"Double Blind":
After arriving on the 2 East living area, they saw Mr. Pope on the floor, and on either side of him was Tobin McGee, an RN, and Lanni Spencer, the doctor on call, doing CPR. "Turn the oxygen flow up to eight liters a minute!" Dr. Spencer yelled to Bonnie Evans who stood by the crash cart stricken in shock and horror watching Mr. Pope die. Tobin and Dr. Spencer worked well together as a team doing CPR while life-giving oxygen flowed in large quantities through the line and Ambu-bag that covered Mr. Pope's face. "Carotid check!" Tobin yelled as Lanni ceased chest compressions momentarily. "No pulse... and no spontaneous breathing...continue compressions!" After about ten minutes of CPR, Dr. Shotz asked, "Anybody want help?" ...Cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Mr. Pope continued for at least a half an hour with no positive results...the patient's eyes were glazed over, pupils fixed and dilated with no response to light. McGee sat up slowly from his kneeling position and said, "Say it doc, you know as well as I do there's nothing more that can be done here." Dr. Spencer drew a deep breath then said, "Time of death: 9:14 a.m."
To kill a little time, he picked up a package insert from a box of Esprea tablets that was lying on top of his desk. He noted that it only documented the normal jargon about efficacy, expected side effects (none), metabolic half-life, dosages, and so on. It was clear and unequivocal, with no mention whatsoever about cannibalizing other medications or neurons as Dr. Dod had said...are they hiding something or is Dr. Dod mistaken? He couldn't make sense of it and decided to make a quick pot of coffee. As the coffee brewed, he lit a cigar and tried to put the pieces together. Why the side effects in the first place? Why the same side effects in a non-Esprea patient? What is the common denominator ...?
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