justprompts | May: Quote
"He who tells a lie is not sensible of how great a task he undertakes; for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain that one." - Alexander Pope
[Follows THIS and THIS]
Matt was slipping his detective badge back into the breast pocket of his coat as he looked at the nurse skeptically. "Appendicitis? That is impossible. I have it on good authority that he's already had his appendix out. What, is this some sort of screwed up generic diagnosis? You're going to cut him open and take out a body part before the tox screens have even come back? Do I need to get a court order to stop that, or are you just bloody begging for him to sue the hospital for battery?" It was no secret that Matt was cranky after his hectic day at work that ended with being vomited extensively upon by Vee's Irish BFF. After making sure both Vee and Gee knew what was going on, Matt met with Natalie back at the CID to present her with the poisoning suspicions, especially with the new information from Vee that confirmed Euan had already had his appendix out at some point in the past... a fact that allegedly came from Euan's own mouth. They really had no choice but to run with that, and she gave the go ahead to investigate the possibility of poisoning, which gave Matt the opening he needed to question the medical staff at the hospital taking care of Euan.
Gee relieved Ronnie of his bedside vigil duties, and he met up with Matt in the Casualty department. Matt had given Ronnie a quick rundown of everything, and then they were both onto the case. Natalie had faxed through a court order for tox screens on Euan's blood, and on the chance he vomited again, his stomach contents. They were just waiting on the results. Unfortunately bloody doctors and nurses could be extremely unhelpful when they wanted to be, liking to generally hide under the protection of the doctor-patient confidentiality umbrella, or patient confidentiality policies. Which were all well and good, until there was a police investigation, in which case, Ronnie and Matt should have easy access to what information they needed. Should being the operative word. They got roadblocked right up until getting palmed off onto the Head Nurse of the unit, no one else under her willing to risk giving any wrong information to the coppers.
Ronnie cleared his throat and gestured to Euan's medical record lying open in front of the nurse on her desk. "You got telephone authority from his sister in Ireland, who is on her way to London as we speak. Did the authority cover any surgical procedures, or just medication intervention? Can I see a record of the telephone conversation?" he requested while his adrenaline-pumped, nippy and snarky younger partner fumed and played bad cop beside him. Matt was primed, but Ronnie had never been beyond telling him to just chill out and get a cuppa. He wasn't too far off that, he suspected.
Matt watched with a frown as the nurse manager flicked through the file and found the written telephone record. "He has a scar, Ronnie. On his abdomen," he pointed out for emphasis.
The nurse cleared her throat. "Detective," she began evenly, watching Matt with her eyebrow raised, and then handed Ronnie the sheet of paper. "It is true that we don't have access to any of Detective Fitzpatrick's prior medical history or records, but his sister is adament he has never had appendicitis and she has given authority for surgery. In fact, our doctors have examined abdominal scar and it is not only too high on his abdomen to be from an appendectomy, but the way it has knitted indicates it was caused by something large with a serated edge. Most certainly not a surgical scalpel. If you see there, our doctor queried this with his sister and she told us he was stabbed with a knife in his late teens, something she couldn't elaborate on because she had been estranged from him for a period of time when it happened."
Ronnie was listening while he read over the record of the telephone conversation. It basically just recounted what the nurse had just explained verbally, with some other boring facts such as querying allergies or any possibly medical history. He handed it to Matt, clearing his throat. "The docs have diagnosed appendicitis, then? There is a beyond reasonable doubt assumption of the diagnosis?" He could feel Matt fuming beside him by now, probably wondering if his blonde lay had been lying to him.
"All of the symptoms fit like a new glove. We can ultrasound to confirm, but since your intervention with a police investigation, we have had to wait for any further medical procedure under your go ahead. I can understand how a suspicion of poisoning may have been raised, sir, but from a medical perspective, it's unlikely. Detective Fitzpatrick has vomited repeatedly, yet on examination, we can see no signs of a substance burning or blistering his lips or throat as would with a caustic substance upon ejection. There's also no traces of blood in the vomit, so it would have to be a poison that could act as merely an emetic causing stomach pain. It would not have been something given with intent to murder. With all due respect, Detectives, if either of you have had appendicitis, you would know that it can be extremely painful and distressing prior to surgery, not to mention life threatening. Correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't you delaying his inevitable surgery be grounds for involuntary manslaughter if he dies from a septic appendix? The tox screens have been taken and you can still wait for the result while he is operated on. We go in, take the appendix, whether it's healthy or not, he is symptomatic, so it comes out. While we're in there, the surgeons can look around for any other internal sides of poisoning."
