𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚗𝚔 𝚝𝚎𝚡𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 - 𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚍𝚢 𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚌𝚑 (on hold)

00:16

india jalyse

i cleared out my locker for the day and headed towards the lobby. i stopped by the front desk to talk to winnie. she looked up at me as she hung up the phone. "there's a trauma coming into the e.r. right now, do you wanna go see it?" she asked. i thought about it for a small second before placing my purse down next to her.

"hell yeah. let's go." she got up and we walked expeditiously to the emergency room. i followed winnie as she sat behind the desk near the trauma bay. i pulled up a chair and sat next to her. we watched intently as about 8 doctors ran by, grabbing plastic yellow coats and heading in the direction of the sirens. i peeped over the top of the desk to see as much as i could.

"girl, you gotta make it seem like you're doing something! they'll either put you to work or kick you out!"

i laughed. "they can't put me to work. i never went to medical school," i kicked my feet up, "shit i didn't even finish college." winnie laughed with me.

the doctors came running back through with one woman on their gurney while a girl that i can only assume was her daughter followed behind them. "45 year old female, intubated in the field. car accident sent her through the windshield, vitals were unstable and she's bradycardic. she's got multiple face and pelvis fractures."

"take the mom to trauma 2." the chief of surgery instructed. i couldn't hold my facial expressions as i watched them wheel the woman past me. her face was mangled beyond recognition and there were shards of glass scattered in her hair. i looked back at the daughter.

"mom? mom? where are they taking her?" she asked frantically.

another doctor came by and took the daughter to a bed, but she continued to resist. i got up and walked to trauma 2. i felt really compelled to watch, so i slid in the door and watched from the wall. the doctors moved her onto the bed and proceeded to start a central. "she's still bradycardic, b.p. is droppping by the minute. push one of epi." one of them instructed.

she started to seize and bleed from her nose and ears. another doctor ripped her shirt open and started an ultrasound. "there's blood in her lungs, she's bleeding out through her nose and ears. what should we do?"

"push one of amiodarone."

i heard crying from outside of the room. i turned around to see her daughter hovering in the doorframe, grasping her chest while she cried. a nurse came by and tried to grab her and guide her back to the bed. "no please, that's my mom in there! you have to save her!" she yelled in between sobs. i turned back around when i heard the machine beeping erratically.

"she's in v-fib. push another of epi." one doctor said and reached for the defibrillator. "charge it to 200. clear!" he yelled. everyone backed off as he shocked her. he looked to the screen for any change. "nothing. charge to 300." he did it again. still nothing. he dropped the paddles when he heard her flatline. i heard him mutter a string of swear words under his breath as he started compressions. my eyes shifted back and forth from the ekg to the patient. i watched as her heart only continued to beat with the same rhythm as the doctor's compressions. she was gone. her heart had stopped functioning on its own. the second he stopped compressions they would have to turn off the machine.

he kept going. you could see in his face that he knew she was gone, but he didn't stop. "dr. marshall, we've lost her. there's nothing more we can do." someone finally stepped up and spoke. but still, he didn't stop. he continued compressions. "dr. marshall, we need you to step away from the patient now."

finally, he stepped away. they all stood for a moment and watched the ekg flatline. "damn it! time of death- 2:27." he stormed out of the room. all i heard for a loud scream, followed by an even louder cry. i walked out after him and went back to the desk where winnie was sitting. i sat down. i watched quietly as the nurses pulled her daughter away from trauma 2. i grabbed my bag and started to head out.