Certain Death

Chapter One



         The morning was cool, the day was beginning to break and the sky was saturated in light orange, pink and pale yellow.  In just a few hours it would be a hot, humid day.  She loves the early mornings, the cool air, and the beautiful sunrises when the world is just beginning to wake up.  Michelle Bowen drinks her coffee on the patio and watches the sun come up.

         On her way to work, she is thinking what a nice morning. It is cool and she opens the window to enjoy the fresh air. She pulls into the parking lot of Shady Hills Nursing Facility, where she works on the Acute Care Unit.  This is were patients come when they have been released from the hospital, but still need specific care before they can go home.

Michelle arrives at work, Betty Ashburn, the night nurse, goes in to check on Joseph Bancroft because he has been very depressed and wanting to die.  She buzzes the nurses and tells them “Code Blue, Cold Blue!”  All the nurses come running down the hall.  He is not breathing, The RN asks, “Does he have a pulse?  Blood pressure?”

         Betty says, “No pulse and no blood pressure.” 

         Betty was hired three months after Jackie and they became friends in the few short weeks that they have worked there.  Betty and Jackie each loss their mother’s, at a young age from cancer, they went into nursing to help people who are suffering.  Today Joseph Bancroft is very depressed, and his family is in the room with him. 

Betty and Jackie enter the room, stand by the bed, he has a gray tinge to his skin, and earlier this morning Betty noticed that there is mottling on his hands and feet.  Now it is going up his calf and forearm.  He has periods of apnea and they are longer each time.  They know it is just a matter of time.

Michelle comes running and thinks to herself, “great way to start the day.”

         After rounds and report, Jackie goes to work and before long is knee deep in paper work, giving medications and doing treatments.  Mr. Bancroft’s nursing assistant comings’ running down the hall and tells Jackie, “I think Mr. Bancroft just died.”

         “I’m on my way.”  As she walks to the room the family emerges from the room crying.

         “Get him cleaned up and I’ll call the Registered Nurse to pronounce him dead.”

         The administration is beginning to worry about the amount of patients that have died with-in the last few months.  On the hospice unit, you expect them to die but not on the other units.

         The administrator hurries down the hall looking for the Director of Nurses, Susan Brown.  Her office door is open and he walks in as she is hanging up the phone.  He closes the door behind himself. “I want you to find out what is going on.”

         “We’ve noticed an increase in deaths and the increase in morphine use about the time we hired Jackie and Betty.  We haven’t been able to pin it down to either one but we are still working on it.”

         Betty is the new nurse.  She moved here from Houston and has been here only four weeks. She watched her mother die of cancer, and, as a teenager there was nothing she could do.  It was then she decided to become a nurse.  She is a very dedicated nurse; she shows a great amount of compassion for the patients, which is good but sometimes she gets too personally involved.

         She was heard saying, “This is not fair, why do they have to suffer so much before they die?  Why not just let them die?” 

         Death is a part of being a nurse; there are times when it is a blessing because the person has suffered for a long time.  I just ask why?

         Mr. Bancroft has Myeloma, a bone marrow cancer.  His family is concerned because over the last two weeks there have been four deaths on the Acute Care Unit, which is alarming considering they are suppose to be getting better and go home. His family thinks that someone is assisting the patients to die. 

It has been several days since Mr. Bancroft’s death, the administration decided to do an internal review before they call in the police.  They have to report to the nursing board and have them check into it and then if they find just cause then the police will be called in and the facility can be closed down.

         Sharon Ellis is my relief I tell her, “Mr. Bancroft’s family has lodge a complaint with the nursing board.”

         Sharon says, “I suspected they were going to because they are certain someone here killed him.”

         I finish report and tell her, “I hope you have a good night.  I’m going home it’s been a long day.”

         I pull into my driveway, and a police car pulls up to the curb, he saunters across the front yard.  “I’m Sergeant Justin Wells,” he holds out his hand.

         I shake his hand and say, “Nice to meet you.  My name is Michelle Bowen.”

She goes to the trunk and opens it.  There are several bags and she reaches for them before she can grab them Justin all ready has them in his arms.  He closes the trunk and they begin to walk to the back door.  She unlocks the door.  “I have some questions to ask you.

“About what?”  She asks.

“Mr. Bancroft’s death.” Justin says.  “You were at work the day he died.”

Michelle says, “Yes”.  I work six to two shift.” She turns her back on him and began putting away her groceries in the refrigerator.

“The nursing home called the state and we’re helping them with the case.”

“Nice to meet you, Michelle.  I’ll see you around.”

         Michelle watches him as he walks around the house, turns and waves and then disappears.  She puts her groceries away, changes her clothes and decides to lie down before she eats.

         She is so tired that she falls asleep seconds after her head hits the pillow.  Then she begins to dream, it begins when she was around six and her mother was well, they are in the kitchen and her mother is letting her help with baking cookies.  They have flour on the floor and on themselves her mother is laughing and they are having fun.

         Then her dream takes her to when she was ten years old.  Her mother becomes very sick and her father is always telling her, “Your mother is very sick so we must not disturb.  She needs her rest.”

         Her mother would begin to venture out of her room and she would start looking healthy and Jackie would be happy.  Her mother would read her stories at night and they would cook together.  Her mother also taught her how to do the laundry and clean house.  At the time she did not realize her mother was preparing her for when she would not be able to do these things.

          Then when she was fifteen years old her mother became sick and would not get better.  The chemotherapy and radiation did her no good it only made her sick and weak and she had to stay in bed.