saying no.
There was another child to consider,
one that was alive.
- Don't ask, don't tell.
- And why not?
- Because the law says that...
[inhales deeply] You need explicit consent.
- And the law is wrong.
- That's not for you to decide.
- Would you bend the law to save a life, Lieutenant?
Right.
You didn't strike me as an absolutist.
So let's have some respect for each other.
I could never do what you do.
And I don't think that you're in any position
to second-guess my professional judgment.
- You're right.
But it's not my call.
- This doctor admits
she presumed consent by the parents?
- Well, I don't know if presumed is the right word.
There was nothing stopping her,
so she cut this girl open and she harvested her organs.
- An assault charge isn't viable
if Zoe had been pronounced.
Was there money changing hands? - Not that I know of.
- How do Zoe's parents feel?
- Naturally, they're pretty upset.
- Upset enough to testify if we filed charges?
- I don't know, Stone, but my gut is that
this doesn't belong in criminal court.
- There's probably a felony here.
- Yeah, that--that I was close
to being an accomplice to.
- You stopped it.
- And I'm still not sure that I made the right call.
- This isn't about assuaging your guilt, Olivia?
- Well, that's easy for you to say, isn't it?
Because you weren't there to make the call.
- So find out if this was a one-off lapse of judgment.
I'll hold off on getting an arrest warrant
until I speak to Zoe's parents.
- Thank you.
[dramatic tone]
- Dr. Franchella's a hero around here.
I can't tell you how many lives she's saved.
- How long has she been in the harvesting business?
- She started sending us pediatric organs
five, six years ago--
kidneys, livers, hearts.
And you have to understand--
kids' organs are extremely hard to come by,
especially here in New York.
- And you just accept them, no questions asked?
- Her paperwork is always in order.
- What kind of paperwork?
- Consent forms, compatibility analyses,
tissue typing, HLA screens.
- We're gonna need to see all that.
- Wait, is Dr. Franchella under investigation?
- Actually, yes, she is.
- We can't afford to lose this doctor.
- We're still gonna need those records.
We tracked down 35 children whose organs were harvested
by Dr. Franchella, but only four families
recall signing donation consent forms.
- What about the other 31?
- They claimed they didn't sign anything.
- It wasn't easy telling them their dead kid's organs
were in somebody else.
- Better you than me.
- Now, even though the families didn't consent,
there's a completed form for each kid.
- I'm no expert,
but the handwriting's the same on all the forms.
- Yeah, look at the sevens.
Every time she uses one for a date or the time,
it's got a European cross.
- Well, Dr. Franchella studied at Oxford for two years.
- So she signed all 31 consent forms.
At a minimum, that's forgery.
[dramatic tones]
- Thank you for seeing me.
I know it's been a difficult time.
- We're planning our daughter's funeral.
Difficult doesn't begin to cover it.
- Please accept my condolences.
But I do need to loop you in
on our investigation of Dr. Franchella.
- Can you just tell us what this is?
I can't look at anymore paperwork.
- These are organ donor consent forms--
all of them forged by Dr. Franchella.
There's 31 of them.
- She's done this before?
- Yes, and we're considering
filing forgery charges on behalf of each family.
- What's there to consider?
She cut open my daughter's chest,
and ripped out her still-beating heart.
- She never even gave us a choice.
- And she clearly violated the law.
But there is the ethical question
as to whether her actions may have saved other children.
- Don't.
Just don't.
You think this is ethical?
She stole my child's body parts.
What gave her the right to do that?
A medical degree?
- She had no right to do that to us,
to Zoe.
- You bring your kid to the hospital
and you expect them to take care of her.
You trust them with your precious baby,
and they give her to a vulture.
- The Bergkamps are pressing charges?
- The Bergkamps are the least of your problems.
- Do you really need to use handcuffs?
- Standard procedure. - [sighs]
Please be careful.
Once this nonsense is cleared up,
there are a lot of children who are still gonna need my help.
.
- All we have against Dr. Franchella
are the forgeries.
