The Patient and the Cure - 1. Chapter 1

The Patient and the Cure

The fire crackled gently warming the room. A small group of friends sat in large comfortable chairs. They were the remnants of a retirement party for Dr. Smith. As they sipped drinks, the doctor reminisced about his career. He had told many inspiring stories that night but now his mind turned to the darker chapters of his life. He talked about his early days in medicine as if making a confession.

He had always been quick to lean and had graduated from medical school early. His first experience treating patients was at a mental institution called the Maysprings Sanatorium. It was privately owned and had its own approaches to curing the sick. Dr. Smith became the lowest ranking member of a complex hierarchy of doctors. He was given the most hopeless and undesirable patients. In most cases he did what he could to comfort them but was helpless to do anything more. Often the patients were so lost in their internal worlds that they scarcely knew he existed. Some were vegetative. Others were severely autistic. It was not until his fourth year at Maysprings that Dr. Smith was assigned an interesting case.

The patient was a healthy looking nineteen year old. He seemed pleasant yet everyone seemed repulsed by him. Dr. Smith began to talk to him and found him to be coherent and intelligent. His one complaint was what he described as an "unnatural attraction to other men". The condition was known at the time but treatments varied. Most doctors considered the condition serious. There was a small minority who disagreed but their opinions were criticized in the medical literature.

In order to devise a plan of treatment, Dr. Smith began researching the condition. After much careful study, he settled on a course of treatment that consisted mainly of counseling and hypnosis. He proceeded this way for several weeks and the patient was becoming much calmer. Then one day Dr. Smith's supervisor came to check on the patient's progress. The supervisor complemented Dr. Smith on steadying the young man's nerves. Then he went on to explain that the sanatorium received many such cases and had an effective treatment. Dr. Smith was surprised. The condition was notoriously difficult to treat.

He was lead to the basement of the building where this miracle cure was said to happen. He had been in the basement only once before and had seen nothing but a hallway with many locked doors. He had been curious what mysteries were unfolding behind them. Now the doors were opened and his curiosity slowly turned to horror. The main ward was dark. No sunlight was aloud in. The sole illumination was a small dim lamp at the end of the enormous room. The patients lay in bed isolated from each other by screens. Some were strapped to their beds. Most of them were bald and almost all of them stared blankly at the ceiling. As he walked past the beds Dr. Smith saw that his patient had been transferred to the ward. The young man smiled nervously as the doctors approached.

The physician who led the way explained that patients needed rest and that it was dark so that they would be able to sleep. They were reaching the end of the room when Dr. Smith noticed a dark figure perched on a chair near the one bare light bulb that illuminated the room. It was one of the nurses. They wore different uniforms depending on the area they were assigned to. In this ward the uniforms were long and black.

Next Dr. Smith was shown one of the treatment rooms. This was lit by florescent tubes. The walls were smooth and white. In the center was a bed with leather restraints and next to it was an electric device. It was used for electric shock therapy. The shocks would be increased daily until the patient was cured or the current was nearly lethal. If this failed then chemical cures would be employed. Dr. Smith was shown an example of this cure in the adjacent room. They watched as a woman was strapped down by members of the nursing staff. She struggled and screamed as they bound her arms and legs. The doctor injected her with a new medicine that was a closely guarded secret. She postured and flexed as the needle pierced her flesh. The doctor seemed to enjoy his work.

There were other miscellaneous treatments. Some involved diet. They often involved intermittent starvation. Some patients were forced to drink urine. Others were given cod liver oil. For some patients enemas were proscribed. Extreme bloodletting was used on others. Dr. Smith saw one of these patients. His eyes were jaundiced and his chapped skin was a yellowish gray.

For those who were neither killed nor cured by these treatments, there was the possibility of surgery. There were two procedures available. One was a removal of all the reproductive organs. The other was brain surgery. Dr. Smith saw a patient who had undergone the brain surgery and was deemed a success. The stitches were still visible on his head. He was propped up on bed like a mannequin. His eyes stared vacantly at the wall. They were like empty pits. He would need care for the rest of his life. He was cured of both his disease and his personality.

