Susanne Hampton – Unlocking the Doctor's Heart (страница 3)

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Matthew liked her spirit. She had just stood up to him, and not many people could do that. They cowered to his seniority and his reputation, but Beth hadn’t flinched when she’d given back as good as she’d got.

‘OD in Priority One,’ called a nurse as she raced past them.

Beth felt a firm hand on her arm. ‘Well, Dr Seymour, let’s see just how fast you learn!’ He directed her into the corridor and with hasty steps they followed the nurse.

‘I can learn while running. I hope that’s fast enough.’

Matthew gave a wry smile, which she took as affirmation. Without further debate she followed him into a room filled with nursing staff and an attending doctor already working on stabilising the patient. Beth recognised the young doctor from the lift. It was Dan Berketta.

The young male patient he was attending lay on the barouche looking deathly pale. An intravenous line had already been inserted into his forearm and as the patient was unconscious Dan inserted a Guedal airway to prevent the patient’s tongue from obstructing his airway. One nurse took over the bag resuscitation while another cut down the length of his shirt. With the patient’s bare torso exposed, Dan immediately began cardiac compression.

‘Suspected scenario, Dr Berketta?’ asked Matthew Harrison as he put on latex gloves and threw a pair across to Beth.

‘Heroin overdose, the girlfriend told us,’ Dan replied, his voice gritting with the force he exerted on the patient’s chest. ‘The paramedics administered oxygen and Narcan en route. He was here five minutes when he ripped the IV out and attempted to leave. He made it about three feet before he arrested on the floor.’

‘Still no pulse,’ said a nurse.

Beth moved closer to offer assistance as Dan continued with the compressions.

‘No improvement,’ came the nurse’s update.

Immediately Dan reached for the defibrillator paddles, his eyes constantly returning to the heart monitor.

‘Everyone stand back,’ instructed Dr Harrison.

The nurse already had the paddles smeared with conducting paste.

‘Now!’ Dan held the paddles to the man’s chest. The young man’s back arched with the surge they generated.

Eyes turned to the heart monitor. Still no beat registered. ‘Increase to three hundred.’

‘Three hundred,’ the nurse confirmed.

‘Clear again,’ Dan called as he threw his weight behind the pads once more. The man’s body convulsed with the force.

‘We have a trace,’ the nurse called.

‘Competent work, Dr Berketta,’ Beth heard Dr Harrison say, as he reached for the patient’s chart. ‘But let’s not be overly confident yet. Get someone from Cardiology down here to see him. I want five-minute obs, full biochem and haematology work-up and a drug screen, and one of the nurses should let the girlfriend know we’ll be holding onto lover boy for at least twenty-four hours. Let’s just hope he used a clean needle.’

‘Bit late for that,’ said Dan, slipping off his disposable gloves and untying his surgical gown. ‘The blood results from his last OD are in his file. He’s hep C positive. Not that he knows yet. According to his notes, he’s been out of the country and they haven’t been able to make contact.’

‘I’ll leave it in your hands, Dr Berketta, but arrange for a counsellor to be present when you inform the patient of his condition,’ the consultant cautioned.

Beth closed her eyes for a moment and clenched her trembling hands. She didn’t even know the man on the barouche but an incredible anger swept over her. She couldn’t help but notice his expensive clothing and conservative haircut. He wasn’t a street junkie. Everything about him was in conflict with the popular image she’d once had of a heroin addict.

As she watched him lying there with an oxygen mask covering his pallid face, Beth controlled her impetus to shake him to his senses. To ask him why he was throwing away his life. To find out what drove him to do it. What void was he filling with drugs? Beth found it so sad and so frustrating.

She felt a firm hand on her shoulder and turned her eyes to see Dr Harrison’s face lowered to her level as he spoke. ‘Had any contact with ODs during your training, Dr Seymour?’

‘Too much, I’d say.’ She had seen so many young lives destroyed by drugs. It seemed to be almost an epidemic during her training in London—including one of her fellow medical students, who had been a close friend all through school.

‘It’s a sad fact of life in the city.’

