ILLICIT ACTIVITY

The sun rose in the morning, the birds chirped and it was a perfect day to begin the final year of medical residency. I was so happy, my friend Emma was sleeping; I tried to wake her up, “No, let me sleep…” she covered herself with the blanket and slept. “No one can change you” I took a jug of water and poured over her. She woke up with a jerk, “Aaaaah” I laughed at her, “You’re laughing!” she tossed a pillow on me,

“Come on Emma, we shouldn’t be late today”

“Alright, get me a coffee?”

“Okay Emma”

I embraced her and gave her coffee and we both got ready for our big day, Emma and I was childhood friends, we aimed to become doctors and applied for med school, got good scores in our boards and got to do our residency in Williamson Hospital, one of the most prestigious hospitals in the city. Two years passed amazingly, now the final year which would determine our fate began. Emma was unique. She wasn’t like others, what she thinks right to do, she would do it no matter what costs. Also, very meek and most important was she loved to sleep, I used to wake her up early from school days to college days, still she didn’t change. I liked her so much.

After we got ready, we went to the hospital and started our rounds. First day of the final residency went well and six months passed with no difficulty. The final boards were also arriving, we didn’t get enough time to study as we were so busy with our shifts, and somehow we managed to find time and studied for our boards. One day after finishing my rounds, I went to see Emma; she wasn’t there at the Doctor’s lounge. I asked with the fellow doctors and nurses, if they had seen her, one nurse told me that she went to the Canteen. I went to the canteen and saw Emma sitting alone, gazing at the cup of coffee,

“Emma, are your shifts over?” she didn’t respond

“Emma!” I yelled, and then she turned at me

“Hey, what you’re doing here?” she looked confused,

“Emma, you didn’t respond me? Have you lost in thoughts?”

“I’m sorry buddy” she was grieved, I realized from her face,

“Emma, you are Okay?”

She hesitated for some time, “Yeah, I’m fine”

“Are you sure?” I asked her, as I know Emma was hiding something

 “Yes buddy, I’m fine” she replied forcing a smile on her face,

“Shall we go home?”

“You go, I have to check an IP case, and it will take some time”

“Okay, see you”

I left the canteen and went home, my mind was wandering on what Emma was hiding, mostly she used to share everything with me, she wouldn’t hide it but for the first time she was reluctant. I knew she was unhappy, I decided to put a smile on her face by making her favorite pasta with white sauce and sweet corn soup for dinner. I waited for her. The time was passing, then I heard the door bell, and quickly I opened the door, Emma came in with a file in her hand,

“Emma did you stuck with a difficult case?” I asked her excitedly, but she didn’t respond

“I need a sleep buddy, good night” she said and went to her room,

I stepped before her, “Emma I have made your favorite dinner, just have a bite”

“My stomach is already full, please don’t force me”

 She replied sadly and went to her room and shut the door. I had never seen Emma in such a situation, she was desperate, even I tried to cheer her, and she was getting upset. For three days her behavior was strange, I didn’t intrude later, I was sitting on the couch in our rented house, reading medical journal, and Emma came to me,

“I need to talk to you, its emergency”

I was bewildered, what emergency was it, questions aroused in me, “Okay, we can talk”

Emma went to her room and gave me the file that she was carrying on that day, “Read it” she told me

I opened the file, it was the a patient’s chart, the patient’s name was George, he was twenty four years old, he suffered from acute myeloid leukemia (AML), his body condition was very weak, he showed only average progression after treatment, he had only six months to live, my heart almost sank on reading that chart,

“Emma this is a tough case, as a doctor we can do what we can, but the rest doesn’t lie on us”

“Yeah, you are right; I tried all means to cure him, but…”

 Her eyes welled with tears, I hugged her and comforted her, she cried aloud and the burden she was carrying somehow lessened, I asked her to take rest, I took the chart and asked with some of the senior doctors whether there was any solution to save George, they replied to try one last treatment method, ‘Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation’ it was only the hope for leukemia as radiotherapy and chemotherapy failed.

I told Emma about the final chance of treatment, she was happy on hearing that, I asked her to take a good night sleep as she didn’t sleep well for the past three days. The next day I went with Emma to see George. 

