The Miracle (35 page)

"I repeat, I'm delighted."

"Is this your first visit to Lourdes?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Well, the Moore examination today shouldn't take up much of your time. You'll be able to have a look around. Do you know anything about Lourdes?"

"Very little, a layman's knowledge," said Kleinberg. "I've seen a few articles on it. Of course, I read the International Committee's summary report on Mrs. Moore. And I've read Dr. Alexis Carrel's memoir on his visit here."

"Ah, poor Carrel," said Dr. Berryer with a forced smile. "For the rest of his life, after leaving here, he waffled between belief and disbelief at what he had seen."

"Understandable, for a man of science."

"I, for one, have never had trouble reconciling religion and science," said Dr. Berryer. "Pasteur had no problem about that. Neither did Einstein. At any rate—" He had folded one hand across the other on top of his desk. "—since there is a little time before Mrs. Moore arrives and you are occupied with her, perhaps I can bore you with a brief fill-in on how we work here -- medically . . . that is, scientifically —so that you will feel more at home."

"I'd be pleased to learn what I can."

"Let me give you a bit of background on the process you are

specifically involved in, the process ascertaining cures," said Dr. Ber-ryer. "You are acquainted with this process?"

"Only vaguely," said Kleinberg. "It would be interesting to know more."

"Very well. Briefly then. To give you a better understanding of why we summoned you in the case of Edith Moore and her sudden cure."

"Her miracle cure," said Kleinberg, with a friendly curl of his lips.

Dr. Berryer's eyes, almost sunk behind the pufiy cheeks, fixed on his visitor. His tone became less conversational, more pedagogical. "I am not here to define a cure in Lourdes as miraculous. As a doctor, I can merely define such a cure as unusual. It is for the Church to decide if any cure is related to a divine intervention, one that can be recognized as a sign of God. Our doctors afl&rm that a healing is inexphcable in the realm of science. Our clergymen confirm it can be explained as the work of God. In the Medical Bureau, those are the ground rules."

"I understand."

"The Church has always been less generous than our doctors in its claims. From the time of Bernadette to this day, the Church has claimed less than seventy cures to have been genuinely miraculous. But our doctors, even after rigorous examinations, have been more generous in announcing unusual cures. There have been about five thousand confirmed cures to date. About sixty times more cures than miracles. Why all have not qualified as miracles I cannot say. The clergy has its own standards. While millions and millions of visitors have come to Lourdes since 1858, most have been pilgrims seeking spiritual comfort or tourists wishing to satisfy their curiosity. The number of actual invahds who arrive each year represents a small minority. The statistics break down as follows—about one medical cure for every five hundred patients who arrive here, and about one miracle for every thirty thousand patients who show themselves."

Listening, Kleinberg realized that Dr. Berryer's voice had flattened out, lost its inflections, settled into a lecture given many times over.

"Now as to the criteria governing a cure," Dr. Berryer went on. "The illness must be serious, inevitable, incurable. The illness must also be organic, not functional. An organic illness involves a lesion at the organic level, whereas a functional illness—"

Mildly annoyed. Dr. Kleinberg interrupted. He was being treated to a layman's lecture, and not as a medical colleague. "I am acquainted with your criteria, doctor," he broke in.

Momentarily thrown off" his verbal rut. Dr. Berryer stammered slightly. "A, yes—yes, of course—well, now—Mrs. Moore's hip sarcoma -- an organic illness, certainly, and a permanent cure. The last hip

sarcoma cure we had, before Mrs. Moore's, dates back to 1963. I have no doubt—and certainly as a specialist in this area, you will agree -- that the cure of such sarcoma will be less unusual in the future, as medicine progresses."

Kleinberg nodded. "Great advances are being made ahready. Dr. Duval in Paris has conducted successful experiments on animals to arrest and cure sarcoma medically."

"Exactly, Dr. Kleinberg. At one time, medicine could not deal with tuberculosis. But today, there are medical means to treat tuberculosis, and so that is one serious illness which depends less on the grotto. But in the present state of science, many sufferers continue to look to the grotto, to prayers, the water, as a means of recovery. Edith Moore, aflSicted by hip sarcoma, was such a one." He paused. "You know how she was cured by a visit to the baths during her second visit here? You know her instantaneous cure was confirmed by sixteen physicians, both in London and in Lourdes."