Later that day Dr. Smith sat in his office nearly in tears. It seemed that every tool of science and medicine had been perverted in this place. The staff either did not know or did not care about the horror that was taking place in the basement. Some even took sadistic pleasure in the abuse. The doctor returned to the ward with its many beds and screens and lost souls. The patients stared without expressions as if they were already dead. There were only a few who still had the spark of life in their eyes. Among them was Dr. Smith's new patient. He smiled and the doctor smiled back. There was peace in the young man's expression as if he did not see the purgatory he found himself in. Dr. Smith assured him that he would soon be well and let him rest. All the while the attending nurse watched them. She was dressed entirely in black. Only her pale face showed from under a black scarf.

The next day Dr. Smith watched as his patients head was shaved. The sacrifice of golden locks was necessary to attach the electrodes. It was also an act of initiation into this dark world. The patient was then strapped to the bed and prepared for the elecroconvulsive therapy. The first painful shocks were delivered. Dr. Smith could see the pain and fear in the patient's eyes as he was forced in and out of consciousness. When the session was over Dr. Smith saw a reflection of himself in his patients teary eyes.

Not a whole ten years before, the doctor had suffered from the same condition. He had told his parents and they were devastated. There was no sanatorium at the time and much less understanding of mental disease. He was taken to the church and explained his troubles to the preacher. The preacher declared it the work of the devil and explained that Smith was possessed by an unclean spirit. The only solution was to cast out the daemon. The cleansing began on Saturday afternoon. Smith was seated in front of the alter while the preached and Smith's parents prayed over him. Then the preacher demanded to know the evil spirit's name. "Who are you that posses this boy?" he shouted.

There was no answer and the prayer continued. Then the preacher demanded that the spirit give him its name. This continued in cycles all afternoon. The preacher continued to ask who inhabited Smith's body and the boy began to think about the question. He was alone in his body and it was lonely there. The question could only have been addressed to him. There was no one else to answer it. The prayers that had once been his protection were now aimed at him like arrows.

The sun set and the struggle continued. The church was now dark except for a few candles that always burned by the alter. They stood in pair and watched him like ghosts with red burning eyes. The preacher no longer asked for a name. He now tried to expel the spirit from Smith's body. In the darkness the preacher's voice echoed off the walls. Smith cried quietly knowing that the words were addressed to him. He felt empty and worthless. With every repetition of the command to leave Smiths soul sank deeper into despair.

Suddenly there was a tremendous crash. Something had fallen in the little sacristy. The preacher went to check what it was but continued to pray. When he did not return right away Smith's parents went to check on him. Feeling that he did not belong, Smith wondered outside. He felt as if he had lost his soul. Above him the stars shone coldly. They were only stars. There was no heaven for him and no love.

He lied to the preached. He said that the spirit was gone. Then he abandoned spiritual matters and devoted himself to science and logic. He went to medical school and took the Hippocratic oath, but it meant nothing. Ethics and emotions had little value to him until he was faced with the atrocities at Maysprings. Then the soul he thought he had lost awakened.

For some time he gave his patient the electroconvulsive therapy every two days as prescribed. He asked the young man every day if his symptoms were improving. They never improved. Sometimes he claimed they were worse than before. His lively personality suffered. The doctor feared that his patient would soon join the ranks of the hollow eyed walking dead that inhabited the basement. He could not bear to see the once beautiful man destroyed.

One evening long after his shift Dr. Smith returned to the ward. The nurse who sat by the dim light had fallen asleep. She hung from the chair like a vanquished god of some strange underworld. She clutched prayer beads in her right hand and begged for forgiveness in her sleep. Dr. Smith quietly passed her and went to his patient. He sat on the bed and took the patient's hand. He begged the young man to pretend that he was well. The doctor told him that he must pretend if he hoped to live.

At this moment Dr. Smiths narrative was interrupted by his boyfriend of many years. The boyfriend asked if any one wanted coffee. A few people did. Dr. Smith resumed his story while his boyfriend disappeared into the kitchen.

The doctor described how afraid he had been that his patient would give him away but the patient took his advice. He pretended to be cured and was soon discharged. Dr. Smith worked at the sanitarium a few more months. Then he left to open a private practice. The sanitarium's reputation declined and it closed several years later. The building was converted to a hotel.

Dr. Smith's guests sat quietly for a moment. Then one of them asked what had become of the patient.

"The patient recovered perfectly," answered Dr. Smith

"Did you see him again?" asked another guest.

"Yes, many times," said the doctor smiling.

"Where is he now?" asked the guest.

"I believe he's in the kitchen making coffee," answered Dr. Smith.