Delayed Diagnosis by Gwen Hunter

Author:Gwen Hunter [Hunter, Gwen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Thriller
Publisher: Calibre
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

13

Too Little Sleep and Kernig’s Test

I went online with Cam at Duke just a little before one A.M. He was napping in the doctors’ lounge, awaiting my call. Instantly awake, he instructed me in the use of the MODIS system, exchanged pleasantries with Chris Russell and began the information transfer. The Medical Online Diagnostic Interface System was a new procedure, still suffering the advent of bugs and problems that made the transfer of images slow and sometimes a bit unclear. It was two A.M. before the entire series of scans had transferred, Marisa’s, Willie Evans’, and Raymond Abel’s.

Cam was at his diagnostic best, chattering away with Chris about scan angles, targeted areas and density levels of the various soft tissue and fluids in each image. I mostly listened, able to follow, but intensely grateful that Chris was here to handle the technical part of the discussion. I sat near the door of the darkened room, slipping in and out as necessary, handling Raymond’s progress, making arrangements for his transport to Duke Medical Center and giving orders to the RNs for patients who continued to trickle in as the night wore on.

I was in the MODIS room when Cam made his preliminary diagnosis. “Chris, I have to agree with you here,” he said, his voice heavy. “Looks like an injury to the brain from invasive trauma of some sort.” In layman’s terms, my patient had been lobotomized.

I felt sick when I heard the official words. Sick for Raymond. Sick for Willie Evans. Sick for Marisa. Coffee that I had downed like water for hours rode uneasily on my stomach. I leaned my head against the wall of the MODIS room and wanted to cry. Instead, I informed Mark, drank more coffee and prepared for the helicopter transport to Duke. Once there, Raymond Abel would receive an MRI, repeat lab work, massive doses of antibiotics, medications to relieve possible swelling of his brain, perhaps even surgery if it might help. And then rehab to discover what was left of Raymond’s memory, creative functions, verbal skills. All this was attention and treatment that had been denied Marisa. I wanted to strangle Steven and Shobani, who had refused Marisa the care she so desperately needed.

There was little I could do tonight for Marisa. Mark would have to determine if a crime had been committed on my friend. Steven would have to be convinced that she needed further treatment. I was out of the loop entirely unless something broke while Steven was out of town.

Willie Evans was being treated by another MD miles away in a hospital with better diagnostic equipment and technology than any I had available. Sick at heart, I phoned Richland Memorial’s switchboard and had Willie Evan’s doctor paged. He, too, had bad news. His patient’s CT film displayed the same type of trauma as Raymond Abel’s. I gave him Cam’s number for future reference and put him on speakerphone with Cam and Chris.

Technical and neurosurgical lingo flowed around me. I sat and listened.

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