A little faux pas

A post on nurse K's blog reminded me of a funny thing that happened one time (in sort of a dark, sick way.)

It was the weekend in upstate NY and it was hazy, hot and humid. Peoples tempers rose in direct correlation to the heat index and we were experiencing a sharp upswing in shootings, stabbings and assaults.

It was 8 pm and the ER was slammed to the rafters, all hallway beds full, two gunshot wounds in the trauma bays and a code going on in the critical section. There were about a thousand cops, nurses, residents, attendings and ancillary staff running around the ER in barely controlled chaos.

The code was called. Before we could even get our breath we got the call that there was a five car pile up on the interstate with approximately 10 criticals and 5 minors. Since we were the trauma center we knew we'd get at least three of the most critical. The problem was that there was nowhere to put them.

Out of desperation we quickly did post mortem care on the code patient. There was no family there and none expected so we pushed the patient around into the outpatient center down the hall while we waited for the funeral home to pick him up. The department was closed for the weekend so we pushed the gurney into one of the rooms and locked up the department.

In the chaos of the next few hours we never realized what went on but we sure heard about it later. Apparently the weekend cleaning staff went into clean that department and were startled to find a patient in there. Surprise turned to shrieking when they realized the patient was dead. A great deal of confusion and chaos followed.

In retrospect it may not have been the best idea but we did the best we could at the time.

Unfortunately every time I imagine that scene I giggle.