“I did. She is very personable outside of the ER.”
“There you go,” Clayton said. “You follow up on her. She has talents you wouldn’t believe.” Clayton clapped George on the back. “Always looking out for you, buddy.”
George beat a hasty retreat back to the ER. After what Clayton had told him about Debbie, George wanted to catch her before her lunch break. He was in luck. There was a relative calm in the ER activity.
“Hey there,” Debbie said, grinning as she saw him approach. “Where have you been this morning?”
“I’ve been here,” George said. “You didn’t see me?”
“No, but I’m not surprised. It’s been hectic. I wish this heat wave would let up.” She cupped her hands around her mouth and leaned toward George over the countertop. “How do you feel?”
“A little worse for wear,” George admitted. “Sorry I drank so much last night. I hope I didn’t say anything inappropriate.”
“You were a perfect gentleman. We have to do it again. You game?”
“Yes, but with a lot less booze.”
“Now, what can I do for you, or are you just saying hello?”
“There is something specific. I think it would be a good idea for the OB consult on Laney Chesney to come see me first. The fetus has anencephaly.”
“Ouch,” Debbie said in dismay as she wrote down the request on a sticky pad. She glanced around to see if anyone was watching them. No one was, so she added: “I really did enjoy our evening together. You were gracious to all my friends, which I appreciated. I do hope we can do it again soon.”
“Me, too,” George said, though in reality he wasn’t entirely sure he was up for a repeat.
He headed back to the imaging room, where Carlos was going over a new batch of films to review. As there were no surprises, at least according to Carlos, George suggested they put them off until after the radiology conference.
24
George walked back into the emergency room. He wanted to find Kelley and check Laney’s condition. The ER was really busy, not quite as bad as it had been early that morning, but with the heat wave still going strong it was busier than usual for the time of day. Kelley and all the other ER doctors were just trying to keep their heads above water. It took George a few minutes to locate her and ask if the OB consult had seen Laney. He had expected to have been paged if the consult had shown up, but it hadn’t happened.
“They are still busy upstairs, so not yet, but the resident slotted to do the consult called about fifteen minutes ago and said that she would be down within the hour. They’re wrapping up a couple of final deliveries.”
“Did you tell Laney… about the ultrasound result?” George asked.
“My senior resident did. I just couldn’t handle it. But he did a good job, and it was a good learning experience for me. She took it better than I feared.”
“I hope you don’t feel that I copped out.”
“Not at all. I understand. Actually at one point I thought about going into radiology to avoid such situations. We’re doctors, but we’re human, too. But in the end, the drama of ER medicine was too much to pass up. I felt that after all those years of schooling I wasn’t about to shortchange myself.” She stopped and glanced up at George. He had stiffened up on that last comment. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”
George put up his hands. “Don’t apologize. I’m not offended.” But in truth he was, a little. He took a step away but then turned back, remembering something else. “One more thing. Do you know offhand which of the ER residents was in charge of DeAngelis’s case?”
“I don’t know, but I can find out.”
“Please do. I want to ask about the self-inflicted wounds.”
“I’ll find out the name for you.”
“Thanks. Hope you guys catch up before the evening commute.”
Kelley nodded before heading back into the fray.
George returned to the imaging room and went over the latest films with Carlos. About forty minutes later Kelley walked in with a tall, African American woman. George got to his feet as Kelley introduced her as Dr. Christine Williams, one of the senior OB residents.
George said he wanted to make sure she knew the results of the ultrasound before she saw the patient and offered to go over it with her if she wanted.
“Actually I already saw the ultrasound report,” Christine said. “How did you get it in the record so quickly?”
“I put a rush on it so that it would be there for you. We knew how important it was going to be in determining how the case should be handled. I assume you will be trying to convince her to abort?”
“I can already give you some feedback on the patient,” Kelley offered. “After my senior resident gave Laney the results of the ultrasound, Laney said she would still not abort, no matter what.”
They were silent for a moment.
“Well, let me examine the patient and talk to her,” Christine finally said. “With her cardiac status and the fact that the fetus is not viable, it would be tragic to let her try to deliver.”
George felt terrible about the case. Once again a study he was involved with had changed someone’s life, and not necessarily for the better, although in this case the imaging might save the patient’s life. And to think that he believed radiology was going to be a shield from such things.
“Thanks for offering to go over the ultrasound with me,” Christine said. “But it’s not necessary. Instead I’d like to see the patient.”
“If it is all right with you, I’d like to come,” George said. “Laney and I go back a ways. Maybe I can offer her a bit of support. She doesn’t have any friends that I know of.”
“Be my guest,” Christine said graciously.
They made their way down the long hallway. As they walked, Kelley caught George’s eye and gave him a thumbs-up sign in recognition that he was doing something a bit more than the usual radiologist might.
The door to Laney’s room was closed. “We’ve let her sleep,” Kelley explained. “She was exhausted.” Kelley knocked on the door gently so as not to frighten the young woman. When she didn’t hear any response, she knocked harder and called out Laney’s name. Still there was no sound from within. A shadow of concern crossed Kelley’s face. She opened the door and all three doctors stepped into the windowless room. The lights had been dimmed.
Laney appeared to be asleep. Kelley called out to her again as she approached the side of the bed. George and Christine went to the opposite side. Kelley gave Laney’s arm a gentle shake. “Laney?” There was no response. She tried again. “Laney? Are you all right?” Still no response.
Concern ratcheted up in the room.
“Laney?” George yelled as he reached to check her pulse. He couldn’t find one. “There’s no pulse!”
Kelley quickly opened each of Laney’s eyes between her thumb and index finger and shined in a penlight. The pupils were dilated and nonreactive. “She’s not breathing!” Kelley cried.
“My God,” George blurted as he yanked the pillow from beneath Laney’s head. He leaped up onto the bed to begin CPR, noticing Laney was loosely holding her phone in her right hand. Christine grabbed an ambu bag from the top of an oxygen cylinder while Kelley used the intercom to call a code.
Within two minutes an entire resuscitative team headed by a senior resident swept into the room and went to work on the patient. Having gotten wind of what was going on, even Carlos appeared just as it was announced that Laney had flatlined, meaning there was no cardiac activity whatsoever. A moment later someone called out that Laney’s temperature had fallen below ninety degrees Fahrenheit. Regardless of the negative signs, they feverishly continued their attempt to resuscitate her.