My thanks to M for finding out what Dr. Holland meant by "boggy" and writing in. Whatever Dr. Holland meant by the umbilical cord being "too boggy," it's always been clear that the reason she failed to extract cord blood after my c-section is that she forgot. It's difficult to say, of course, whether she willfully forgot because she had so little regard for me, her patient, or whether she forgot because she was in such a state of agitation and anger. (There were other oversights: she also forgot to introduce me to her partners as promised at our first meeting, forgot that I didn't want to be induced after my contractions started, forgot that she never came to see me in recovery after the c-section, and the day after, forgot to return for a follow-up checkup after saying, "I'll be back later." And she forgot--or chose not to--stitch a double layer, as I requested, jeopardizing any future VBAC.)

My complaint against her to the NYS Office of Professional Medical Conduct is still in progress. The investigator, John Lanza, originally interviewed me in February and said the investigation would take about six months. So I rang him at the beginning of October for an update, and he said that the investigation is still in progress.