"She' s a Mess!"
"What was I watching?" I asked the Emergency Room resident, "Withdrawal stages from drugs?" "No," he answered, "just plain anxiety. That lady is so riddled with anxiety, she's a mess!"
He turned his back and continued reading his journal. Inside the examining room she smoked. The attendant passing down the hallway took away her cigarette because no one is allowed to smoke with oxygen around. The patient turned to one side of her gurney, then to the other. Finally she cried. She stopped and stared into space. I walked over to her and she told me, "I hurt. It's a hernia, or asthma." Then she yelled at the doctor, "If you aren't going to do anything for me, I want t o go home!" He said, without turning around, "The ambulance has already been ordered to take you home." She shook with rage.
Department of Emergency Medicine
