Despite my usual ranting about my patients' ridiculousness, I usually just feel bad for them. Some of them lead lives I can't even imagine. And when I see their children, I get this feeling that they will be stuck in the same rut. I was so privileged growing up middle class with educated parents who expected a lot from me. So many of these kids have parents who are just kids themselves!
In any case, last week I had a "there but for fortune" patient. The medics brought in a forty year old woman as a "code" (meaning dead, basically). She had a history of drug use and depression and her boyfriend found her unresponsive in the house. Instead of calling 911, he decided she was just drunk and threw her in the shower. When that didn't work, he called the medics, who found her in asystole (flatline). They decided to try to resuscitate her anyway, which never works from asystole. Anyway, they brought her in and one of the EMTs remarked, "We pulled a dead body from the basement of the same house last year around this time!" My god. It made me think about how lucky I am that I never got into alcohol or drugs and that I am married to a man who wouldn't assume that my blue, unresponsive, not breathing body was just intoxicated!! We were unsuccessful in reviving her. The boyfriend never showed up at the hospital and we couldn't get in touch with her mother. Like many of my patients, her emergency contact had a phone number listed, but it was out of service. We asked the police to look for the mom, but as of 7 hours later, when I left for the day, no one had come. Can you imagine dying in your own house and no one showing up? Horrific.
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