- Psychiatric Times Vol 20 No 1
- Volume 20
- Issue 1
The Killer
The Killer
The poem is a capsule where we wrap up our punishable secrets.
-William Carlos Williams
She was old and fragile
and I was just an intern
charged with guiding her care,
her seeing-eye dog in a city
hospital.
But I was half-blind, and when I saw
a pulse in her jugular vein
I pressed my stethoscope to her
chest--
she inhaled and I heard crackles,
like static on a patrol car radio.
I guessed heart failure.
The answer was pneumonia.
Oh I caught my error the next
morning,
dripped in fluids and ampicillin,
but she'd been in bed one day too
long,
the clot in her calf broken apart
and trapped in the lattice of her
lungs.
I stood by her side, stunned
when her breathing stopped,
and I called the team, barked
orders at the Code. And I felt
like a killer cornered on a dead-end
street,
cops and canines closing in,
thinking confession, still holding my
gun.
Articles in this issue
almost 23 years ago
Being Mentally Retarded Is Now a Matter of Life and Deathalmost 23 years ago
Assessing the Violent Patient: An Additional Case of Legal Implicationsalmost 23 years ago
Treating Dually Diagnosed Patientsalmost 23 years ago
Multiple Chemical Sensitivitiesalmost 23 years ago
Psychiatric Disorders During Pregnancyalmost 23 years ago
Assessing Violence in Patients: Legal Implicationsalmost 23 years ago
Studies Weigh Antidepressants Against Herbs and Placebosalmost 23 years ago
Psychiatric Disorders During PregnancyNewsletter
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