"I do."

"Now as to the process that followed. First, the Medical Bureau here. In the beginning there was no Medical Bureau. There was Dr. Dozous, assisted by Professor Vergez of Montpelier, to sift all claims of cures. There were twelve cases considered, and seven of these were determined by Bishop Laurence's canonical commission in 1862 to be cures that could be attributed to the work of God. The word miracle was not then in use for such cases. After that, as visitors to Lourdes increased, as more patients claimed cures, something had to be done. Dr. Saint-Maclou, who had settled here, established a reception center for visiting doctors to inspect evidence of cures. That was in 1874 and the center was called the Office of Medical Verifications. Gradually, the Verifications Office was enlarged to the present-day Medical Bureau. Shortly after 1947, the National Medical Committee was established and in 1954 this became the International Medical Committee, the one you were invited to sit in on earher this year."

"And the International Medical Committee has the last word?"

"Medically speaking, yes. The process goes as follows—our Medical Bureau in Lourdes confirms a cure, and then passes the dossier on to the International Committee. There are about thirty members on the committee, physicians from ten different countries, all appointed by the bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, and they meet for one day a year, as they recently did. During the most recent meeting, the dossier of Edith Moore was presented. The member doctors discussed it at length. A vote was taken, with a two-thirds vote usually enough for approval. After that, the dossier was returned to the bishop of Tarbes and

Lourdes. Since Mrs. Moore's diocese was in London, the approved dossier was sent to the bishop of London. He, in turn, appointed a canonical commission to judge if Mrs. Moore's cure was miraculous. As you know, Mrs. Moore's cure was approved by all hands—"

"Yes."

"—but it was not officially announced because the International Committee did not have a sarcoma specialist at their meeting. You were invited, but you were away. Dr. Duval was invited, but he was occupied with his experiments. The International Committee then cast its favorable vote subject to your confirming its judgment. Rather than convene the committee again, it was agreed that if you came to Lourdes and saw Mrs. Moore in person, then the official announcement could be made."

"Well, here I am, ready, willing, and able," said Kleinberg.

Dr. Berryer considered the white digital clock on his desk. "I made an appointment for Edith Moore to meet with you. She should be in the examining room in about a half hour." He stood up. "I know you've studied the report on the case, but that was a summary, and you may prefer to see the diagnosis of each doctor involved."

"That would be useful," said Kleinberg, rising while Dr. Berryer went to the bookcase and removed a handful of manila file folders.

"I'll take you to the examining room, and leave these with you. You'll have time enough to browse through them before your patient arrives."

Kleinberg followed Dr. Berryer out of the office to the examining room. In the undecorated room, between the leather examining table and a wooden cabinet against the wall containing medical instruments, Esther Levinson sat in a chair, leafing through a French magazine. As they entered, she came to her feet, and Kleinberg introduced his nurse to the head of the Medical Bureau.

Inside the door. Dr. Berryer handed the layer of folders over to Kleinberg.

"For your reading pleasure," he said. "When you've confirmed the reports, please let me know."

"I certainly will."

Dr. Berryer had his hand on the knob of the open door, about to leave, when he hesitated and turned back.

He stared at the folders in Kleinberg's hand and then fixed his gaze on Kleinberg himself. Dr. Berryer gave a short cough. "You understand the importance of this case, doctor. Father Ruland, who represents the bishop and the Vatican itself here in Lourdes, thinks it would be of great value to be able to make the announcement of Mrs. Moore's miraculous

cure during this exciting Reappearance Time—a confirmed miracle— a lovely present to welcome the return of the Blessed Virgin. So—" He hesitated once more. "Uh, I trust you will judge the reports in your hand -- rather open and shut, I would say—entirely on their scientific merit."

Kleinberg's eyebrows went up. "But how else would I possibly judge them?"

Without blinking, Dr. Berryer said, "Well, whatever we say, we are dealing with what my church agrees is a miracle cure. And—I do know that people of your persuasion don't have much belief in miracles. Anyway, I am sure you will adhere to the facts."

With that, he left the room, closing the door between them.

Dr. Kleinberg's face had darkened as he glowered at the door. "People of your persuasion," he mimicked. "Did you hear that, Esther?"

