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    Marty
  • Marty
  • Author
  • 02/16/2019
  • 205 Words
  • 1,086 Views
  • 11 Comments
Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Marty's Shorts and Flashes - 2. Flat Lining (Flash)

Chapter Warnings: None
A surgeon has to make a quick decision in the emergency room.

"Clear!"

I stand back from the body of the middle-aged man lying on the table in ER. Several gunshot wounds are in evidence. A nurse places paddles on his chest. The body jerks violently upwards and then settles back onto the table.

"Still flat lining," says a voice to my right.

"Increase the power," I insist, restarting CPR.

The next jolt is also unsuccessful. I almost give up.

"Time of death 20:48 hours," says a voice behind me.

"No!" I cry. "Pass me the chest cutter!"

"Doctor, let him go. He’s too badly gone."

"Chest cutter. Now!"

Sound of ribs cracking... Vice opens the chest... Heart exposed... Not beating... Lifeless.

Closing my palm around the heart, I squeeze rhythmically. Blood pulses through the arteries. I stop after a minute. The heart is still lifeless

"Small paddles!" I say, squeezing the heart again.

I remove my hand from the chest as the nurse places two small paddles, one each side of the heart.

"Clear!"

The heart jumps inside his chest. It keeps beating as the paddles are removed. The electronic sound in the background changes.

"We have a heartbeat," says the voice to my right.

"Close him up," I say quietly, leaving the ER.

As a piece of flash fiction, I feel that I have ended this at the correct place. Readers are welcome to disagree with me.
Copyright © 2019 Marty; All Rights Reserved.
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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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Chapter Comments

Talo Segura

The ending was fine, I would have liked more at the beginning. Who was the person being resuscitated?

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Marty
On 2/16/2019 at 5:41 PM, Carlos Hazday said:

Nice little example of how perseverance often pays off.

 

Thanks, @Carlos Hazday. Yes, that's just what I was thinking as I wrote it. :) 

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Marty
On 2/16/2019 at 8:46 PM, Layne said:

I like how it ends. 

 

Thanks, @Layne. So did I :) 

 

On 2/16/2019 at 9:56 PM, Parker Owens said:

Now you can take care of those gunshot wounds... nice piece. 

 

Cheers, Parker. :)  I think the doctor in the ER room was more than happy to let someone else take over at this point. His job was done.

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Marty
On 2/16/2019 at 11:18 PM, Geron Kees said:

Saving a life is always worth the extra effort. NEVER give up, until it is truly, undeniably gone.

 

Bravo.

 

Exactly, Geron! :) 

 

And even when it does appear to be undeniably gone ("Time of death 20:48 hours...") it can sometimes still be worth making that one last effort...

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Marty
On 3/3/2019 at 10:56 PM, Talo Segura said:

The ending was fine, I would have liked more at the beginning. Who was the person being resuscitated?

Thanks for the comment, @Talo Segura.

As to who the person being resuscitated was, I don't think it really matters. It could have been the victim of an attempted robbery. It could have been a victim of domestic violence. It could even have been someone shot by the police as he was committing some crime of his own. None of that mattered to the doctor trying to resuscitate him. All he saw was a fellow human being that needed his intervention to try to stop him from dying. Something to do with the Hippocratic Oath he had taken, maybe? :) 

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Mancunian

Short piece that reminds us how much we rely on our health services and the dedication of the staff, where would we be without them?

A nice piece that reminds us to never give up.

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Marty
On 9/22/2019 at 4:50 PM, Mancunian said:

Short piece that reminds us how much we rely on our health services and the dedication of the staff, where would we be without them?

A nice piece that reminds us to never give up.

I think we are all guilty of sometimes taking our health service for granted.

Thanks for taking the time to comment. :) 

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