Chapter 98.
As he arrived at the scene, several sightseers were milling about, gawping at the wrecked cars. "Move out of the way," he yelled as he tried to approach the vehicles.
Joe stepped out towards him. "Looks like a bad one, Doc. Lad driving the BMW, probably under-age and it looks like he crashed into the Metro with two people in that. The man is still unconscious but the woman is talking."
Martin stepped over to the BMW. The occupant, a young man was sprawled back in his seat. No seat belt on and the dent in the windscreen indicated he'd banged his head as he was catapulted out of his seat.
"Likely head injuries and abdominal injuries. Possible leg trauma as well." He went across the road to the other car.
Speaking to the woman, "Hello I'm Dr Ellingham. Can you tell me what your injuries are?"
"My neck hurts, and my chest also. I feel dizzy," said the woman. "My husband, what's happened to my husband!" The question was voiced on a rising note of hysteria.
"I'm just going to have a look at him, now." Martin moved around the car to the driver's door, but couldn't open it. When he looked in the window, he saw that there was blood dripping down the driver's face. Martin paled and then moved quickly to the hedgerow where he threw up. After wiping his face on his handkerchief he went back to the woman. "I can't get in as the door is jammed. Did you hit your head, or did it just whip with the crash?"
"I don't think I hit my head." She seemed uncertain and Martin didn't have a neck brace in his bag.
When Martin tried the rear passenger door it opened. He climbed in and tried to get as near as he could to the driver. He felt for a pulse and perceived it as being weak. A closer look at the driver's forehead showed a long gash. He too had hit his head, despite wearing his seatbelt. "Your husband is breathing and his pulse is steady," he told the woman.
Just then the man's eyes opened and he let out a loud groan. As he tried to move, he called "Aargh, my leg!"
Martin peered down into the footwell, but he couldn't see what was causing the pain.
"You've been in a crash and have sustained injuries. I can't get in through your door, but the fire brigade and ambulances are on their way."
"Penhale! How much longer for the emergency services to get here?" he barked.
Joe looked at his watch, "Another five minutes at least Doc. I'm going to get this road cleared so that they can approach."
Joe moved to the back of the queuing cars. He came up to the vehicle as the driver lowered his window. He saw John, owner of the Crab and Lobster. "John, will you back up almost to the A34 and park up? Stop anyone trying to come down here and send them the other way? The fire and ambulance crews will be here shortly."
"Righto, Joe." John backed up, turned around and went to the top of the road. He moved over onto the oncoming side and set his 4-way flashers going. When a car approached to turn down towards Port Isaac, he stopped them and sent them to the Trelights road, thus diverting them away from the scene of the crash.
Meanwhile Martin was assessing the teenager more closely. He could see an indent in the boy's skull, a possible fracture there, taking hold of the arm he felt the pulse which was quite strong, but a pale face could indicate internal bleeding. He patted down the boy's chest and then legs, as far as he could reach. A dark stain on the left trouser leg showed a potential fractured leg.
When the fire engine turned up, he asked them to get the driver's door open on the other car. "The woman seems to be the least injured. Could you put a neck brace on her and get her to the side of the road? This one 'indicating the boy,' also needs a neck brace and a gurney . He should also have a back brace before being moved. As you can tell, he wasn't wearing his seatbelt."
"Righto, Doc." The fireman went to relay the instructions and, as the woman was taken out of the car, the ambulance arrived to assist.
It wasn't easy to extract the boy because the engine had been pushed back into the body of the car. The firemen had to cut the door pillar with the "jaws of life" tool before being able to get a backboard under the boy, and then a neck brace. They lifted him out and put him on the ground.
Martin did a more thorough check, cutting open his clothes to see if there were any more serious injuries. As he suspected, the boy's shin was fractured. There were deep bruises to his abdomen and chest. Worryingly he hadn't returned to consciousness during these manoeuvres.
The paramedics, watching Martin work could see for themselves the gravity of the situation. "Take him to the hospital and on the way ask for X-rays, CT scan and a theatre to be ready. He's likely to have ruptured his spleen and also have liver damage. If he wakes up in the ambulance give him painkillers. It seems as though he's fractured his skull, which will need checking, carefully."
"Yes Doc, we've done this before."
Martin just looked at them, and they subsided into doing their tasks as quickly as they could.
