Chapter 5 - The Standoff
The shrill alarm of the heart monitor cut through the tension in the hallway like a knife.
"He's crashing!" one of the nurses shouted from inside Trauma Bay 1.
I didn't wait for permission.
I shoved past the attending physician and sprinted into the room.
Thomas's skin was entirely gray, and his chest was no longer rising.
"The pericardium is filling with blood," I yelled, grabbing a scalpel from the sterile tray.
"He's experiencing cardiac tamponade. The blood is crushing his heart."
"You can't do that here!" the attending screamed, running in after me.
"Call security now!"
I ignored him, making a rapid, precise incision just below Thomas's sternum.
I inserted a thick drainage tube directly into the sac surrounding his heart.
Instantly, dark blood rushed out into the canister.
The monitor beeped once, then twice, returning to a fragile, weak rhythm.
"I just bought him ten minutes," I said, looking up with cold fury.
Security guards rushed into the room, their hands resting on their radios.
"Get her away from the patient," the attending ordered.
Before the guards could touch me, Dr. Wells stepped squarely between us.
"If any of you lay a hand on her, I will personally see to it that you never work in this state again," Dr. Wells growled.
The room froze.
"She just saved his life," Dr. Wells continued, his voice echoing with absolute authority.
"Now prep OR 4, and get this woman some scrubs."
The Chief of Medicine, a tall, imposing man named Dr. Aris, suddenly pushed through the crowd.
"Richard, you know the protocols," Dr. Aris said sternly.
"We cannot allow uninsured, uncredentialed liability into our operating rooms."
"He is my son!" Dr. Wells roared, the polished facade finally breaking.
"And she is the only person on this seaboard who can execute the repair without killing him!"
My father and Phoebe arrived at the doorway, breathless and terrified.
Gerald looked at me, covered in blood, holding a life-saving tube in my hand.
For the first time in my life, he didn't see me as a disappointment.
"Dr. Aris," I said calmly, stepping forward.
"I will assume all legal liability. Fire me, sue me, do whatever you want tomorrow."
I looked at the Chief of Medicine dead in the eye.
"But if you don't let me take him up right now, he will die on this table."
May you like
Dr. Aris stared at me for a long, agonizing moment.
Then, his pager buzzed with a catastrophic failure code.