‘And that means it’s acceptable?’ she retorted loudly, a little too loudly, she quickly realised.

‘No, but it means there’s nothing you or I can do except patch them up and let them get back on the street to score their next hit. Although,’ he paused ‘...by the look of the manicure and haircut on this one, he’s a corporate user. A yuppie with a habit.’

Beth felt her body stiffen. His words cut deeply as she thought back to her friend who’d been three weeks away from graduating when he’d overdosed. ‘It’s a stupid waste of a life and we get to clean up the mess they leave behind.’

Matthew observed his new medical colleague as she stood deep in thought. She obviously had strong views about what she had witnessed and she wasn’t afraid to come out with what she thought. Despite her small stature, she was neither a walkover nor a wallflower. She was forthright and almost commanding. It was a refreshing change.

He also noticed she was pretty, a fresh, natural beauty. He hoped despite her somewhat innocent looks she would be equipped to handle the rigours of A and E. First appearances would lead him to believe she would do just fine but perhaps treating her harshly while she might be suffering from jet lag had not been entirely fair. Despite her almost palpable anger at the situation, she looked truly shaken.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a gentle tap on her shoulder and words she hadn’t expected. ‘Dr Seymour, maybe I was a bit hard on you earlier.’

Beth stared in silence.

‘I’m offering an apology for my previous behaviour. Make the most of it because, believe me, it’s not something I do very often.’

She couldn’t believe her ears—this seemed totally out of character, given everything she had heard about the man and the callous way he had treated her earlier.

‘Look, the truth of the matter is I’ve had a lousy morning. What with one resident off sick and a fourth-year medical student tagging behind me like Casper, I guess I took it out on you.’

‘There’s no need—’ Beth began.

‘No, it’s your first day here, I could have shown some empathy. Let’s face it, you shouldn’t think of me as an absolute son of a—’ He stopped in mid-sentence. For some strange reason, and against his better judgement, he actually cared what Beth thought of him. ‘Well, let’s say you shouldn’t completely despise me, like the rest of them do, until at least your second week here.’

CHAPTER TWO

IT WAS ABOUT seven o’clock in the evening when Beth headed for the doctors’ lounge. Vivian, an attractive ashen-haired nurse who had arrived for the afternoon shift, convinced her of the need to take a tea break.

Beth had managed to slip away in the afternoon for half an hour for lunch and that had doubled as time to put her feet up. But that had been almost six hours ago and she could feel the hunger in her stomach starting to stir. The thought of waiting for the lift or walking up three flights of stairs to the staff cafeteria after ten hours on her legs had her slip some coins into the slot of a vending machine and retrieve two chocolate bars for her late supper.

‘You’re not setting a good example to the patients. What happened to the three well-balanced meals a day?’

Beth was stopped in her tracks by the same dogmatic voice that had started her day.

‘You’d be better off with some fruit or at least a protein bar,’ Dr Harrison continued before she had the chance to reply.

Trying hard to keep her heavy legs from collapsing, she turned to him. Then she wished she hadn’t. He stood before her in a dark grey suit and crisp white cotton shirt, which contrasted starkly against his tanned skin and black wavy hair, which he wore slicked back. This further emphasised his softly chiselled features. A red silk tie and highly polished leather shoes completed his outfit.

Beth drew a steadying breath. He looked gorgeous and she felt like nothing on earth. She glanced down at her creased slacks and shapeless consulting coat with iodine splatters and wanted to disappear into an invisible black hole in the tiled floor. She had long since given up on her hair and had just let the curly wisps take on a direction of their own. How unfair was nature to let him bounce back and look so good after a full day’s work? The musky scent of his cologne stirred senses she had thought were asleep.

‘A night on the town?’ she enquired as she tried to stifle a yawn.

‘A celebration of sorts, actually.’

‘Well, I hope you have a nice time,’ she answered softly.

‘I will if my date turns up on time.’

Beth thought better of staying around chatting to the handsome consultant. If he was anything to set standards by, his date would be ravishing, and after the long day she had put in she’d rather not be introduced. She would only feel like the third, and definitely shabby, wheel.