The driver's door on the Metro was opened and Martin assessed the male driver. The gash on his forehead wasn't deep and the blood was beginning to clot. Martin felt down the body as far as the leg and when he touched the left thigh bone the driver again shouted out. There didn't appear to be anything wrong with his other leg, though.
"He'll need a neck brace and backboard to get him out. I'll give him some morphine before you move him."
Once the medication had taken effect the firemen got the driver out and placed him on the gurney to go in the second ambulance. His wife accompanied him to have her own injuries more thoroughly checked.
With all the casualties now on their way to hospital the breakdown trucks could move into position to remove the battered cars and sweep the roads, but not before Penhale and the other road traffic police who had also arrived, took pictures and measurements of car tracks and the vehicles' final positions.
Martin spoke to Joe about the accident. "Do you know what the cause was, Penhale?"
"We got the owner's name from the licence plate and found out that the boy had taken his father's car, without permission. He was speeding, and lost control coming around that corner and ploughed into the Metro. Do you think he'll survive Doc?"
"Hard to tell, Penhale. He's suffered severe injuries first because of the speed and secondly because he was not wearing his seatbelt. As the impact occurred, he's been thrown forward against the windscreen and steering wheel."
Joe nodded, "I've seen this sort of thing before, Doc and I know it's by no means certain that he'll live. Thank you for coming so quickly, Doc. The Dynamic Duo back in action to protect the public, eh?"
"Yes." Was Martin's terse comment. "I'm going to the hospital now, to check up on things."
"Right you are Doc. I'll go there myself to collect full names and addresses. Only the wife of the Metro driver was up to talking and she was still in shock."
"By the way, Penhale, thanks to your assistance, that boy Curly we took to the hospital is now making good progress."
Martin collected his things and put them in the boot of his car. He checked the time and saw it was way past tea time. He took out his phone and called Louisa.
When she answered his soft voice saying "Louisa," was enough to get her heartbeat going faster.
"I'm going to Truro to check up on my patients. I'll not be home for hours yet. Don't bother with any food for me, if I want anything I'll get it when I'm home. Also, don't wait up for me."
"Are you OK, Martin?"
"Yes, but it's been a trying time."
"I'll let you go then. I love you, take care."
"Love you too." Martin was heartened by this mutual declaration of emotions. Very few people had said caring things to him in his lifetime. He set off for the hospital.
Louisa had prepared and eaten her meal, without making any for him. She knew from past experience that he would be unlikely to want anything more than a drink when he returned.
She did some of her marking and then called Joan and chatted with her about their weekend outing to the Parsons. Joan was pleased that Louisa had managed to get Martin to go. "You are working wonders with him, Louisa. He really does need to get out and meet with people. Don't get me wrong, he'll never be Mr Congeniality, but at least he's trying, for you."
Louisa nodded her head and agreed. "He's come a long way, I think. By the way, I sorted it out with him about my annoyance with his constant diet advice. I put it down to my emotions and hormones."
"Well I'm sure that was a part of it, Louisa. But I see that the constant repetition can be wearing. He keeps going on to me to lose weight and do less!"
"Just shows he cares, Joan. We can be grateful for that."
"How is the work on the clock, going?"
"He's rectified a couple of faults, but then found that one of the cogs was fractionally too small. He's sent away for a new one and is hopeful that will fix it."
"Good, he really needs some form of relaxation." At Louisa's giggle she quickly interpolated "aside from that!" Louisa could hear the smile in her voice.
"Well, Joan. It's time for me to go to bed. Martin will be ages at the hospital and I'm going to bed early. So goodbye for now."
"Bye Louisa, take care." Joan as ever, rang off abruptly.
Making her evening drink, Louisa sat and thought about her reclusive husband. She'd have to be careful not to push him out of his comfort zone too quickly. She decided that she would cultivate her friendship with Carol and then after Junior came along, perhaps more social interactions would be evident.
She'd finished her marking and so she checked to doors were locked, and went for her shower before bed.
At the hospital Martin strode into A&E. "I'm here to see what's happened to three patients involved in a car accident near Portwenn?"
"Er yes, Dr Ellingham. The teenage boy has been X-rayed and had a CT scan. That showed he had internal bleeding and the X-rays showed bone damage to his skull. He is now in theatre for reparation to his skull, and also will have exploratory work done on his abdomen to try and stem the bleeding."
