Medical ICU. From worse to worser

Less than 48 hours after hospital admission, Jim’s condition becomes critical. Jennifer and Jim try to make important health care decisions in the midst of pandemonium.

“I was becoming increasingly agitated because they were hurting Jim and I couldn’t understand what was going on. He was already feeling lousy, tired and scared. They were poking and prodding him as more people came in with additional equipment. There was nothing I could do but watch all the activity. The physician’s assistant was doing a poor job of explaining why all the interventions were required and he started to lose patience with my inability to decipher what I perceived as his antiseptic tip-toeing around the truth. It seemed like there were gaps in the information being conveyed, like everyone was afraid of telling me just how serious all this was. I finally said ‘I can’t help but feel that there is something you aren’t telling me! Why is all this happening!? Why are we going to the ICU?!’ The PA gave up and grabbed his resident to use as a human shield. All she did was stare at me with a disturbing frozen smile while the regular PA ditched out.”