Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

After a drowning: An impossible question a doctor faces

BirdStrike, MD
Physician
July 3, 2015
333 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share

shutterstock_126729563

I head to work at my new locums job on the California coast. Summer 2015 is going to be a great one, I think to myself. I make the turn into the hospital parking lot, and a rusty old Trans Am cuts me off. I slam on the brakes to the soundtrack of screeching tires. Geez, I think to myself. It’s my first day at this job, and they’re already trying to kill me. I drive on, and I pull into my parking space. My headache is starting a little too early for this shift, I think to myself. The sun is out, the sand is hot, and it seems like everyone must be at the beach but me.  The humid heat is as thick and soothing as suntan oil.  I leave it and walk into the cold and clinical hospital.

Out of the EMS radio and through the air crackles, “Elderly female cardiac arrest … drowning … intubated … no pulse … 45 minute down time … eta 5 minutes.”

Jane the nurse looks at me.  “This one’s yours,” she says with a wink.

“You got it,” I answer. Way to start off with tragic one, I think to myself and take a deep breath, shaking my head.

“Boom” goes the grinding, mechanical sound of the automatic doors as EMS rolls the stretcher into my ER. In they wheel my patient, while feverishly sweating and performing CPR and bagging air in and out of the patient, one breath at a time. With my back against the wall, they wheel the head of the bed up to me. I see a large, elderly female, dressed in a bright orange one-piece women’s bathing suit. I grab my laryngoscope and look to make sure the ET tube is in the airway. Her face is bloated and purplish-pale except for the mess of pink lipstick smeared around her mouth, likely from EMS attempts at placing the tube. I check the tube, and it’s OK.

“45 minutes with no pulse at any time? Drowning?” I ask EMS.

“Yes sir,” responds one of the burly EMS guys. “We got the tube in right away, started CPR, gave epi per protocol, and … nothing.”

“Did you see any of her family?” I ask.

“No family. She was with a big church group at the beach for a picnic, with a bunch of kids. Youth group, or something,” says the EMT.

“What? Doc. Look!” says Nurse Jane, who had just cut off the patient’s bathing suit, pointing at the patient’s groin.

There, no longer covered by the woman’s bathing suit, is a penis and testicles. I look at Jane, I look at the two EMTs, and they look at me.

“I’m just as confused as you doc,” says the EMT, looking at me wide eyed as he raises his hands.

“What’s the patient’s name again?” I ask. “Let’s make sure we have the correct patient and correct name.”

“We’ve got a driver’s license and the picture matches. Pat –, female, is what’s on the ID,” says the EMT.

“So, the friends that are here, know, or don’t know? Help me out here.”

“I have no idea, doc. Her friend, who looked like a little old church lady, referred to her as ‘she.’ That all I know,” answers the EMT.

“OK, thanks. Regardless, we have no pulse, over 45 minutes of downtime and zero chance of survival with a warm water drowning. Time for me to call the code and notify the family. Time of death 17:01.” CPR stops. I’ve declared the patient is officially dead.

The headache I had on the way into work is now much worse. I need a coffee and some ibuprofen. No such luck. The waiting room has been filling up frantically in the past few minutes with many new patients to be seen. I need to go tell this patient’s friend she’s dead. I walk out to the consultation room and open the door. On the floor kneeling is an elderly woman, with big white hair, praying, crying, reciting Bible verses. She stands up and faces me.

“Hi, I’m Doctor Bird. Are you with Pat –?” I ask her.

“Yes, please tell me she’s alive. God help me,” she pleads and sobs.

“I’m sorry. She’s dead,” I tell her, my throat aching and my voice cracking a little bit. She slumps towards me, almost falling and I have to hold her up.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “We did everything we could, as did EMS. What happened?” I ask.

“We were at the beach with the Church children’s group. Pat was dearly loved by those children. She lived for them,” she sobs, wiping tears. “She was the most blessed person I ever met. You know, the Bible says we’re all sinners. But if there’s one person in my life I’d have to say I don’t know to have ever committed a sin, it would be her. She truly was a servant of God and a wonderful person. That’s why I can’t understand why she did this.” She sobs again.

“Did what?”

“We were there on the beach. Pat, the children, the other ladies and I. Pat gave each and every one of the children a hug. She turned to us and said, ‘It’s time for me to go back to God so he can fix me, for my whole life is a sin. Goodbye.’ We all looked at her confused, and before I knew it, she was walking towards the water. Pat did not know how to swim. She calmly walked into the water, all the way up to her chin, and then disappeared. We all started screaming; we called the lifeguard, and …” She sobs. “And then she was gone.”

“Wow.”

“Can I see her?” she asks.

“Yes you can,” I say, as I walk with her towards the resuscitation room.

I open the door, we walk in the patient room, and in the room is Nurse Jane, having just covered the patient up with a white sheet, everything but the face.

“Can I see her?” asks Pat’s friend.

“Yes, of course,” I say and gesture with my hand, towards the body.

“No, I mean, can I see her?” she asks.

“Yes, of course. That’s her,” I say, a little confused as to why she asked twice.

She walks up to the gurney. She puts her hand on Pat’s face and cries a little bit, muttering what sounds like a prayer, but very quiet. She puts her hand near the neck and grabs the white sheet. Slowly, she starts peeling back the sheet exposing Pat, until the body is fully exposed. She stands there, now stoic and expressionless, looking at Pat’s naked body.

“It all makes sense now.” After a long pause with a blank stare, she says,  “Doctor.  Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” I say.

“Doctor,” she says.  “And I need you to answer.  I need you to answer.  Does God still bless her soul?”

