* * Anonymous Doc: I think we found him.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

I think we found him.

Patient eloped yesterday.  Late-stage liver disease.  Didn't want to be here.

I get paged today by the nurse's station.  I walk over there and one of the nurses hands me her cell phone.

"Huh?  Who is this?"

"Just say hello."

It was another one of the nurses on our unit.  On her lunch break.

"I found that guy who eloped yesterday."

"You found him?  What do you mean you found him?"

"He's passed out, in the alley behind [the liquor store three blocks from the hospital].  I saw him, recognized him.  The owner was about to call the cops."

"So he's coming back."

"Yeah, he's coming back."

I hung up the phone.

Did not cross my mind until later to wonder why the nurse was hanging out in the alley behind the liquor store during her lunch break, but, hey, I'm sure she had a good reason.

2 comments:

  1. Easy! She was on her way to a really good little deli that has something other than hospital food....and in order to get there, you have to pass through an alley that is "iffy" at best.... describes what I did at my hospital!

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  2. i just thought a patient who has late-stage liver disease deserves liquors before he dies

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