Did anything turn up in her financials?
- No, we've been over it three times.
She didn't take a dime for any of this.
But she does donate a sizeable amount to charities.
- Well, what's she looking at in terms of jail time?
- Seven years, times 32.
- That's a lot of time over some paperwork.
- And if Zoe's parents make a victims' statement
after a conviction, don't be surprised
if she gets double digits upstate.
- They're really pushing this?
- I can't say I blame them.
- I think this woman's practically a saint,
forgery or not. - You'd let some doctor
rip your kid's heart out while--
while it's still beating in her chest?
- Two separate doctors declared her brain dead--
- Okay, so--so you're saying hospital bureaucrats
should get to decide what parents do
with their dead child's body parts?
- I'm not saying that. - I'm with Carisi.
I don't see what the big deal is.
Dead is dead.
- Everybody has a right to their own opinion.
But as it stands now,
if you don't have explicit consent to harvest
a dead child's organs, it's a felony.
[dramatic tones]
- We were both in shock.
This was the worst day of our lives.
I-I mean...
One minute, you're...
Kissing your little girl good-bye in the morning,
and then the next...
[shaky exhale]
- Do you need some time, Meredith?
- No, no, no.
It's okay.
- People's One for identification.
Do you recognize this organ donor authorization?
- That's my name, but it's not my handwriting.
And that is not my signature.
- Nothing further.
- I am so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Bergkamp.
That day at the hospital, after Zoe had passed,
did you have a conversation with Lieutenant Olivia Benson?
- Yes, we did.
- What was it about?
- Well, since Zoe's heart had already been...
[inhales deeply] Removed...
She was trying to convince us to donate it.
- So the Lieutenant and Dr. Franchella
were on the same page?
- And that was very upsetting.
It had only been a few minutes since Zoe had died,
and Lieutenant Benson was already
laying a guilt trip on us.
Dylan and I were basket cases.
We were in no shape to make a decision like that.
And by then, the damage was already done.
You know, I don't know why
a doctor thinks she had the right
to cut out my baby's heart
from her chest without asking us.
- My name's Harry Lonegan.
I'm from Buffalo, New York.
- I'm going to ask you some personal questions
about your health, Harry, is that okay?
- Sure.
- So tell us, do you have any medical problems?
- I have something called HCM.
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy?
- Yeah, it means that my heart muscle is too thick
so it doesn't pump right.
- And do you see a doctor for this condition, Harry?
- A lot of doctors-- my cardiologist, surgeon...
- Why a surgeon, Harry?
- Well, the muscle that's too thick in my heart
is getting much worse, so if I don't get
a new heart soon, I could die.
But if I do get a new heart soon,
Dr. Wilson said I could live to be 90.
- I wanna ask you about the day that you went
to the Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo, Harry.
Why did you go there?
- Well, my mom got a call from Dr. Wilson.
He said that a girl had died in New York City
and her heart was a match.
So my mom and dad rushed me to the hospital
to get ready for the transplant.
- And what happened after you arrived?
- Well, they got a room for me,
and Dr. Wilson came in and told us what to expect.
Then the nurses got me ready for the operation.
But the new heart never came.
So my mom and dad just took me home.
- How many times has Dr. Wilson called
to tell you that a new heart was a match?
- That was the only time.
I've been on the waiting list for three years.
- Thank you, Harry.
- Mr. Stone?
- No questions,
but I'm sure I speak for everyone in this court, Harry.
You're a very brave young man,
and we wish you all the best.
I'm so sorry.
That must have been difficult to listen to.
- It was.
You know, Mer,
maybe we should drop our part of the case.
- No, Dylan. - We should've listened
to Lieutenant Benson when she asked us
to let Zoe's heart go to that boy.
- You should never have been
put in that position, Mr. Bergkamp.
That's what this case is all about.
- But how can you try to punish Dr. Franchella
when all she wanted to do is save lives?
Honey, I need to say something to them.
- Don't you dare.
- Excuse me.
