Sorry for the long gap in updating, I had a ridiculously busy week. Thank you for the reviews :)
Amelia
'Female. 15 years old. Drug overdose and deep lacerations to both arms. CPR given at the scene and coded twice en route. Vitals stabilising but it's touch and go. She needs Naloxone and blood stat.'
Derek shouted the information as he leapt from the ambulance and ran alongside the gurney wheeling Amelia into the hospital for the second time that day. He tried to follow her into the trauma room but was stopped by Dr Sanghera, the trauma attending on duty. . 'Derek, this is your sister, isn't it? She was in earlier?' Derek nodded, trying to push past the larger man. 'You can't work on your family, you know that. And this won't be surgical. Go and sit in the relatives lounge, I will update you, I promise.' Derek tried to argue but, knowing his senior was correct, he turned away defeated and went to the waiting area. He sat in a chair and put his head in his hands, too tired and overwrought even to cry.
Minutes later Carolyn and Addison arrived, the older women practically being help upright by her daughter in law. All three adults looked at each other, feeling despair, guilt and anger in varying proportions. 'What do we do now?' asked Carolyn helplessly. Derek shrugged. 'I called your sisters from the car,' she continued. 'Kathleen's on her way.' Derek raised his eyebrows, unsure that that was a good idea but not willing to say so. An uneasy silence fell as they all retreated into their own thoughts and waited.
It was half an hour or so later when an intern Addison knew in passing entered the room. 'Addie?' she said gently. All three looked up sharply. 'How is she?' questioned Derek urgently. 'Stable,' the young woman replied. 'She lost a lot of blood but we've replaced it and we're treating the cuts on her arms now. They're pretty bad – need an awful lot of sutures.'
'Is she awake?' Amelia's mum asked, her voice shaking. The intern shook her head. 'Not yet. We've neutralised the effects of the drugs and her vitals are stable but she's still unconscious. We hope she'll wake soon. As soon as we've finished you can see her.'
Amelia's family thanked the intern as she left and they were briefly left alone again until a tall, thin, sharp faced woman entered the room in a hurry. Kathleen briefly hugged her mother as Carolyn ran to her then turned accusingly to Derek. 'Where's Amy and what's wrong with her?' she demanded. 'Is this a suicide attempt?'
'Kathleen!' warned Derek as their mother dissolved into tears. 'We don't know and, really, do you have to go there?'
'Well, what is it then?'
'We don't know. She got high earlier today. There was an accident. I wasn't very nice to her. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have… I did this, I ….' Derek's voice cracked as he struggled not to cry and Addison clasped his hands in hers. 'This wasn't Derek's fault, Kathleen. Amy's been struggling. Way more than we knew. She's self harming badly and obviously taking a lot of drugs. She isn't talking to anyone and she's not ready to help herself. We don't know what happened to tonight but it obviously got too much for her. She carved her arms up with a scalpel and she's overdosed on oxy but we don't know if she meant to do so much damage. She hasn't woken up yet.'
Kathleen sat down in shock. She knew her sister was off the rails but, honestly, she just thought she was being a brat. But this – even if it was just for attention, they were going to have to do something to get her some proper help. 'I have a colleague who specialises in adolescents,' she said slowly. 'She does some work at an inpatient facility. It's not just for addicts, they take kids with all sorts of issues. They'd understand the cutting. And it's a nice place. They could probably take her. I could make a few calls.'
Meredith
'Female. 16 years old. Unconscious and unresponsive. Likely dehydrated and malnourished. Pulse very weak but steady. No diagnosed medical conditions but other students at the scene said she suffers from anorexia.'
'What is it with unstable teenage girls today?' groaned the doctor in charge of the ER. This is the third one this morning. 'Third?' another doctor asked. 'Yep. We've got psych in Shepherd's kid sister right now and then after that there's the younger girl that came in with the hand and head wounds – she's exhibiting classic OCD symptoms. And now this one. Get her on a drip. Who did she come in with?'
'A teacher. Mother is on the way. This is Meredith Grey. Her mother's a surgeon over at Presbyterian. High profile. Just a warning.' The other doctor's eyebrows rose. 'Yes, I know Ellis Grey.' His eyes softened as he looked at the tiny, frail looking girl lying unconscious on the bed. 'Poor kid,' he muttered softly. 'That's quite a weight on her shoulders, I imagine.'