Matt pressed his lips together, clearly pissed off at the turn of events, but he handed the sheet back to her roughly, clearing his throat. Vee and Gee would both castrate him if he got overenthusiastic in an investigation with basically no evidence just out of principle, especially when Euan's life could potentially be on the line. He just had no idea why the hell Vee believed Euan had already had his appendix out. All they could do was let him have the surgery, there was no other choice. "You're sure it's appendicitis. Not the other staff, you," he said with a nod for emphasis.
"Yes, Detective Devlin. And I know that you're sure now, too, aren't you? You've been in his shoes. Not sure you would have appreciated someone holding up your medical treatment over a hunch, would you?" The Head Nurse returned pointedly as she tucked the piece of paper back into the file and closed it over. "I will advise you of the tox results the minute we have them. Feel free to utilise this office if you require privacy for your investigation." And then she left them alone.
Matt's lips formed a thin line as he sat back in the chair with a huff. "Appendicitis," he snorted, shaking his head.
Ronnie looked at Matt over the top of his glasses, eyebrow raised, an then slipped them off his face to shove them in his pocket. "I'm going to start thinking you wanted him poisoned, Matty. Or that you're worried he's about to pinch your title of the hospital's Appendectomy King."
Matt rolled his eyes and gave a long-suffering sigh. "She told me he had his appendix out. Either she's lying or he is. I don't think it's her, meaning there is a chance here she really doesn't know her apparent best friend at all. Can of worms," he mumbled with a shake of his head. "You know the worst part? I can't tell her any of what the nurse just told us," he realised, rubbing a hand over his face. "Christ, I need a pint."
Ronnie patted Matt's back. "She still a detective at heart herself, Matty. Let her connect the dots. I'm sure she's not a pillock."
"No, but I'm starting to wonder if he is," Matt murmured.
- forensicated used with much love and permission
Word Count | 1,359
[Follows THIS and THIS]
Matt was slipping his detective badge back into the breast pocket of his coat as he looked at the nurse skeptically. "Appendicitis? That is impossible. I have it on good authority that he's already had his appendix out. What, is this some sort of screwed up generic diagnosis? You're going to cut him open and take out a body part before the tox screens have even come back? Do I need to get a court order to stop that, or are you just bloody begging for him to sue the hospital for battery?" It was no secret that Matt was cranky after his hectic day at work that ended with being vomited extensively upon by Vee's Irish BFF. After making sure both Vee and Gee knew what was going on, Matt met with Natalie back at the CID to present her with the poisoning suspicions, especially with the new information from Vee that confirmed Euan had already had his appendix out at some point in the past... a fact that allegedly came from Euan's own mouth. They really had no choice but to run with that, and she gave the go ahead to investigate the possibility of poisoning, which gave Matt the opening he needed to question the medical staff at the hospital taking care of Euan.
Gee relieved Ronnie of his bedside vigil duties, and he met up with Matt in the Casualty department. Matt had given Ronnie a quick rundown of everything, and then they were both onto the case. Natalie had faxed through a court order for tox screens on Euan's blood, and on the chance he vomited again, his stomach contents. They were just waiting on the results. Unfortunately bloody doctors and nurses could be extremely unhelpful when they wanted to be, liking to generally hide under the protection of the doctor-patient confidentiality umbrella, or patient confidentiality policies. Which were all well and good, until there was a police investigation, in which case, Ronnie and Matt should have easy access to what information they needed. Should being the operative word. They got roadblocked right up until getting palmed off onto the Head Nurse of the unit, no one else under her willing to risk giving any wrong information to the coppers.
Ronnie cleared his throat and gestured to Euan's medical record lying open in front of the nurse on her desk. "You got telephone authority from his sister in Ireland, who is on her way to London as we speak. Did the authority cover any surgical procedures, or just medication intervention? Can I see a record of the telephone conversation?" he requested while his adrenaline-pumped, nippy and snarky younger partner fumed and played bad cop beside him. Matt was primed, but Ronnie had never been beyond telling him to just chill out and get a cuppa. He wasn't too far off that, he suspected.