I'm Dylan Bergkamp. That's my wife, Meredith.
- [sharply] Yeah, we know who you are.
- We're sorry for your loss.
- I just wanna ask you to forgive us.
In that moment after Zoe died--
well, we made a selfish decision,
and I wish we could change that.
But my wife and I...
Harry, we just know that another family's
gonna come through for you.
- I've been a pediatric surgeon at Mercy Hospital
for the past 12 years.
I've done approximately 1,900 major surgical procedures
on children during that period.
- Do you know what the mortality rate is
for those procedures?
- About 3%, which is, I'm proud to say,
about half the national average for pediatric surgeries.
- And in those exceptional cases
where your patients don't survive the procedure,
what is your hospital's policy on organ harvesting?
- Let me be very frank about this.
I do not follow my hospital's policy.
- Could you explain that, Doctor?
- Sure, um,
most parents whose children undergo surgery
do not consent to organ donation
for a variety of reasons.
So, unless I have a situation
in which a parent has explicitly indicated
that they do not want their child's organs donated,
I presume consent, which is actually the law
in over 20 European countries.
- But not in the U.S.?
- Right. It's a disgrace.
We're in the dark ages of organ donation.
- So, if one of your patients' organ consent form is blank...
- I harvest their organs if they're viable
for transplantation.
- And the consent forms themselves?
- I fill them out so that the Northeast Organ Network
will accept the donations.
Otherwise, they can't be used in transplants,
and children will die.
- I show you
defense exhibit D-1 through D-31
for identification.
Do you recognize these files, Dr. Franchella?
- They're the medical charts of 31 children across
the northeast who have received organs that I've harvested.
- And in each of these cases, you presumed consent
to harvesting organs these kids received?
- Correct,
because to ask a parent to make that decision
at the worst moment of their lives is...
Distasteful, to say the least.
- How many of these transplants were successful?
- All of them.
- Including Jessica LaFell,
Emma Hyatt,
Robbie Sanders, Dez Mohammed--
- We get the point, Your Honor.
- Nothing further.
- Hey.
- Hey, do you want a drink?
- No, thank you.
[sighs softly]
- Thirty-one kids who received organs from Dr. Franchella.
- Yeah.
Well, about that, uh,
I've come to realize that I made
the wrong call on that roof in the hospital.
- I feel like a priest today--
everybody unloading their guilt.
- Well, that should tell you something.
This wasn't police business.
- When I first came to New York,
I spent all my time at the hospital with my father.
And every afternoon, I'd go down to the cafeteria,
grab a cup of coffee.
My father died while I was asking
one of the servers down there for some half-and-half.
- That must've been hard.
- It would've been a lot harder
if the doctor had harvested his organs
before I got back to his room.
- You should've seen the look
in the parents' eyes when I told them.
- You did the right thing, Olivia.
- And if that little boy in Buffalo dies
because I did the right thing?
- Things are never easy when they're not black and white.
- [sighs softly]
Well, there's nothing gray for Dr. Franchella.
She had to know that this was
gonna eventually catch up with her.
She put her life on the line.
She isn't getting a penny for it.
- When you vetted Dr. Franchella's financials,
there was a notation about her charitable donations.
- Mm-hmm.
- Could she be laundering money
she's getting for organs through those donations?
- I'll have my people check it out.
[elevator dings]
- Hey.
We found something that you need to see.
Dr. Franchella donates $50,000 every year
to the Children's Heart Procurement Fund.
- That's very generous.
- It's not the amount that jumped out at us.
It's who she dedicates the donation to.
.
- Good morning, Dr. Franchella.
Yesterday, you admitted to forging 32 signatures
on organ donor consent forms.
- Yes, to save the lives of 32 children.
- And you dared to do this because you felt
you were above the law?
- Well, when a law is wrong, when a law is harmful,
we have to find the courage to disobey it.
- So you see yourself as some kind of a--
what, an activist?
- Sure.
- A champion for sick children?
- That's what a pediatric surgeon is,
by definition.
