Death declaration

Pathetically my first death declaration was a drama I fortuitously stuck in between…

A patient died on a frenzied resuscitation by the nurses and declared to deceased by my senior, no family member was around (since it was in the HND unit). A second later, the family was called in (without knowing that the patient has already died). By the moment when the daughter (of the dead patient) came in, the nurses started to resuscitate the 'patient' all over again.

Stuck in between the scene, I was confused, kenapa nak resuscitate lagi? Bukan tadi dah cakap mati ke? What's going on??

On the other scene, the daughter was howling in despair by the 'dead' mother, hoping that the mother could make it.

Frenetically, one of the nurses (the chief I guess) pulled me to come over the patient and with an uptight voice she said

"Ayo dokter, sini check pasiennya!"

Again, I was confused! Why should I check up on a dead person for? Ah, whatever~ so I checked her up. So carotid pulse not detectable, so did the radial pulse, no heart beat was heard, both pupils were dilated to the maximal and I thought to myself hmm… right, memang dah mati pun

"jadi gi mana dokter??!!" the nurse asked. Betul la dia dah mati, dah tau lagi nak tanya…

The daughter looked at me hoping that I would tell her something better than death.

With a total confusion and thoroughly out of conscious, I looked at the nurse and said

"Sudah ga ada"

Oh sh**! Now I remember, I should have had told the family member first, not the nurse, and I should put on my empathy face while saying it, and I should make a better phrase to break it! Damn failed! So wrong! In a nick of time, I got back to reality and realized that it was my call to announce it. I looked at the daughter's face and said… Well I don't remember how I exactly put it into words, but as soon as I told her, she fainted!

OMG!

So then I understand of what the drama was all about. If the drama was not apprehended before the eye of the daughter, she would have fainted earlier and would get disappointed for not be there by the mother's side on her last breath. Although we all knew that the she did not, at least she didn't.

Early declaration

2:00 am (approximately 12 hours after my first death declaration) – I was sitting alone at my table. The ward was soundless, everyone was sleeping or trying to get some sleep, so did the nurses. While me, I was all awake (in case of some nocturnal complains) reading/learning on patients' record, when suddenly a man came to me and said

"dokter, ibu saya sudah meninggal"

WOOT?!

I suddenly felt ticklish, I thought it was a joke and rather funny. Because… because I never thought of someone else who could declare a death but doctors. And it was funnier because… because it was the family member who declared it to a doctor! Reverse!

I ran to the bed, and check up on the 'dead' patient. Vital signs were wholly undetectable.

Eh, betul lah, dah mati! Pandai jugak bapak ni check!

"Maaf pak, ibunya sudah ga ada"

The person looked completely calm. Oh yea, he knew!

p.s: Lemon man passed away on Tuesday