Chapter 2: Kill

Dr. Sharma was driving his car at quite a high speed to reach the hospital as soon as possible. Suddenly his car phone rang and Dr. Sharma already knew who it was. 

Dr. Sharma reduced his car speed and picked up the phone.

“Dr. Sharma where are you? The ambulance will reach the hospital in a few minutes.”

Dr. Sharma quickly replied, “Got it. I’ll be at the hospital within 15 minutes. Once the ambulance gets back, listen to Dr. Smith, The man in charge of immediate care, follow all of his orders and do a C.T. scan immediately.”

He then hung up the phone and increased his car speed to reach the hospital faster. But then he found a handkerchief on his car's seat. He knew this handkerchief belonged to Alicia. He then started to remember the events which happened after the date.

Flashback

Vikash and Alicia were returning from their date in the restaurant. As they reached Alicia’s house, they found Dr. Olson, Alicia’s father standing outside of the house.

Alicia after seeing her father said, “Oh Father.”

 Vikash immediately proceeded to apologize and said, “Please forgive me, Dr. Olson. I kept your precious daughter out so late.” 

Dr. Olson smiled and said, “What are you talking about, Vikash? You and Alicia are already engaged. Why don’t you come inside the house and have a cup of tea?”

Alicia then smiled and said, “Since when were you so generous, father you used to bellow like thunder whenever I came home a minute late.”

Dr. Olson then started laughing and said, “Now I’m just glad that my willful daughter is getting married and out of my hands!”

All three of them stepped inside the house and took a seat in the living room. The house was big and luxurious. Everything in the house seemed so expensive, from the furniture to the flower vases.

Dr. Olson sat on the sofa and ordered his servant to bring some tea. He then asked, “Have you told your parents in India that you’ve decided the marriage will be next April?”

Dr. Sharma then said, “Yes sir. I informed them about our marriage. But well, my father is just a small businessman and he can't spend a long time away from his shop. We're not sure if he'll have the time to come to the United States."

"Your older brother is set to take over the business, is he not? It would be a great opportunity for your parents to enjoy a nice vacation overseas."

Dr. Sharma agreed with Mr. Olson and then said, “Yes, we’ll invite them to stay here.”

He then continued saying, “Thank you. I don’t know how to repay you for everything you’ve done in my life, Dr. Olson. My family runs a small business and I’m the third son. When I came here to be a resident, thinking I could slip into a college hospital, your papers left such an impression on me.”

Alicia then said, “When you first came to the United States, relying totally on your scholarship and father’s money, I thought you were a high school student, Vikash.”

Vikash started laughing after hearing that.

But then she said, "And now you are the youngest and most skillful doctor at the Randall Memorial Hospital."

Dr. Sharma then said, “And I can never thank you enough, sir.”

Dr. Olson then said, “You did a lot of research for my old thesis. And now you’re working on “Cerebral Ischemia and Subarachnoid Hemorrhages”, are you not?

Dr. Sharma after hearing that excitedly said, “Ah…yes sir. We’ve been observing the contracted vessels using canine models of Subarachnoid Hemorrhages. If we could gain even the slightest knowledge from this mechanism… I would like to tie it into the medical world.”

The maid then entered the room with the tea and served it to everyone.

Dr. Olson then took a sip of his tea and said, "Aha. Well, that research is canceled."

Dr. Sharma was shocked after hearing that. After working so hard for this medical research, why should it be canceled? If this medical research is successful, it can help to save so many lives. He then asked, “Pardon?”

Dr. Olson then started to explain why the research is canceled.

“I am to be a symposiast at the upcoming “American-European Medical science Symposium”. The theme will be the “current state of medical organization and prospects for the future”. I need you to put together a manuscript for me.” 

Dr. Sharma was still shocked and confused after hearing the explanation. He then said, “Err…but we are almost finished with the Cerebral Ischemia Research.”

Dr. Olson then said, “You should have been there today.”

Alicia had a look of concern on her face. She then asked, "What happened, father?"

Dr. Olson then answered, "Some private civilian group branding us "unfair practitioners" or some other such nonsense had a rally outside the hospital, saying they were standing up for the rights of victims of failed operations and misdiagnoses."

Alicia was shocked after hearing that.

“Oh my…”

Dr. Olson then continued, “Oh yes, and they were in an uproar over the opera singer Kevin Lynch the other day. Accusing us of placing him ahead of some Bangladeshi man who was brought in before him.”

“Give him back!”

Dr. Sharma remembered the incident which happened in the hospital. The sobbing face of the Bangladeshi woman and her child was visible to him. No matter how much he tried to convince himself, he still felt guilty.

Dr. Olson then said, “I cannot believe how mistaken those people are.”

Dr. Sharma was more confused after hearing that and asked, “Mistaken?”