- You had a son named Benjamin.
- That's right.
- He died from a congenital heart condition in 2006.
- Yes.
- Was he on the waiting list for a heart transplant,
a transplant that he never received?
- That's correct.
- Did the death of your own son
inspire you to specialize in pediatric surgery?
- Yes, it did.
- So the fact that Benjamin didn't receive his transplant
is what motivates you to break the law?
- My only motivation is to save lives.
- Is it possible, Dr. Franchella,
that in your zeal to save lives,
you'd harvest an organ from a child
that was not legally deceased?
- Objection. This is outrageous.
Mr. Stone is insinuating
that Dr. Franchella committed a homicide.
- Well, did she? - Move to strike.
- Mr. Stone's remark is stricken from the record,
but I will allow the question.
- And here's my answer.
A second attending physician
needs to certify death on any patient,
so it's not just my medical judgment
that's dispositive.
And why would I let one child die to save another?
It makes--makes no sense.
- But did you try hard enough to save Zoe Bergkamp's life?
- Excuse me?
- Did you try hard enough to save Zoe Bergkamp's life?
- The fenestration procedure failed.
She was legally brain dead when I cut her chest open--
- No, you're not answering my question, Doctor.
If that was your Benjamin on that table,
at that moment, would you really have
cracked open his sternum and cut out his heart?
- [shaky sigh]
[applause]
- This is Jessica LaFell at her tenth birthday party,
Erin Hyatt practicing before her band recital,
and Robbie Sanders playing point guard
for his junior varsity team.
[shoes squeaking on court, faint cheering]
These are just a few of the kids who were recipients
of organs harvested by Dr. Franchella.
Most of them probably wouldn't be alive
if she "followed" the rules.
Under the cold, hard facts, she broke the law,
but as Judge Goldfarb will instruct you,
the law excuses a criminal act
if it is based on necessity.
This...
Is the definition of necessity.
- [clears throat]
- Some of you may have a little red heart
on your driver's license,
and that's because you chose to be an organ donor.
The government didn't make that decision for you
and a doctor certainly didn't,
because it's your body,
and only you can decide what to do with it.
Dylan and Meredith Bergkamp did not relinquish that right--
that fundamental right to make that highly personal
and intimate choice for their daughter, Zoe.
Instead, a zealot, motivated by her own personal tragedy,
stole it with the stroke of a pen.
While Zoe's heart was still beating,
the defendant pilfered her organs
and stitched up her empty torso,
hoping that no one would notice.
Ms. Staines is basically telling you
the ends justify the means.
Whose ends?
Dr. Franchella arrogantly decided
that she knew better than the patients' families,
that she knows better than you.
She did this by breaking the law.
She did this by imposing her own morality.
She did this by playing God.
- Has the jury reached a verdict?
- We have, Your Honor.
- How do you find?
- We find the defendant guilty of forgery
in the second degree on all 32 counts.
- Thank you for your services, ladies and gentlemen.
This was a very difficult case.
Court is dismissed.
- [sighs softly]
Yeah, of course, he does.
Look, Lucy, he's had mac and cheese three times this week,
so I'm just gonna pick up a falafel
'cause at least it has something green in it.
Okay, thank you. Bye.
[knocking]
- When I was five,
I ate a burger and fries every night of the week.
- Why does that not surprise me?
So, what's on your mind, Stone?
- Uh, Dr. Franchella's sentencing.
- You're seriously gonna ask for jail time?
- We need to set an example.
- For all the progressive-minded
pediatric surgeons out there?
- That's right.
- Don't be a bully.
She's gonna lose her medical license
over the felony conviction.
That's the worst punishment she could ever imagine.
- I just took this job.
I don't wanna look like a pushover.
- Or...
maybe you're overcompensating.
- [scoffs] For what?
- For not being in the room
with your father when he died.
[knocking] - Hey,
I'm sorry to interrupt, um...
We just got a call from Buffalo.
Harry Lonegan died about an hour ago.
.
[dramatic music]
*
[wolf howls]