He turned around to see Esther's features flushed. "I heard," she said. "Maybe you should have told him that someone else of your persuasion, a man named Moses, was involved in a few miracles."

"Never mind. Who gives a damn about a narrow-minded country lout like Berryer? Let's look over these reports, see our Mrs. Moore, and get out of here as soon as we can."

Then, minutes later, as an afterthought, Kleinberg tried to forgive Berryer slightly, remembering that Dr. Alexis Carrel, while not a bigot, had been an Aryan-lover and a race supremacist as well.

An hour and a half had passed, and Dr. Paul Kleinberg was still seated in the examining room alone, once more studying the before-and-after medical reports on Edith Moore's malignant tumor while she was finishing her new work-up and X rays next door.

Fascinated, Kleinberg studied the diagnostic reports on Mrs. Moore's osteosarcoma of the left ilium. It was all there in the seemingly countless microphotographs, the blood tests, the biopsies, the X rays. There was the destructive sarcoma—and then it wasn't there, a total disappearance of the infiltration of the marrow, and reconstruction of the bone elements.

Definitely amazing. In his years of practice, Kleinberg had never seen a self-cure such as this one.

Absolutely miraculous—even to a person of his persuasion.

He laid aside the evidence, pleased for the nice, dull English lady. Well, there was nothing left, except for the latest examination and a final new set of X rays and then he would be done. He would be able to confirm to Dr. Berryer and the clergyman called Father Ruland that

God was on their side, after all, and that they could announce their miracle with fanfare to the entire world. With that publicity, and the presumed return of the Virgin Mary to Lourdes, they would have not five million faithful pouring into Lourdes next year, but six or seven million, at least.

The door opened, and Kleinberg came to his feet as Mrs. Moore entered, pushing her belt through a last loop on the waistband of her skirt and fastening the buckle.

"All done, and I'll bet you're glad," said Kleinberg, not knowing what else to say to a miracle recipient.

"I'm pleased it's over with," she said with a happy heave and a sigh. Her bland countenance had color in it and she was definitely repressing considerable inner emotion. "Miss Levinson told me to tell you she'll have all the X rays for you in five or ten minutes."

"Good. I'll just have a look, and then I'll inform Dr. Berryer and prepare my final report. You needn't wait aroimd any longer. I'm sure the Medical Bureau will be in immediate touch with you. Thank you, Mrs. Moore, for enduring all this discomfort one last time."

She took her summer jacket off a wall hanger. "My pleasure, believe me. I appreciate everything. Good-bye, Dr. Kleinberg."

Esther Levinson arrived with the fresh X rays, turned on the lights in the view box on the wall and pinned up the four X rays for his scrutiny. Kleinberg rose, and with a practiced eye he studied the negatives, while Esther hovered nearby awaiting his approval.

"Umm, this one," Kleinberg said pointing to the third negative, "it's a bad shot, unclear, somewhat blurred. She must have moved."

"She did not move at all," Esther countered. "She's very professional. She's been through a million X rays. Mrs. Moore was in position, perfectly rigid."

"Well, I don't know—" Kleinberg murmured. 'Tell you what. Remove all of the negatives except this poor one. Pin up two of the other X rays, the previous ones, taken of this area of the iliac bone after her cure. You'll find them in the dated folders."

As his nurse went to rummage through the folders, Kleinberg continued to inspect the new X rays. Presently, Esther was beside him, taking down three of the negatives and replacing them with previous shots for comparative purposes.

When she had finished, and stepped aside, Kleinberg bent closer to the illiuninated X rays. He studied them in silence, clucking his tongue several times.

Straightening his back at last, he said, "I'm sure it's all right, but I'd still like to get a better picture from this particular angle. Maybe Vm

being too much of a perfectionist, but when you're dealing with a so-called miracle, you want to see the results of the miracle one final time."

"We can shoot her again, if that's what you wish."

Kleinberg nodded. 'That's what I wish, Esther. Just to do it right. We'll get a better picture, and then we can honestly crown our patient as a miracle woman. Tell you what. Go and see Berryer's secretary. She'll know where to locate our patient. Have her call Mrs. Moore and bring her back for another X ray at two o'clock. Will you do that?"