Dr. Chen's POV
It was early Saturday morning, and the emergency room was finally slowing down after another crazy Friday night. Dr. Chen rubbed her eyes as she tried to finish case notes for the patients she'd already helped. So far this morning included a case of alcohol poisoning, an injury from a drunken fall from a second story balcony, an overdose, and then those who just had the misfortune of falling ill at the wrong time and had to be stuck in the emergency room with all the Friday night goons.
Dr.Chen had only been on duty for a couple hours but had been going full force the entire time. She typed a few more sentences and then headed to triage to look at the next cases. Jane, a nurse with rounded features in her forties was the triage charge nurse for this shift. Jane looked up from a stack of patient charts as Dr.Chen walked behind the triage counter. Jane was coming up on the tail end of a 12-hour shift. Her mood definitely did not match her Winnie the pooh scrubs and her hair was escaping her bun one blonde strand at a time.
"Time for some coffee?" Dr. Chen asked Jane.
"Time to go home, more like." Jane responded with a yawn.
"In the meantime we've got three cases that could go back right now. We have a motorcycle accident, nothing bad, looks like just a little bit of road burn. A young girl with an injured ankle and a woman with foreign material that needs removed from her scalp, looks like it's a piece of glass."
Dr.Chen scanned the room and her eyes stopped on a woman with deep auburn hair sitting in a sundress just staring at her hands. Her face was familiar. She had seen her a few times before but at a different hospital. Dr. Chen was doing her residency, when a young woman came in. She could tell someone had beat her viciously. She had broken ribs, internal bleeding and had miscarried. The woman never did name her attacker. She just said she fell down some stairs. Dr. Chen wanted to ask her if she had fallen down the stairs at the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan.
She had thought about that woman long after she left and the woman randomly came back a few times though she was usually treated by another er physician. Dr. Chen ended up moving to California for a few years and just recently moved back to Washington a few months prior. This hospital had a higher trauma level and so she chose to work here this time. So when she saw the woman at this hospital she was a little surprised.
Dr.Chen looked at Nurse Jane and pointed at Nicole's file. " This one."
"Alright, I'll have her sent back. She's always easy enough to deal with anyway, it's usually in and out." Nurse Jane stretched backwards in her chair and let out another yawn. Shift change was in less than 30 minutes and she was ready.
Dr.Chens train of thought was on another piece of information in that sentence though. Her brows furrowed and her mouth puckered as though a nasty taste was in her mouth.
"What do you mean she's usually easy enough?" Dr. Chen was afraid she already knew the answer.
"She's a regular, she comes in once every few months. Not just here either," Nurse Jackie's eyes livened up a bit at the pleasure of dishing good gossip. "Other nurses who have came from General West said she often goes there too! A lot of the nurses think she's one of those opioid junkies who hurts themselves for the pain pills."
Dr. Chen's eyes narrowed and her darkened face stayed focused on the nurse, she wanted to get more information so all she said was "oh?"
Nurse Jane noticed Dr. Chen's mood change. Dr. Chens sleek black hair styled into a cute bob usually made her look playful and youthful but right now it seemed to make her look sharp and strict. She fidgeted and sat up a little straighter feeling a little intimidated even though Dr. Chen was much younger than herself. Her usually warm brown eyes bore into her making her look away as she felt the need to continue on in a meek voice...
" But I'm not sure they're reading the situation right. " she looked in Dr. Chen's direction but didn't look her in the face.
"What makes you say that?" Dr. Chen gaze lightened as she was surprised by what the nurse said.
Jane finally brought her gaze up to meet Dr. Chen's.
"Well, I've been a nurse for over 20 years. 11 in the ER. She's never loud or unruly. Most addicts freak out when you don't give them what they want. " Over the years Nurse Jane had seen many crazy incidents in which the police had to come and pick up a junkie who was acting out. Sometimes they would threaten to kill other people or themselves if they didn't get what they wanted, one person even threatened to blow up the hospital. But this woman was always quiet and polite and never made waves.
"Also, even though she's been refused pain medicine she still comes back for treatment."
Dr. Chen's anger flared again at the thought that this abused woman had been denied medicine for her pain.
"But that's not the biggest thing," Nurse Jane's words cut through Dr. Chen's thoughts, "Every time I work the triage desk I ask her the cause of her injuries it's always the same answer... She fell down the stairs. Junkies come up with over-the-top stories because they're trying real hard to convince you."
From Dr. Chen's experience that was very true. The more someone tried to fool you the more unnecessary details they seemed to throw in.
"I can't say for sure, but it feels so familiar to me it gives me the creeps.''
"Familiar like how?"
"Well my cousin married this real nice guy. He was so charming, and everyone loved him. They got married had kids and everything was good. But after a while, every time I saw her she had bruises. She always said the same thing, 'I tripped over the kids toys and got a little bruised. It's nothing to worry about,' I can't tell you how many times I heard her say those words," Nurse Jane's eyes had turned red and her voice broke a little.
Dr. Chen reached over and put her hand on Jane's shoulder and gave her a comforting squeeze. With the other hand she grabbed a tissue and handed it to Jane waiting for her to gain her composure. Nurse Jane patted Dr. Chen's hand in gratitude and continued.
"One day I got a call from her number but when I answered all I could hear was her youngest son crying in the background. Immediately I knew something was wrong. I drove there as fast as I could. The front door was locked but I could still hear Andrew crying. So I climbed the fence and went to the backdoor. As I came up to the patio door, I saw her laying on the living room floor, my nephew was kneeling next to her, they were both covered in blood. I called 911. Andrew wasn't hurt at all, he had Jackie's blood on him. The crazy thing was I thought she was dead when I walked in but she's a strong woman and she survived. She had to have facial reconstruction surgery and a lot of therapy, but she raised her children and it's why I became a nurse."
" Did they ever catch him and put him in jail?"
"Oh no, after he saw the damage he did to her, he fled. He thought he killed her, and he panicked so he ran off to the woods and killed himself. They found him 3 days after."
As a doctor you are supposed to honor the Hippocratic oath but in that moment she was glad she wasn't his doctor.
"You know the detective told us she was one of the lucky ones if she was lucky than I feel really bad for the unlucky ones."
Dr. Chen patted Jane's shoulder one last time.
"You and me both." Dr. Chen stood up from the desk and walked towards the double doors. "Have Dan bring her back when he gets done with his current patient."
Nurse Jane turned to say something but the double doors were already closing. Never mind she thought to herself, the next shift can figure it out for themselves. She was too drained to care anymore that day. But reflecting on something she hadn't reflected on in a long time, she made the decision to not be so judgmental and less gossipy in the future.