The thermometer beeped, and my heart thumped. As I predicted, her temperature was over 103. “Sweetheart,” I said, “we’ve got to get you to the hospital.” I was staying as calm as I could manage, but I knew enough to know that time was of the essence here. We were dealing with what was rapidly becoming a life-threatening infection.
“No,” she wailed, shaking her head. “I can’t go to the hospital.”
“Why can’t you go to the hospital, Sarah?” Mason asked, kneeling down beside her.
“I don’t want my parents to know I’m sick.”
Mason put a hand on Sarah’s. “Daisy met your mom, Ms. Theodora. Daisy, don’t you agree that she would want her sick daughter to go to the hospital?”
“She can’t know!” Sarah protested.
“Sarah, you’re being crazy,” Drew said. “Your parents would want you to go to the hospital!”
Drew looked at me pleadingly, adding, “Her parents are out of town at a church conference, and I went over to see her and found her like this.” Mason looked mystified. But I was only focused on Sarah.
“Hey,” I said. “Look at me. Are you sixteen?”
She didn’t answer, and I said, “Hey, guys. We need a minute, please.” I was firm but calm, just like I would have been with a patient’s family in the hospital.
They walked away and I said, “Sarah?”
“I’m seventeen. I’m a senior.”
“Your parents don’t have to know. You can seek medical care without their consent.”
“But I’m the preacher’s kid,” she whispered. “Everyone knows me.”
I looked at her seriously. “Sarah, you are going to be the preacher’s dead kid, and then everyone is really going to be talking.”
Her eyes widened. She looked around. “I don’t want to get in trouble.”
I couldn’tknowwhat she was getting at. Because if Iknew, I would be obligated to do something. So I said, “Sarah, people get abdominal infections all the time, for all types of reasons. And that’s all I’m going to say.” I knew that a physical exam thorough enough to ascertain that Sarah had just given birth was unlikely in a crowded emergency department.
“I just don’t know. What if someone calls the police?” she whispered.
“I’m not trying to scare you,” I said. “If we can get you to the hospital, you are going to be fine. But there’s nothing I can do to treat you here. You need intravenous antibiotics.”
Mason came back over. “Um, Daisy?” He looked at me questioningly. Drew walked up behind him.
“This is a very serious abdominal infection,” I said, locking my eyes on his. It took a second, but a knowing washed over him. Drew, of course, was too young for that same knowing to wash over him. He said, “She’s being crazy. Can’t fever do that to you? Her parents obviously would want her to go to the hospital.”
Sarah was quietly weeping. “Look at me, Sarah,” I said. “I’m going to take care of you. You have to trust me, okay?”
She gave me a small nod, and I got out of the way so Mason and Drew could half carry her through the house and down the stairs.
As Drew got Sarah situated in the back seat, Mason walked to me in the dark, by the car. “Shit,” he said. “Maisy?”
“Has to be,” I said. Panic flooded me. This girl was sick, very sick. I knew we were days if not hours away from her leaving us if she didn’t get treated. My mouth went dry, my heart pounded, and the world around me went just a little hazy. I couldn’t lose a patient. Not another one. Even if she wasn’t really mine.
“What the hell do we do now?” Mason asked. He put his hand on my arm, bringing me back to myself, steadying me. “Daisy?” he said quietly.
I shook my head. This was an infection in a healthy girl. She was going to be fine. I had to get myself together.
“For now,” I said firmly, more to myself than to Mason, “we treat this little girl.” I took a deep breath. “After that, I have absolutely no idea.”
DAISYThe Moral Line
I wasn’t working, but Cape Carolina Medical was small enough that no one balked at my wanting to be a part of Sarah’s care. That said, I wasn’ttechnicallya part of her care.
