Chapter 132 Emergency
Eden’s Point of View
I wondered why Dr. Adler called me as soon as I got to work, requesting what truly happened in my relationship with Thorne.
Did he report me to his father?
I don’t want to believe he would stop so low, but with his dumb sense of entitlement, there is hardly anything that Thorne would do that would surprise me.
I jolted slightly when the emergency alarm went off, the lights flickered, and I jumped out of the chair I was sitting in.
“Code blue!” I ran towards the emergency entrance, and immediately the paramedics burst through the emergency entrance wheeling the gurney towards me, the tires screeching as they ran.
Felicia joined me.
“Your call, doctor.” She asked.
“What happened to the patient?” I asked the paramedics curiously, my eyes flickering down to assess the physical condition of the patient—apart from the possible cardiac arrest, he also had broken limbs. “He fell from the balcony of his one-story building. He lost consciousness on impact. We were able to stop the bleeding from his broken leg, but his vitals are low, blood pressure dropping; he is in very critical condition.”
“Dr. Felicia, get in contact with his family. We are going to need them to come right away.” I ordered. The man was an elderly man, not younger than eighty; his case looked very delicate. “Get their consent, but we can’t afford to wait.”
My eyes darted towards Nurse Patrick, who was setting up the operating table.
“We need to do an ultrasound right now,” I ordered sharply, receiving scissors to tear open the man’s shirt, and I bit down on my lips.
There was a small swell on his chest.
I hold it isn’t what I am thinking, he prepared the machine for me, and I moved the probe over his chest, my eyes fixed on the screen as I checked.
“Massive cardiac tamponade,” I announced out loud. “We prepare for surgery.”
“What do you think you are doing?” I heard a sharp question from behind me, and I turned in the direction of the voice almost immediately.
“Ma’am, you are not allowed to be here.” Patrick came between the red hair middle aged woman and me. “This is a sterile area, please leave for the reception.”
“No, that is my father, and I am not going to let you lay a finger on him.” She argued stubbornly. “What do you think you are doing to him?”
“Ma’am, we need to prepare for surgery,” I told her almost immediately. Felicia rushed back, obviously out of breath.
“You can’t operate on him without my consent, and I don’t consent for you to open him up. My father doesn’t like that.”
Then why was he brought to the hospital if she isn’t going to let me do my job?
“Are you aware that your father will die if I don’t operate on him right away?” I asked curiously, as important as consent for the surgery is, this is a medical emergency.
My eyes darted towards Nurse Rita, signaling for her to call security. “Then let him die, my father would prefer to die whole.”
Ignoring her, I quickly walked towards the tap, scrubbing my nails and fingers. Nurse Patrick brought my surgical gown and put it on me.
“What? No, let me go!” She yelled and struggled against able-bodied security men.
The patient was placed on oxygen almost immediately.
“His blood pressure is dropping rapidly.” Nurse Rita announced, and I felt my heart stop in my chest. His case was very critical, but I want to save this man. Blood squirted out and splashed on my face as soon as I made an incision. I blinked hard and fast, trying to look past the mess I just made.
What went wrong?
I made the incision well. What’s going on?
“That’s too much blood.” Felicia began to suction.
“Something isn’t right. Why is there this much blood?” I asked myself in confusion, the heart ballooned and then returned, continued the process again. His blood was thin; the alarm from the monitor cut through the air.
“Vitals dropping, heart rate is fast, blood pressure is low—” The nurse gasped. “Ventricular fibrillation.”
Felicia took the defibrillator while I quickly went to check the patient information that we had. According to the charts, he isn’t on any anticoagulants, so why is his blood thinning out so quickly?
“Charge.”
It was brief, but I looked at his medical history before commencing surgery. My body was trembling, and for the first time in months, I was reminded just how cruel this profession could be.
“Clear!”
My lips trembled as I turned over to the other page; there was nothing. I ran back to the operating table; everyone was working their hardest to bring this man back, but his chest was still filled with blood, despite the ones we suctioned.
To continue with this surgery, we need to administer a blood transfusion, since he was losing blood at such a ridiculous rate. I was setting up the blood when I heard the beep.
“He’s flatlining,” Philip announced.
“Fuck!” Felicia charged the defibrillator again and placed it on his chest; his body jolted up, but the pulse didn’t come back.
“No…” a whisper escaped my parted lips. I didn’t need anyone to tell me what this was… silence weighed heavily on us; the only sound in the room was the single, toneless, and long beep that had now indicated the patient was no longer of this world.
“Time of Death,” Felicia muttered, and I stepped away from the operating table. “11:15 A.M.”
“Doctor Eden.” Philip caught me before I could fall to the ground. I was washed with a strong dizziness, and my entire body trembled.
I was so close to saving him, if only his blood didn’t thin out, if only I had found out the reason for his hemorrhage. This surgery was my specialty, so what did I do wrong? Would it have been different if I had let a more skilled surgeon perform the surgery instead?
It wasn’t supposed to be like this; he didn’t deserve to die like this.
“How is our father?” The angry red-haired woman from earlier neared me, but this time she wasn’t alone; two men stood beside her. They were probably siblings.
How do I tell them?
“Do you think the scarring after the surgery will ever heal?” The men asked each other, and more tears welled in my eyes.
“We did all that we could, but the patient sadly passed away,” I muttered when I finally found my voice. It surprised me that it didn’t waver or break. “What did you just say?” The red-haired asked.
“I’m sorry, please accept my condolences.”