Ellis Grey stormed into the ER, straight up to the reception desk and slammed her hands down on the desk, startling the nurse on duty. 'Where's my daughter?' she demanded. 'Take me to her right now.' The nurse looked terrified and began pulling up the recent admissions but Dr Ferrers, the ER chief, recognised the imposing looking woman who seemed set to terrorise as many of his staff as possible and swiftly intervened. 'Dr Grey?' he enquired somewhat needlessly. 'If you come with me, I'll take you to your daughter.'
Ellis looked somewhat taken aback as she pulled aside the curtains of Meredith's cubicle and went inside. Dressed only in a thin hospital gown and hooked up to a rehydration drip and heart monitor, Meredith looked frighteningly fragile. 'What's wrong with her?' asked Ellis in an angry but panicked tone. 'Why is she so thin?'
'Dr Grey, I think we would be as well to wait for the psychiatric team to discuss your daughter's health in detail but …'
'Psychiatric?! My daughter isn't crazy.'
'Nobody's saying that, Dr Grey, but there are clear signs that she is suffering from an eating disorder. She is dangerously underweight for her height, her blood pressure and blood sugar are very low and her heart is weak. She has a broken wrist which, given that she fainted from a chair and did not fall from a height, suggests her bones may be weak and she is severely anaemic.'
Ellis sat down slowly, completely at a loss for what to say. 'I didn't know,' she whispered. 'I mean, there were some concerns. Her teacher … her friend … they did think … but I just … oh, God! What did I do?' For once Ellis looked vulnerable. Guilt and concern were clear on her face and Dr Ferrers found himself feeling sorry for the woman. He put his hand on her shoulder. 'Meredith should wake soon,' he said gently, 'and I'll send Dr Taylor, our adolescent psychiatrist, to you.' Ellis nodded without looking up and slowly took her daughter's thin hand in hers.
Dr Taylor
Dr Taylor squeezed Maggie's hand. 'It will be ok, I promise,' she whispered reassuringly to the tearful child. This centre is very friendly and very experienced in helping children and young people who are feeling like you do. I know it's scary but we've agreed that you need the help, haven't we?' Maggie just buried her head in her mom's shoulder and sobbed. Mrs Pearse looked close to tears too but it was she who answered. 'We have,' she said determinedly, despite the slight wobble in her voice. She was certainly at a loss to know what to do with her brilliant but emotionally fragile child herself. She didn't want to send her child away but she didn't know how to keep her safe anymore and, if this psychiatrist said that inpatient treatment was the way to go, then she was going to support her. 'I'll make the arrangements for you to go there this evening,' promised Dr Taylor as she left the cubicle.
Dr Taylor took a deep breath. That was the easier of her two consults down in the ER so far today. She'd already finished a deeply uncomfortable and upsetting session with young Amelia Shepherd. She felt terrible for missing how desperate the girl had clearly been earlier that day and having the psychiatrist sister in the room this time round hadn't helped. Amelia was barely awake and clearly in a lot of pain so talking to her in any depth had not really been an option. The family were relatively hostile though. She didn't know either Derek or Addison all that well but it was obvious that, however successful and 'together' their family seemed on the surface, there was a whole world of pain and conflict going on underneath. She wasn't really surprised to see such self destructive behaviour in its youngest member and thought that the sooner she was in the inpatient centre the better.
She looked at her pager and saw the third call. To a 16 year old girl this time. She opened the cubicle curtains. 'Hello', she said with a reassuring smile. 'You must be Meredith.' Meredith was by this point sitting up in bed, her face tearstained and angry. The equally angry but distraught looking woman by her bedside seemed familiar. 'Are you Meredith's mother?' she enquired. 'I'm Dr Ellis Grey,' the woman replied frostily. Of course, thought Dr Taylor. She recognised Ellis Grey from winning Avery awards. She was a highly distinguished surgeon. After several attempts, Dr Taylor was not surprised to have made almost no headway talking to either Dr Grey or her daughter but it was painfully obvious that the girl was seriously ill. 'I'm sorry, Dr Grey,' she said, 'but your daughter has severe anorexia nervosa. We really need to get her admitted to inpatient treatment straight away. I can get her a place this evening.'
Having arranged now for three girls to be admitted to the adolescent psychiatric centre she had links with, Dr Taylor headed back to her office feeling completely drained. These three girls were in urgent need of intervention and care, she knew, and she really hoped things would turn around for them now.