Hello, Goodbye

She was a 78 year old female rushed in by EMS from home with her middle-aged son in tow.  Complaining of shortness of breath, she had a history of prior stroke, and had been recently discharged from the hospital after having an MI two weeks ago.  She got the works - EKG, monitor, labs, O2, and was kept under a close eye while we waited for results to come back.  Within a few minutes, however, she bradyed down and lost her pulse, and we started coding her.  After CPR, meds, and defibrillation, we got her back, and the doc asked me to show her son to the family room.

Finding him talking to a nurse in the hallway, I asked him to follow me, but instead he handed me a piece of paper with his cell phone number on it.  "I gotta go," he insisted, "I don't like driving in the snow so I want to get my car back before it starts coming down again."  The nurse and I explained that his mother was extremely sick and that her heart had stopped, but he told us he had "things to do," and to just to "stick his number in her chart" before walking out.

I returned to the beside and ran an EKG that showed a massive ST segment elevation, while ultrasound revealed an ejection fraction of 10%.  I helped bring her up to the cath lab, but that's the last I know.  Whether the son ever found the time to come back I couldn't say.