The Man in the Next Bed by David K. Shipler

Author:David K. Shipler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2019-05-13T16:00:00+00:00

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Behind the curtain in the evening, they arranged for Tommy’s colonoscopy, assuring him that he would be under a light sedative, would feel and remember nothing. He had to drink this laxative on this schedule, and the “procedure” would take place tomorrow morning. Even the most radical surgery, Gibson had learned, was called by the euphemism “procedure.”

Tommy seemed to agree to all this, and Gibson, who had been given his share of routine colonoscopies, did a quick calculation of how often his roommate would be up during the night to race to the bathroom. It was not necessary to think about this in more detail, even for an engineer with a drive for precision in the tiny tolerances of machined components.

Gibson decided to request a change of room. But before he could do so, Tommy decided to check himself out. “Checking out,” Gibson mused, is done several ways from a hospital. He had a troubling realization that he might be checking out in the worst way and that Tommy was about to check out in that middle ground of irresponsibility. But Tommy was insistent, even after a bevy of nurses came with clipboards to warn him of the peril of his unexplained bleeding, to require his signature on some form releasing the hospital from liability, as they explained, and certifying that he was defying medical advice.

A doctor arrived to attempt to dissuade him, and when Tommy remained firm, she urged him to seek medical help soon, elsewhere, to be sure he did not have a dangerous, life-threatening condition.

“Yes, yes,” Tommy kept saying, making it sound like an empty promise. He called his father to tell him he was leaving, evidently heard reprimands, and finally announced the end of the conversation and hung up. His mother, too, must have nagged him to stay, because he finally said to her, “This isn’t helping, Mom,” and that was the end of the call.

When he was dressed and walked across Gibson’s stage, Tommy paused for a moment, gave Gibson a nod, and said, “Good luck.”

“You, too,” Gibson answered, knowing somehow that neither of them would have it.

The next morning, both beds in room 319 were empty.

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