Adverse Events

After the death of his husband, Ethan Marris relocates to Washington, D.C., to work as a compliance officer at St. Jerome’s Medical Center, a hospital operating after the dismantling of federal healthcare oversight. His role is to stabilize risk and restore confidence.

Ethan steps into the work left behind by his predecessor, Claire Redmond, who died in a car accident months earlier. Records are incomplete. Reviews were unfinished. Decisions were made, but no one followed up. Dr. Marcus Bell, the hospital’s charismatic ethics chair, steps in to offer guidance and personal attention, making himself indispensable as Ethan tries to find his footing.

St. Jerome’s was among the first hospitals to deploy GEORGE, an AI system designed to oversee research ethics in a deregulated environment. GEORGE is authoritative and precise—but its records don’t add up.

As Ethan pushes for answers, he bonds with Maya Chen, a clinical coordinator troubled by Claire’s final weeks. He must also contend with Julian Reed, a tech CEO whose presence often coincides with trouble.

Adverse Events is a high-stakes medical thriller about institutional compromise and what happens when patients become data.