Dr. Olson then answered, "They are mistaken in that they believe doctors are volunteers of some sort. A businessman is more concerned about his profits rather than the item quality he sells. If everyone has the right to earn a profit, why can't we doctors do the same? We are concerned with the academic first, saving lives second…am I wrong Vikash?

Dr. Sharma didn’t know what to answer. But Dr. Olson couldn’t be wrong, right?

He then said, “Ah...No sir.”

Dr. Olson then said, “The science of medicine will never progress if that sort of individualistic sentiment exists.”

Alicia agreed with her father and asked Vikash, “I think my father is right, don’t you Vikash?”

Dr. Sharma was still confused but in rode to make Alicia happy, he said “Err…yeah.”

Dr. Olson then said, “In the very long term, we have a vital duty to lead America’s…, no, the whole Earth’s medical world. And for that sake, I plan to propose a continent-wide network brought about by the new electronic media."

“Err, but, director…”Dr. Sharma tried to interrupt Dr. Olson but Dr. Olson continued speaking.

"At any rate, your research is canceled. I would like you to write my paper. I'm expecting big things from you Vikash."

“But…” Dr. Sharma tried to refuse but he couldn't and instead bowed his head and said, "Thank you very much, sir."

Flashback ends

Dr. Sharma then returned to his senses and narrowly avoided an accident with a truck.

“Shit! What am I doing?”

***

Dr. Sharma reached the Randall Memorial hospital within 15 minutes and he saw an ambulance parked outside the hospital entrance. After seeing it, he rushed to the hospital and asked a nurse, “The patient?!”

The nurse replied, “Just went inside!”

As Dr. Sharma went forward, he saw Dr. Smith and a group of nurses rushing the patient to the operating theatre.

Dr. Smith then said, “Start an endotracheal intubation on him right now!”

Dr. Sharma then went forward and saw the patient. The patient was a boy of 10 years old. Dr. Sharma then asked Dr. Smith, “How is his condition?”

Dr. Smith then said, “Oh Dr. Sharma. Blood pressure 72/50, a pulse of 138."

Dr. Sharma was shocked that the child's head was covered with a bandage. Someone shot the child in the head. Who could do such an inhumane thing to a child?

Dr. Sharma then said, “The bullet went in the front?! Then the bullet might still be inside his head. We need a roentgenogram immediately!”

Dr. Smith after hearing that immediately agreed with Dr. Sharma and said, “Right!”

Dr. Smith then shouted, “Get that door open!”

Dr. Sharma then saw a few nurses and a doctor standing at a distance with a patient. He went near and saw the patient was a girl of age 10 probably. For some reason, she looked similar to the boy. She looked perfectly fit as she was not injured but was mentally shocked.

Dr. Sharma then asked the doctor there, “Who is that child?”

The doctor replied, “The boy’s twin sister.”

Dr. Sharma then asked, “Any external wounds?”

The doctor replied, “None. But she appears to have taken a huge mental shock.”

The girl was trying to say something.  But Dr. Sharma couldn’t hear it properly. He went near the girl to hear properly what the girl was saying.

“Kill…”

“What?”

But before Dr. Sharma could even confirm what he heard the nurse hurriedly came and said, “Dr. Sharma the cranial shots and C.T. scans have finished to the trace reading room, if you please.”

Dr. Sharma then immediately said, “Ah…Right. I’m coming.”

***

Dr. Sharma and some other doctors were observing the C.T. scans of the child. The doctors were discussing among themselves the results of the scan.

“It went in the front and buried itself into the deepest part of the brain.”

“Yes…”

Dr. Sharma then said, “This will be difficult…The bullets grazed the left-center cerebral artery."

“What?!” The doctor was shocked after hearing that. It was very difficult to save this child from death. After observing a little, he then said, “I see. Then Dr. Sharma is correct. This will be quite a tricky one.”

Another doctor said, “If we move the bullet it could rupture the artery and cause massive bleeding.”

Suddenly the door opened and the doctors turned out to see who it was. And unsurprisingly, it was Dr. Durham.

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Dr. Durham then said, “Sorry for being late.”

All the doctors except Dr. Sharma, there were annoyed by Dr. Durham's unpunctuality. Meanwhile, Dr. Sharma didn't even bother to look toward Dr. Durham and was observing the scans with focus.  

A doctor then said, “Dr. Durham. You’re supposed to be on duty! How can you show up so late?!”

Another doctor then said, “Must have been shacking up with that nurse again.”

Dr. Durham then said, “Really. I’m quite sorry.”

Dr. Sharma then figured out the way of operating on the child. He then said, "We'll do a full frontal craniotomy on both sides, remove the bone fragments and contaminated brain matter. Lastly, remove the bullet with extreme condition…angioplasty on the damaged arteries."

He then turned back to the doctors and said, “It may take a while, but we must try our hardest.”

The doctors after hearing that were impressed by Dr. Sharma’s quick thinking.

