Dr Stephanie was just about to roll her long sleeves up, don her azure gloves, and pull up the masks she absent-mindedly pulled below her chin, when she heard barking. She has been used to monkeys causing a commotion at her previous institute but never has she heard actual barking in her emergency room before.
It was coming from the waiting area behind the faded teal curtains shading her from view.
She tried to focus on the patient in front of her, but the disturbance just beyond her reach was causing her much distraction. That, and her curiosity was impulsive.
She excused herself to establish the cause of all the racket. A crowd started to form at the scene and she had to wiggle her way through to centre stage.
In ragged clothes a man sat on the floor- his movement dramatized and grandiose, with no deliberate plan or co-ordination. The only clear goal in mind- his belt must come off.
This is not a new occurrence in casualties- most psychotic patients like removing their clothes. There is somehow to much restriction clothes bring to the psychotic mind.
The belt came loose despite of his poor execution and ungraceful movements...or what functioned as a belt...A long thick rope with a loop at the end was now held in the, suddenly standing, patient's hand. He couldn't decide- should it go around his neck or around his arm. Frustrated with his own inability to decide he left the half-tied rope around his arm and plummeted from the bench to the ground on all fours. Crawling on the floor on all fours!
The tumult of the fascinated yet careful crowd was well observed. Dr Stephanie took a moment to appreciate the crowd, which consisted of scared patients, family members of the patient as well as the police officers accompanying the patient. None dare to come close.
And yet they expect us health professionals to dare come close. "What if I should get rabies from him" Dr Stephanie silently mused. "At least he is having a ball"...
Inevitably the man was coerced to a bed in the corner of the emergency room and after 3 tranquilizers; 8 guards sweating and screaming, a cacophony of organized chaos- the patient was tied to the bed and calm...
If spontaneous barking from a semicomatose schizophrenic is something that one can describe as calm.
Inevitably ignorant of any sense of reality, enthralled in his own imaginary realm.
"Maybe that is the great escape from all trauma-" Dr Stephanie thought "- one's own imagination."
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Casualties
Non-FictionHave you ever wondered what are the weirdest and most brutally honest tales doctors hear and experience in the emergency room? Well, wonder no further. Here is a collection of short stories of unbelievable true stories of what doctors experience dai...
