Friday, 04 September 2015

He grasped the wheel tighter and turned it furiously, spinning the car around. He screwed his eyes shut; awaiting the moment the car hit the fallen tree. The tyres screeched along the road. He felt his heart-rate increase to dangerous levels. But his reaction wasn't quick enough.

He felt the impact.

He felt nothing.

"Unknown male, crashed into the fallen tree on the highway," Liam stated, wheeling their patient through the doors. "It wasn't blocked off properly; he must have missed the signs. We have no idea how long he was there for, but his smashed car was found with him inside it. He was unconscious upon being found and hasn't regained it since. Definite smell of alcohol on him, but no ID. No driver's license, no wallet, no phone. The police are going to search his car for his license, but it's pretty smashed at the front."

"Bay 1, please," Dr Miller instructed them.

"He has a head laceration on his right side, bleeding stopped with pressure. Possible fractured shoulder, but apart from that, a few scratches. Considering the state of his car, he got lucky. His GCS is 3, it hasn't changed. Head and neck stabilised at scene and we ventilated at the scene, his SATs were 85% and resps were 14. SATs improved to 90% en route. He was cold to the touch so we've tried to warm him up, and it's been successful. Pulse is slow at 50 and BP is 90/60."

"Okay, thanks, guys." Dr Miller looked down at the man; having the feeling she'd seen him before. She couldn't place her finger on it, though, and continued to treat him.

"Let's get an urgent head and neck CT to see what we're dealing with, and then let's get an x-ray of that shoulder. Nurse Tracks, please see to his other wounds. Can I have bloods please; blood alcohol content, drugs, full blood count, blood sugar levels, let's get a group and save – and an MRI to see if there's any internal bleeding – um, clotting too, and let's get LFTs."

They continued to treat him, and luckily his condition wasn't as serious as they first feared. He was taken off the ventilator and his CT was clear. His shoulder wasn't fractured but badly bruised and sprained – so he had to wear a sling. He had no internal bleeding and none of his other injuries were that serious. He'd been a lucky man. His blood alcohol content was lower than the legal limit so he wasn't drink-driving (or at least he'd metabolised a lot of it and was drunk-driving and very drunk earlier) and there were no drugs in his system.

They were, however, considering the possibility this unknown man was suicidal. No ID, driving at night along a road which (should have had better signposting and barriers) had a fallen tree on it, possibly very drunk and he had driven right into the tree from what she was told. They were still waiting for the police in case they found some ID as the unknown man hadn't woken up since the paramedics had found him.

And Dr Miller still thought she recognised him, especially now the blood was cleaned off his face. The man was still unconscious and they were playing the waiting game now. They just had to keep monitoring him and making sure he stayed stable.

"Nothing?"

Max and Lofty shook their heads in unison. "Nothing."

They'd driven around, trying to find Cal. He hadn't driven to the hospital, he hadn't driven to any local pubs and he wasn't on a side-street somewhere. He'd run off without his phone so they had no way of contacting him. It was past 2am and they were becoming very worried about him, especially because of his highly emotional state and all the alcohol he'd consumed.

They'd gone to Connie when they became desperate, fearing her reaction and being surprised when she was so understanding. She'd helped as much as she could without getting the police involved, but it was fast becoming their only option left.

"Look, I hate to say this," Lofty started, staring at his feet as if he was terrified of his next words, "but maybe it'd be wise to call around all the hospitals in a close radius to us. There are a few, and if he drove far away and something happened, he wouldn't be taken here."

"No. He's not in hospital," Max stated.

Connie looked at Lofty and nodded her head, before looking seriously at Max. "We can't rule anything out, Max. It's very possible he drove far enough away to, if something did happen to him, be taken somewhere else."

Max tried to compose himself, but the thought of his friend alone in hospital, in any type of condition, made his heart clench. He wasn't one for showing a lot of emotion towards his mates, but Cal was hurting. And they needed to find him and support him.

"Okay. Okay." He breathed out heavily. "Ring around. But I hope to anyone who's listening that, while I want to find him, he isn't at hospital."

"We all do, Max," Connie said in sympathy. "We all do," she muttered to herself, having a soft spot for Cal (that she wouldn't admit to, obviously).

"Caleb Knight," Dr Miller said thoughtfully, reading off the recovered driver's licence. "Caleb Knight."

"Is there a problem, Sarah?" PC Miller asked his wife.

"Caleb Knight... of course! I knew I recognised him! He's Dr Caleb 'call me Cal' Knight!" Upon seeing his confused look, she elaborated. "Sometimes he'd come with the paramedics to transfer patients here, I recognised him because he tried to -" she laughed "- he tried to flirt with me."

PC Miller adopted a protective look.

"Oh, don't worry, I shot him down immediately." She looked at Cal. "What's happened to him, then?" she asked rhetorically, wondering why a man like Cal would try (as they speculated) to kill himself. "Thank you, um, PC Miller."

He nodded and touched her hand lightly, before heading back to his own work, while Dr Miller set about finding Cal's records.

She rang multiple times, but each time it just went to voicemail straight away. His next of kin was only listed as his brother, Ethan Hardy, and it seemed like something had happened to his phone. Considering she hadn't seen Cal transferring a patient in ages, she wondered whether he could have moved on from the ED. But she had to try, and so rang the ED's reception.

"Holby ED reception, how can I help you?"

"Hello, it's Dr Miller from St James' Hospital Emergency Department. I was wondering if I could speak to your clinical lead?"

"Um, this is a bit out of the blue... I'm afraid you'll have to make an appointment."

Dr Miller sighed, "This can't wait, actually. It's about someone I believe is a doctor at your ED."

There was a pause and a distant voice. Dr Miller had to hold the phone away from her ear as it sounded like it was being passed over. The loud noise stopped and a female voice spoke.

"Connie Beauchamp, clinical lead," she introduced herself.

"Connie!" Dr Miller said, surprised. Last time she'd spoken to her was when she was a cardiothoracic surgeon on Darwin ward in Holby City, and she'd come to St James' to talk about her area of expertise. "Sorry, yes. It's Dr Sarah Miller here... from St James'."

Recognition entered Connie's voice. "Oh, hello. What can I do for you? I'm afraid I am rather busy at the moment so I can't talk for long."

"Well, we have someone as a patient here that used to work in your ED. We can't contact his next of kin and I wasn't sure whether he still worked in the ED."

There was silence on Connie's end, before her (unusually small) voice said, "go on."

"Caleb Knight."

"Yes, um... is he okay? He's been missing for a few hours, you see."

Dr Miller spoke apologetically. "I'm afraid I can't tell you much due to patient confidentiality. As I mentioned, I can't get in contact with his brother, Ethan Hardy."

"Well, that's because he's on ITU and has been for a few months," Connie said bitterly. Then she sighed. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I'm worried about Cal. He can be a nuisance sometimes but... he's a good man."

"No other family?"

"I'm afraid not. Those two brothers have only got each other, and us of course."

Dr Miller thought for a moment. "In that case, we need to discuss what happened with your doctor."

"I just received a call from St James'," Connie said as she shut her office door behind her and sat down with Max and Lofty.

"He's not...?" Max questioned worriedly.

"Yes, he is at St James'," Connie said seriously. "He's been in a car accident."