Critical Condition

Chapter two: Truth and Death

Disclaimers: I don't own any ER characters. TPTB, Leave it to be.

Note to readers: Continuation of the "Critical Condition" series.

Date: 5/3/07

Time: 7:49 PM CT

Location: Cook County General- Chicago, IL- ER

After crying all the tears, Elizabeth left the bathroom. She decided to go and visit Kerry to see how she is doing.

She stopped at the front desk.

"Carter, I'm going to go visit Kerry. I'll be back with some news."

"All right," Carter replied, his eyes puffy red.

She walked over and boarded the elevators, allowing it to take her to the ICU ward.

Once there, She got off and walked to Kerry's room. She entered to find Sandy, Holding Kerry's hand. She also noticed little Kara was asleep in the chair next to her. She walked up to Sandy and put a hand on her shoulder. Sandy turned around to see Elizabeth.

"Sandy, How are you holding up?"

"I'm OK Dr. Corday. I really wanna know about the accident though."

"No one told you about it?"

"No."

Elizabeth took another chair and sat down.

"She came in, all ready in v-fib, with a tube down her throat. We were all shocked. What shocked us more was she was in a car accident, And it was a drunk driver that hit her. It took them a wile to get her out of the car…. They had to use the Jaws of Life, So she came in, already down for twenty minutes. We worked on her for twenty minutes more. We about called it, but in a desperate attempt to save her I shocked her again. She went into sinus rhythm. Only problem is that her brain was deprived of oxygen and most of her blood volume was gone. We took her to the OR in desperate attempt to save her. We can replace the blood, but I am afraid she has permanent brain damage or she might be…. Might be brain dead."

Sandy gasped.

"So your saying she will either be mentally incapable or dead?"

"Yes, But we can check that. I can unplug the respirator and give her 10 seconds to breathe. If she breathes then that tell us she has enough brain activity to tell her to breathe. If not, well… We consider her brain dead."

"OK."

Elizabeth walked over to the ET tube and unplugged it from the vent. She looked at her watch.

Five seconds past. Six….Seven……Eight…..Nine……Ten. Elizabeth replugged the tube back in to the respirator.

Elizabeth looked up. Kerry did not even try to breathe. Elizabeth looked back down, trying to hide the tears. She then looked at Sandy, Who could not help but cry.

"What do we do now Dr. Corday," Sandy asked desperately.

"There is nothing we can do. There is….sadly…. something you can do."

"What?"

"You can…. Sign…..Sign a DNR order. It will allow her, if she goes into heart failure, to die peacefully."

"And what if she does not?"

"Then it's a matter of choosing when to take her off life support. I'm sure she would not want to be flogged on and on so there can be a miracle to happen. You would just be prolonging her life in a vegetative state.," Elizabeth replied, a few tears falling from her face.

Sandy looked at her love, lying there, as pail and limp as can be. She then looked at little Kara, Who was sleeping peacefully in her chair. She then glanced back at Kerry. She knew Kerry would want to die peacefully.

"OK, I'll sign the DNR.," Sandy replied, crying.

"OK, Someone will come in with it. I assume you have Power of Attorney?"

"Yes, I do."

"All right."

Elizabeth left the room and went to the front desk in ICU.

"Room 2 needs an DNR.," Elizabeth replied, trying to keep it together.

"OK Dr. Corday. Coming right up.," The nurse replied, acting like it was an everyday thing.

Elizabeth realized the tone in his voice and could not help but say something.

"Do you know who that is in there? She works in the ER… She is the Chief of Emergency Medicine for god's sake. She is also someone's spouse, someone's mother. She's dead! She was a great asset to this hospital. So next time don't act like its an everyday thing.," Elizabeth exclaimed.

"I'm sorry Dr. Corday."

"Yea, I'm sure you are."

After saying this, Dr. Corday walked to the elevators. She pushed one…. She knew she had to tell the ER.

It hit the bottom floor and the door opened. She exited through the doors and walked to the front desk. She noticed everyone, even people that were not on call, were gathered at the front desk, waiting for Elizabeth to get back. She walked over and took a deep breath. Everyone went quiet.

"How is she," Carter asked, a glimpse of hope in his eyes.

Elizabeth looked down, tears streaming down her cheeks. She then looked up again. Carter looked at her face and knew it was not a good sign.

"She's….. She's brain…..Brain dead.," Elizabeth replied, tears coming at full force.

"Sandy signed a DNR just in case Kerry went into heart failure, So she could die peacefully."

Abby walked over to Carter and held onto him. Susan looked down to the floor, tears puddling on the ground. Randi took hold of Jerry, Who was crying like a baby. Romano stood there shocked, hiding his feelings. Frank took a seat and closed his eyes.