"Doesn't sound encouraging, at all. What about the married couple?"
"The wife has been X-rayed which showed whiplash injury. We've kept her in a neck brace and given her painkillers. Her own GP will take over treatment. I take it, that's not you?"
"No, she isn't one of my patients. What about her husband?"
"You were correct in your assessment of him. Superficial gash to the forehead and a fractured femur. He's in theatre having it repaired."
Martin nodded. "I'll stay for a while until he comes out of surgery. Let me know when he does and also how the boy is doing."
"Yes Dr Ellingham. There is a coffee station in the waiting room if you'd like a drink?"
"No, I don't like hospital coffee, I'll just get some water." He turned on his heel and went to the waiting room.
The wife of the man in the driver's seat of the car was also there, waiting for news of her husband.
"I'm sorry," she said, "but I didn't get your name."
"Ellingham, Dr Martin Ellingham."
"Oh thank you Dr Ellingham for coming so quickly. Derek is in theatre now. They're going to repair his thigh bone, but they say he'll be a long-time healing."
"Yes. If you have any questions now, I can give you some more information, but your own GP will have more details of the injury and his future well-being."
"How is the boy who was driving the other car? I know he was in a bad way."
"I'm sorry, I can't discuss him at all."
Martin went to sit down after getting some water. He'd been there for ten minutes or so when another couple came in. The man was white-faced and the woman was weeping copiously.
From the bits of conversation he heard between them, Martin realised that they were the parents of the boy driver. They sat down and held hands.
After three quarters of an hour a surgeon came in, "Mrs Roberts?" The wife of the injured man stood up.
"I'm Betty Roberts," she said.
"Your husband has had his surgery and is now back on the ward. He had a compound fracture of the femur which means that the bones were poking through the skin. Fortunately the bone was not shattered into smaller pieces and we were able to stabilise the break with a rod inserted into the bone itself. That will stay in there, permanently. You will be able to see him for a short time, but he may not answer coherently owing to the anaesthetic he's had."
Mrs Roberts turned to Martin, "Thank you, Dr Ellingham." She followed the surgeon out to go and visit her husband.
The father of the injured teenage driver stood up and approached Martin. "Dr Ellingham? I understand you treated our son at the accident site?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"Can you tell us what his injuries are?"
"Your son wasn't wearing his seatbelt and so his injuries are much worse than they would otherwise have been. I believe he has a fractured skull, internal bleeding in his abdomen and a fractured shin. You'll have been told he's in theatre now?"
"I'm Gavin Wilkes and this is my wife, Laura. We'd just like to say thank you for helping our son." He held out his hand to shake Martin's.
Martin reciprocated.
"The surgery your son is undergoing will take a long time, because of the nature of his injuries."
Mr Wilkes understood, but was still in a state of shock, and so just retreated to his seat alongside his wife.
After another half hour a grim-faced surgeon came into the waiting room. "Mr and Mrs Wilkes?"
When the couple stood up the surgeon said, "I'm very sorry, but your son died on the operating table. We did our best to get everything done but there was too much bleeding into his abdomen."
Mrs Wilkes gave a keening wail and sank down back onto the chair. Mr Wilkes asked, "Couldn't you have done more?"
"As I said, your son had multiple injuries and there was nothing further we could have done. I'm sorry."
The husband and wife sat together and hugged each other, crying as they did so.
Martin stood and went across to the surgeon. "Martin Ellingham, I was the attending doctor. Can you tell me which of his injuries was the fatal one, or was it a combination?"
"We think the splenic artery was nicked in the accident, but that slight leak worsened into a big tear. He bled out." The surgeon was brief and apologised once more to the parents.
Martin went across to Mr and Mrs Wilkes, who were beginning to collect their thoughts. "There will be a post mortem done which will determine exactly what caused your son's death, but the surgeons found a tear in an artery wall which resulted in an even greater blood loss. Your son was unable to withstand such an event. I'm sorry."
The parents nodded, but Martin was fairly sure they hadn't comprehended fully, the information given. He told them he would be leaving and they just looked at him, both dazed by the events of the day.
Sighing over the stupidity of the boy, Martin got in the car and began to drive home.