All the doctors then said, “Right. Let’s go.”

***

“Blood pressure 120/80, Pulse 92, everything looks fine.”

“Anesthetics administered.”

The doctors were going to start the operation on the child but then they heard a knock on the door. The doctors were confused and wondered who could it be. Who would disturb them right before an operation?

A doctor then said, “Yes?”

And then the door opened, and it was Dr. Fletcher. 

Dr. Fletcher then said, “Dr. Sharma, a word with you…”

Dr. Sharma said, “Dr. Fletcher.”

Dr. Fletcher then said, “The mayor!”

Everyone in the room tensed up after hearing that word,

Dr. Fletcher then continued, “Mayor Hensley has collapsed from a cerebral thrombus!”

Dr. Sharma and Dr. Fletcher then went outside of the operation theatre to talk about it more in detail.

Dr. Fletcher then explained to Dr. Sharma the situation. He continued, “He collapsed on a rest break at his villa. They are bringing him by helicopter. He will be here in 10 minutes.”

Dr. Sharma replied, "Very well, get in touch, Dr. Hart."

Dr. Fletcher then said, “His internal carotid artery may well be blocked. If that’s the case, you must do this operation.”

Dr. Sharma was shocked. He had to operate on the child. 

“What?! B…But I was just about to start the operation on this child.”

“This is coming from Director Olson. Get on the phone.”

 “B-…”

He then handed him the phone.  

“H…Hello this is Vikash.”

It was Dr. Olson speaking. “Ah, Vikash. I need you to work on the mayor.”

“I’ve already talked to Dr. Curtis and Dr. Nolan. This should be perfect!”

“B, but sir… I was just starting another operation.”

“You can leave that one to Dr. Durham.”

“A…with all due respect, sir… the patient I was about to work on has a bullet grazing his left-centered cerebral artery! It looks to be an extremely difficult operation but…I feel that I can accomplish it! I'll leave mayor Hensley with Dr. Nolan. I have to operate on this child…I'm afraid that Dr. Durham…"

But Dr. Sharma was interrupted by Director Olson who said, “Anyway, I want you to do everything in your power to save the mayor’s life. At the next important medical review board committee, Hensley has agreed to increase the subsidy given to Randall Memorial’s hospital. This will give us a lot of influence and money for further research. We can’t have him die yet. Now get to it Vikash.”

He then paused and said, “I expect good results from you.”

Dr. Sharma unwantedly said, “Yes…I understand.”

He then hung up the phone.

Dr. Fletcher then announced, “The mayor’s arrived at the heliport! Dr. Nolan.”

Dr.  Nolan then said, “Get right on the angio after the C.T.”

Dr. Curtis then said, “We need confirmation of which area has the blockage.”

Both of the doctors patted Dr. Sharma’s back while smiling confidently.

“Well, get on with the preparation Dr. Sharma.”

“We can always count on your brilliant skill.”

But Dr. Sharma wasn’t thinking about the mayor right now. Numerous thoughts were running inside his mind.

“They are mistaken in that they believe doctors are volunteers of some sort. We are concerned with the academic first, saving lives second…am I wrong, Vikash?”

"No offense to Dr. Durham, but if I had been in charge there, maybe I could have saved that Bangladeshi patient. But I only did the operation on the opera singer, just like the director ordered me to."

“It’s not my responsibility.”

“Exactly. Not all people’s lives are equal.”

“Give him back!”

“If you’d done the operation on him, he would have survived. You skipped over my husband’s turn.”

“Give him back! Give him back!”

“Give me my husband!”

Dr. Sharma decided what he needed to do. And it will be something which will be his decision nor the director's. Dr. Sharma stopped walking forward. The doctors were surprised when they saw Dr.  Sharma stop moving forward. 

“What’s wrong, Dr. Sharma?”

“I have got an operation waiting for me back there.” Dr. Sharma said with confidence.

All the doctors were confused after hearing that.

“Huh?”

Dr. turned behind and started walking back to the operation theatre of the child.

The doctors were shocked and tried to call Dr. Tenma back but to no avail. 

“Hey! Dr. Sharma!”

“It’s the director’s orders!”

The nurse then said, "The mayor is taking a C.T. scan right now. Please come to the trace-reading room right away.”

Dr. Nolan said, “Right.”

“Hey, Dr. Sharma!”

But Dr. Sharma had already reached the operation theatre of the child.

“It’s okay. Just hang in there. I’ll save you.”

Dr. Sharma had saved many people’s lives but this was the first time he was feeling so confident. He needs to succeed, no, he will succeed!

***

In another room of the hospital, a nurse could be seen talking to a man.

The man asked the nurse, “Will we be able to debrief her soon?”

“Certainly not… I’m afraid you can’t yet, detective.” the nurse replied.

Both of them look towards the girl in the bed with pity and concern.

But the only thing  the girl said was, “Kill…”

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