Matt watched with a frown as the nurse manager flicked through the file and found the written telephone record. "He has a scar, Ronnie. On his abdomen," he pointed out for emphasis.
The nurse cleared her throat. "Detective," she began evenly, watching Matt with her eyebrow raised, and then handed Ronnie the sheet of paper. "It is true that we don't have access to any of Detective Fitzpatrick's prior medical history or records, but his sister is adament he has never had appendicitis and she has given authority for surgery. In fact, our doctors have examined abdominal scar and it is not only too high on his abdomen to be from an appendectomy, but the way it has knitted indicates it was caused by something large with a serated edge. Most certainly not a surgical scalpel. If you see there, our doctor queried this with his sister and she told us he was stabbed with a knife in his late teens, something she couldn't elaborate on because she had been estranged from him for a period of time when it happened."
Ronnie was listening while he read over the record of the telephone conversation. It basically just recounted what the nurse had just explained verbally, with some other boring facts such as querying allergies or any possibly medical history. He handed it to Matt, clearing his throat. "The docs have diagnosed appendicitis, then? There is a beyond reasonable doubt assumption of the diagnosis?" He could feel Matt fuming beside him by now, probably wondering if his blonde lay had been lying to him.
"All of the symptoms fit like a new glove. We can ultrasound to confirm, but since your intervention with a police investigation, we have had to wait for any further medical procedure under your go ahead. I can understand how a suspicion of poisoning may have been raised, sir, but from a medical perspective, it's unlikely. Detective Fitzpatrick has vomited repeatedly, yet on examination, we can see no signs of a substance burning or blistering his lips or throat as would with a caustic substance upon ejection. There's also no traces of blood in the vomit, so it would have to be a poison that could act as merely an emetic causing stomach pain. It would not have been something given with intent to murder. With all due respect, Detectives, if either of you have had appendicitis, you would know that it can be extremely painful and distressing prior to surgery, not to mention life threatening. Correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't you delaying his inevitable surgery be grounds for involuntary manslaughter if he dies from a septic appendix? The tox screens have been taken and you can still wait for the result while he is operated on. We go in, take the appendix, whether it's healthy or not, he is symptomatic, so it comes out. While we're in there, the surgeons can look around for any other internal sides of poisoning."
Matt pressed his lips together, clearly pissed off at the turn of events, but he handed the sheet back to her roughly, clearing his throat. Vee and Gee would both castrate him if he got overenthusiastic in an investigation with basically no evidence just out of principle, especially when Euan's life could potentially be on the line. He just had no idea why the hell Vee believed Euan had already had his appendix out. All they could do was let him have the surgery, there was no other choice. "You're sure it's appendicitis. Not the other staff, you," he said with a nod for emphasis.
"Yes, Detective Devlin. And I know that you're sure now, too, aren't you? You've been in his shoes. Not sure you would have appreciated someone holding up your medical treatment over a hunch, would you?" The Head Nurse returned pointedly as she tucked the piece of paper back into the file and closed it over. "I will advise you of the tox results the minute we have them. Feel free to utilise this office if you require privacy for your investigation." And then she left them alone.
Matt's lips formed a thin line as he sat back in the chair with a huff. "Appendicitis," he snorted, shaking his head.
Ronnie looked at Matt over the top of his glasses, eyebrow raised, an then slipped them off his face to shove them in his pocket. "I'm going to start thinking you wanted him poisoned, Matty. Or that you're worried he's about to pinch your title of the hospital's Appendectomy King."
Matt rolled his eyes and gave a long-suffering sigh. "She told me he had his appendix out. Either she's lying or he is. I don't think it's her, meaning there is a chance here she really doesn't know her apparent best friend at all. Can of worms," he mumbled with a shake of his head. "You know the worst part? I can't tell her any of what the nurse just told us," he realised, rubbing a hand over his face. "Christ, I need a pint."
Ronnie patted Matt's back. "She still a detective at heart herself, Matty. Let her connect the dots. I'm sure she's not a pillock."
"No, but I'm starting to wonder if he is," Matt murmured.
- forensicated used with much love and permission
Word Count | 1,359