Crash Chapter 5

"Out of My Hands"

Dr. Jonathan Weiss' POV

'Hi Dr. Mueller' I say as soon as he's through the door.

'Now Jonathan, what exactly is it that you need help with? Your secretary said something about one of your corpses not being a corpse' Ellis asks.

'Correct. He's one of the car crash vics. We got him yesterday from you all, and the report says he was DOA. I began doing the autopsy today, and after the first incision was made, the body began to bleed. That's when I had you called in. It seemed to me like you might have had a similar case once before' I say while walking, leading the way to the autopsy room where our live corpse is.

'Now I assume you've contacted his next of kin as well' he says.

'Yes, right after you' I tell him.

'Well, here we are' I say, holding one door open for Dr. Mueller.

'I need to go out front and wait for his parents and girlfriend. If you need anything, just find Erica' I instruct.

'Okay' he says.

I head back to the front of the building, taking a different path than the one I just tooka few short seconds ago.

After waiting about fifteen minutes, I see a Mustang pull up, and three people get out.

'Hello Dr. Weiss. The woman that called said something had come up with Randy. What is it?' Mr. Taylor asks.

'Come in first, please' I say, motioning towards the entrance.

After I get the three of them sat down in some plastic chairs, I break the news.

'We began the autopsy shortly after you left. A few seconds after I made the incision on your son's body, the incision site began bleeding' I explain.

'I...I don't understand what the problem is though' Mr. Taylor says.

'Oh my God! He's alive!' Mrs. Taylor and the young lady shout at the same time.

'Once again, I'll say this. I don't understand' Mr. Taylor says, sounding annoyed.

'Tim, if he's bleeding then that means that his heart is still pumping blood which means that he's still alive!' Jill explains.

'So if he's alive, then how come he can't move?' Mr. Taylor, Tim, asks.

'I'm not sure what exactly is going on. I have a colleague of mine, Dr. Ellis Mueller, the chief of emergency medicine over at Detroit Memorial, examining him at this very moment' I explain.

'Well does he know what he's doing?' the young lady asks.

'Yes, he does. After he has completed his examination, you all can go in there and he can explain to you what's going on' I say.

'When will that be?' Mrs. Taylor asks.

'It could be five minutes, it could be twenty five minutes, I don't know' I admit. God I'm sick of this whole honesty thing. I hate having to admit that I don't know something.

'I'll come back here and let you know when he's finished' I say.

Jill's POV

We wait about fifteen minutes before Dr. Weiss comes back and says that Dr. Mueller has finished the examination.

'You all are free to come back and speak with the doctor now' he says.

'Tim, you go ahead. I don't think I can' I say, starting to have another meltdown.

'Okay' Tim says.

Lauren decides to stay here with me as well.

Tim wouldn't be my number one choice to have talk to a doctor, but I honestly don't think that I'd be able to do too much better than tim under these circumstances.

Tim is back after about 15 minutes.

'So, what's going on?' I ask.

'From what I could gather, it has something to do with his spinal cord. Thank God it can be corrected with surgery and a whole lot of luck. However, the surgery is risky, and has only about a thirty percent chance of working. It's all up to us' Tim explains.

'Well, I think we should talk about this. Um, where's that doctor at?' I ask Tim.

'I don't know how to get back there. Go over there and ask the receptionist to give you directions' Tim says.

On my way over there, I literally run in to an elderly gentleman

'Oh I'm sorry' I say.

'Don't worry about it' the man says.

'Excuse me miss, could you tell me where to find Dr. Mueller at? He was over here from Detroit Memorial examining my son and I need to speak with him' I explain.

'Right over there. He's the man you just ran into' the receptionist says.

I walk over to the doctor and catch him just before he's about to walk out the door.

'Excuse me, Dr. Mueller' I shout, hoping to catch his attention.

'Yes?' he asks, turning around.

'You just examined my son, and I had some questions for you' I say.

'Okay. Let's head back inside then' Dr. Mueller suggests.

We do so.

'Well, before my husband and I discuss the surgery, we want to know a couple of things. First off, is Randy conscious? Do you know?' I ask.

'It's hard to say for sure, but most likely he is' Dr. Mueller answers.

'If we did choose to do the surgery, how far would we have to go to get it done?' I ask.

'Oh, about five miles down the road to Detroit Memorial Hospital' he answers.

'What are the chances that the surgery will be successful?' I ask, even though Tim already told me.

'There is about a thirty to thirty five percent chance of success' the doctor says.

'What would happen if either he didn't have the surgery or he had the surgery and it failed?' I ask, already knowing the answer to my own question.

'After a while, he would actually die' he responds.

'Okay, last one. In your professional opinion, should we choose to have the surgery done?' I ask.

'In my professional opinion, I don't know if I would. In my personal opinion, then I definitely would. So to give you a real answer, I would have the surgery done' Dr. Mueller, who I suddenly noticed looks very similar to Alan Alda, says.

'So what do we do when my husband and I make a decision?' I ask, biting my tongue when I realize that I promised the last question would be my last.

'Just call here at the M.E.'s office, and they can get into contact with me' he instructs.

'Will do' Tim says.

'So Tim, do we do it?' I ask, not wanting to prolong any of this.

'I think we should' Tim says.

'Me too' I say.

'I agree' Lauren says after a couple minutes of silence.

A/N: I hope this all sounds realistic enough. I am essentially making up the surgery, but without the surgery, this would be a damn short story.

Please review, that way I know I'm doing a good job writing this. If there's something about the stories you think should be different or something you don't like, then go ahead and review and let me know. (Unless you're going to tell the surgery is unrealistic, because I already know that).

Thanks for reading.

-Yours truly, Randy Taylor