A Parable, Part I: The Diagnosis

Statement of Joseph Zwilling, Director of Communications in response to the The New York Times Editorial, The Pope and the Pedophilia Scandal, of March 25, 2010.

My father was hospitalized for surgery. I was visiting when the nursing staff came to help him out of bed into a chair. As they pivoted him, his johnny shirt flapped open and I saw red, raw skin at the base of his spine.

"Is that a bed sore?" I asked, pointing.
"No, it isn't," said the nurse.
"Well, what is it then?" I asked.
"I don't know," said the nurse.

I scheduled a meeting with the Nursing Supervisor. The dialogue went like this:

"My father has a bed sore," I said.
"I seriously doubt that. Our statistics are very good," she answered.

At my request a wound specialist was brought in to evaluate the lesion. It was a bed sore.