“BirdStrike” is an emergency physician who blogs at Dr. Whitecoat.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Should there be FTC scrutiny of health industry mergers?

July 3, 2015 Kevin 0
…
Next

Calling attention to the disparity in surgery: Here's what I learned

July 3, 2015 Kevin 15
…

Tagged as: Emergency Medicine

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Should there be FTC scrutiny of health industry mergers?
Next Post >
Calling attention to the disparity in surgery: Here's what I learned

More by BirdStrike, MD

  • To the doctors who have lost patients. This is for you.

    BirdStrike, MD
  • Even if no life was saved, an ER physician makes a difference

    BirdStrike, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Emergency physicians are blamed for a broken health system

    BirdStrike, MD

Related Posts

  • Osler and the doctor-patient relationship

    Leonard Wang
  • Finding a new doctor is like dating

    R. Lynn Barnett
  • Doctor, how are you, really?

    Deborah Courtney
  • Be a human first and a doctor second

    Sarah Murad
  • Becoming a doctor is the epitome of delayed gratification

    Natasha Abadilla
  • A question to ask physicians: How much is tough enough?

    DrizzleMD

More in Physician

  • Practicing medicine with conviction

    Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA
  • The power of memory in shaping human identity

    Emily F. Peters and Sandeep Jauhar, MD, PhD
  • Physicians have no autonomy. Here’s how to change that.

    Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH
  • The erosion of patient care

    Laura de la Torre, MD
  • Navigating adulthood in the digital age

    Eleanor Menzin, MD
  • The power of business knowledge for medical professionals

    Curtis G. Graham, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Reigniting after burnout: 3 physician stories

      Kim Downey, PT | Physician
    • The erosion of patient care

      Laura de la Torre, MD | Physician
    • Inside the grueling life of a surgery intern

      Randall S. Fong, MD | Physician
    • 1 in 5 doctors will become disabled. Are you prepared?

      Amarish Dave, DO | Finance
    • Assertiveness in health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Misinformed claims and the offensiveness of discrediting COVID-19 vaccine development

      Angel Garcia Otano, MD | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Medical gaslighting: a growing challenge in today’s medical landscape

      Tami Burdick | Conditions
    • I want to be a doctor who can provide care for women: What states must I rule out for my medical education?

      Nandini Erodula | Education
    • Balancing opioid medication in chronic pain

      L. Joseph Parker, MD | Conditions
    • Reigniting after burnout: 3 physician stories

      Kim Downey, PT | Physician
    • Mourning the silent epidemic: the physician suicide crisis and suggestions for change

      Amna Shabbir, MD | Physician
    • I’m a doctor, and I almost died during childbirth

      Bayo Curry-Winchell, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Assertiveness in health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Epigenetics and our inheritance to future generations

      Vishruth Nagam | Conditions
    • Practicing medicine with conviction

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Physician
    • The power of memory in shaping human identity

      Emily F. Peters and Sandeep Jauhar, MD, PhD | Physician
    • How Tratak yoga reshaped my USMLE Step 2 prep

      Dr. Nikita Mehdiratta | Education
    • Transforming primary care for physician well-being [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 5 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

CME Spotlights

From MedPage Today

Latest News

  • FDA Relents, Approves Novel Antidepressant After Many Rejections
  • OSHA Comes in for Both Praise and Harsh Criticism at House Hearing
  • New Insight Into Hyperglycemia Risk With PI3K Inhibitor for Breast Cancer
  • Oktoberfest Doctor: Not the Wurst Job You Could Have
  • Blue Shield of California Has Fix for MA Enrollees Worried About Co-Pays

Meeting Coverage

  • New Schizophrenia Treatments Are Coming: Don't Panic
  • Loneliness Needs to Be Treated Like Any Other Health Condition, Researcher Suggests
  • Stopping Medical Misinformation Requires Early Detection
  • AI Has an Image Problem in Healthcare, Expert Says
  • Want Better Health Outcomes? Check Out What Other Countries Do
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Reigniting after burnout: 3 physician stories

      Kim Downey, PT | Physician
    • The erosion of patient care

      Laura de la Torre, MD | Physician
    • Inside the grueling life of a surgery intern

      Randall S. Fong, MD | Physician
    • 1 in 5 doctors will become disabled. Are you prepared?

      Amarish Dave, DO | Finance
    • Assertiveness in health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Misinformed claims and the offensiveness of discrediting COVID-19 vaccine development

      Angel Garcia Otano, MD | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Medical gaslighting: a growing challenge in today’s medical landscape

      Tami Burdick | Conditions
    • I want to be a doctor who can provide care for women: What states must I rule out for my medical education?

      Nandini Erodula | Education
    • Balancing opioid medication in chronic pain

      L. Joseph Parker, MD | Conditions
    • Reigniting after burnout: 3 physician stories

      Kim Downey, PT | Physician
    • Mourning the silent epidemic: the physician suicide crisis and suggestions for change

      Amna Shabbir, MD | Physician
    • I’m a doctor, and I almost died during childbirth

      Bayo Curry-Winchell, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Assertiveness in health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Epigenetics and our inheritance to future generations

      Vishruth Nagam | Conditions
    • Practicing medicine with conviction

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Physician
    • The power of memory in shaping human identity

      Emily F. Peters and Sandeep Jauhar, MD, PhD | Physician
    • How Tratak yoga reshaped my USMLE Step 2 prep

      Dr. Nikita Mehdiratta | Education
    • Transforming primary care for physician well-being [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

After a drowning: An impossible question a doctor faces
5 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...