Life After You

The phone rings, waking Kelly from a sleep so deep she feels as if she is surfacing through mud. She fumbles for the receiver and knocks it off the cradle. It thuds to the floor. As she rolls over in bed to retrieve the phone, she catches sight of the bedside clock. She finds it and answers.

"Hello?"

The caller explains that she is a nurse at the local emergency room and has been told to call her.

"I'm afraid we've had a patient admitted to us who has tried to commit suicide by jumping in front of a car. He only has superficial injuries and a few cracked ribs, but the procedure is that we call a psychiatrist and we can't reach Dr Alexander"

Kelly glares at the clock. It's four-thirty and she should still be asleep. She blames the practice for such an intrusion. When she had first became one of the psychiatrists at the practice she had been told that the practice serves the local hospital if they were ever required. Normally she was called out during the day or one of her colleagues would be called.

"Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can. Don't let him discharge himself. I should be there in half an hour if the roads are quiet" Kelly hangs up the phone and pulls on a pair of jeans and a heavy sweater. She pulls on a baseball cap and grabs her keys. Her emergency incident bag is tucked safely in the trunk of her car.

Nurse Deans is waiting at the emergency room entrance when Kelly arrives. She looks like everyone else who is entering the building, seeking some sort of medical treatment. They go into the waiting area where the plump nurse in her fifties prints off the injured man's medical history. Kelly leans against the chest high desk and waits.
She starts following the nurse to go through to the treatment area when a guy in a black and red checkered shirt protests.

"I've been waiting here three god damn hours and she gets sent through straight away!" His deep voice grabs everyone's attention.

Nurse Dean walks confidently over to him.

"If you would like to be seen by one of my colleagues I suggest you keep quiet and stop disturbing everyone. This is a hospital, not a soccer game. And if it was any of your business this woman is a colleague in the medical field. Now, would you like to be seen or not?"

Several of the soon to be patients giggle, including passing nurses and doctors, even Kelly wants to start a round of applause.

"I'm sorry about that" she says evenly."After thirty years of working in hospitals you get to know the pussy cats from the lions"

Kelly laughs loudly.

"Thomas Glover, thirty-seven years of age decided to throw himself into an oncoming vehicle. He told the paramedics that he just wanted to die and of course the driver of the car Is shook up"

"Naturally" Kelly replies as she reads down the recent admissions and treatments at the hospital.

"Mr Glover is a frequent visitor, mostly because he tries to take his own life and is saved in time. The last time he was admitted for three days because he tried to hang himself from the stair railings. The railings broke and he fractured his hand"

Kelly reads on. She studies the notes from several doctors and the on-duty shrink. They all agree that Mr Glover expresses such a hatred for life he will do anything to try and take it. However, Kelly notices that one of the doctors has written that none of Glover's previous attempts are seriously life-threatening.

"Is he on any medication?" Kelly asks the nurse.

"He was prescribed Venlafaxine in June last year, but he stopped taking them after a week. He claimed they didn't make him feel any better" Nurse Dean stops and signs a form for another nurse. "Of course they take a few weeks to get into the system, but he was having none of it. And I do apologise for calling you out of bed. Dr Alexander recommended you"

Kelly gives her a warm smile. For being a woman in her fifties she really is a tough old bird.

"Mr Glover, this is Dr Hunter our psychiatrist for this evening" the nurse introduces them to one another.
Thomas Glover is overweight with a greasy mullet and bad teeth. His face is heavily pockmarked from acne in his childhood. A hairy, meaty arm clutches his left side.

"Alright. Thank you nurse" Kelly smiles as the woman disappears, pulling the curtains around the bed as she goes."So, what happened this evening before you jumped in front of a car?"

Glover inspects his grubby fingernails, ignoring the question.

"You tried to commit suicide and I'm concerned why" Kelly says "in the last six years you have tried to kill yourself a number of thirty-two times by various methods. You keep saying you just don't want to live and I'm not accepting that as an answer, Mr Glover. You either tell me why or I can't help you"

Glover's piggy eyes settle on hers for a brief second. He sucks in a breath and sits up a bit.

"I don't know why I want to die. I just know I want to"

Kelly writes this down.

"Has something happened to make you feel this way?"

Glover shakes his head. Kelly asks his brief questions about his childhood, his relationship with his parents and siblings. She asks him where he works and what does he do for a living, trying to find out exactly why he wants to end his life so badly. After forty minutes of questioning Glover, Kelly decides that a break for both of them is needed.

Round two with Thomas Glover doesn't uncover any real reason for him to want to end his life. Kelly is frustrated that this man who seemingly wants to hurt himself has no desire to wanting to be helped. She has asked to speak to Dr Morrison, Glover's doctor while he remains in hospital.

"Dr Morrison, thank you for seeing me. I know you are a very busy man" Kelly greets him warmly, despite the fact that she is exhausted.

"It's good to get away from ungrateful patients. Nurse Dean told me you wanted to talk to me about Thomas Glover. How can I help?" He opens his hands palm side up.

"I've read Mr Glover's file and you probably already know this but he never seems to cause serious damage to himself. I think he has Munchausen syndrome" Kelly explains.

Dr Morrison raises his eyebrow.
"It explains the frequent, almost obsessive trips to the hospital. He likes being fussed over, gaining people's sympathy and doesn't do anything to himself that can cause serious damage and which he can stop at anytime. He's been offered antidepressants, counselling and other therapies and he doesn't go through with it"

Dr Morrison nods in agreement. He thinks she is right with her diagnosis and promises to keep him in overnight for observation and when the mental health practitioners come in tomorrow, they will have a new patient.