CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE

Malpractice belts the medics again in this low-budget mini-round. Young Hollywood director Andrea Crawford, noted for top work and an all-female crew (""I wanted the sterility of one sex behind the camera""), has a breast lump. Enter bad doc G. Mason Reynolds, the sort who follows the track and drives a Rolls Royce. Although a radiologist suspects trouble (Andrea has insisted on a mammogram), Reynolds will not back down on his original diagnosis of a benign inflammation. Six months later, after the disease has worsened dramatically, Andrea is examined by dedicated, good doc Michael Jordan--who's just been tapped for chief of ontology at University hospital. Yes, it's inflammatory cancer requiring systemic treatment. Jordan proposes a radical combination of treatments, Andrea's life is saved, just, and the two fall in love. But Andrea has decided to sue Reynolds for malpractice, and Jordan testifies with predictable results--he's bumped from the hospital and then ostracized by the medical establishment types who, fearing malpractice suits themselves, hold a ""conspiracy of silence."" At the close Jordan is planning to fight back via the federal courts. Some medical info beeps in now and then, but mainly it's as pasty as hospital macaroni.