Jane Doe
The patient was a twenty-two year old bleached blonde, pretty even with her heavy mascara'd false eyelashes, and deep red painted fingernails. She had been put on a gurney and covered with white sheets. She was in a deep sleep. On top of her was a wor
n out Indian print purse with a dark brown handle. The Physician's Assistant had spent a lot of time with her after the lavage. She had come in simply as "Jane Doe" from a downtown clinic, with no treatment for the overdose. The nurse was com
plaining that this was the third overdose in a month from that place.. .a schlock joint, and that this patient would take anything she could find. Two weeks earlier her boyfriend had been beaten to death. "She will be sent to the satellite hospital
and then on to the Out-Patient Clinic," the nurse said. "It hurts to watch her, she is young enough to be helped."
"It doesn't take long to get all goofed up: just the wrong thing at the wrong time, like the boyfriend's death."
The charge nurse said that the other hospital had a special program for overdosers. The other nurse disagreed, but they did agree that it was better than what County had, which was nothing. She commiserated, "It doesn't take long to get all goofed up; just the wrong thing at the wrong time, like the boyfriend's death." But then looking at the young girl, she added, "And by the same luck, something good can come along, but you can't plan on it." She walked over to the resident to tell him about the weekend vacation that a travel agent had planned for her at Lake Tahoe. She was rather plain looking, and the resident didn't pay much attention.
Department of Emergency Medicine