    George was bald, as he lost his hair on radiotherapy; he was also very thin,

“George, are you feeling well?” I asked him

 “Better than before, still weak”

“Maybe we can try one last treatment” I told him about the Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, he wasn’t much interested,

“No, doctors I can’t”

“Why?" I questioned him, he looked upset

“I can’t explain doctor” he replied sadly,

“George, you can tell us,”

I told him, he hesitated, just then his parents Mr. and Ms. Samson came to the room, when they saw us,

“Good morning doctors” they greeted us, we greeted them too,

“George how you are doing honey?” his mother asked him, George hid all his pain

“I’m fine Mom,” he replied with a glee,

“How is your pain?” his father asked him caringly,

“I have no pain dad; I’m better now, soon will be discharged,”

I was intrigued, On hearing that Mr. and Ms. Samson were very happy, tears of joy filled their eyes, I asked them to depart as we wanted to pursue treatment, they nodded and left, at the moment they departed, George winced in pain, Emma injected the pain killer and after some time he was relieved, I asked him why he lied to his parents, he told me the entire drama.

George was diagnosed with leukemia for four years, his parents loved him so much and took all the measures to cure him, but all was in vain. They never gave up, brought him to Williamson hospital, already they sold many properties for his treatment, only their house was left, they were willing to sell that too, if he showed any progression that would be fine, but till now his condition was weakened, he couldn’t bear any pain, he pretended before his parents that he was fine but the reality was he would die in six months, his parents didn’t know it, he asked us not to tell that to his parents.

    I was moved, I asked him whether he was ready for the last treatment, he replied,

“I’m sorry doctor, I have gone through so much pain; I’m done, I can’t bear pain anymore”

I was unable to say anything, I glanced at Emma, tears filled her eyes, as we were about to leave, George called us,

“Doctors can you do a favor for me?”

“What is it George?”

 I asked him eagerly, he said that he want to die, as he wasn’t able to bear the pain and asked us to assist in his suicide by injecting him with heavy doses of pain killer,

“What!” I was shocked,

“No way George” I told him,

“Please doctors, I can’t pretend before my parents anymore, please..” he pleaded,

“No, we’re sorry”,

Emma didn’t reply anything, and we left for further shifts, later that evening, Emma asked me to meet at the Coffee shop near our hospital, she asked me to help her make a decision, I wondered it would be about George, my thought was right, Emma decided to help George in Medical assisted suicide, I asked her not to do that,

“Emma we are doctors, our duty is to save lives not to take it”

“I know but as a doctor to help our patients is our foremost duty”

“Emma please understand it, medical assisted suicide is illegal”

“I already made my decision”

She said and left, I knew that Emma would do whatever she thought was right, there were only two months left for our doctor degree completion, if the hospital found it they would definitely cancel her license and she wouldn’t become a doctor her entire life, worries filled me, I was lost in thoughts about Emma; until a waiter tapped me on the shoulder,

“ Mam , it’s time for the shop’s closure”

“Huh! Okay, I will leave”

 I left the Coffee shop and went back home, I knocked Emma’s room door, she opened, I tried to convince her not to do it, and told her that if the hospital found it they would shut completely her doctor future. She said that she would take care of it.

Emma was sticking to the wrong decision; there was no use in talking to her. The next morning I woke up early, and to my surprise Emma wasn’t there at her room, I was shocked for this many years I used to wake her up, for the first time, she got up early, I got ready and went to the hospital.

I searched for Emma, but one of my patients suffered seizure so I went to check on my patient, it took time till noon, after everything was normal, I looked out for Emma and saw her standing at the hospital entrance, George’s parents were crying, they accused Emma that she killed him, their son was improving but she gave him high doses of pain killer and killed him mercilessly.

 I intruded and told them that George’s condition was worsened so he died, they didn’t believe me, and they filed a lawsuit on the hospital. Emma said that she would take all the accusation on her, but I asked her not to do it because it would end her career. She hugged me tightly and cried. I wasn’t able to comfort her.

    The next day, our chief Doctor Thomas called Emma for a hearing with the hospital board. I was terrified, he knew that I was Emma’s close friend, he told me that the postmortem report of George revealed high doses of pain killer in his blood, no one could do it except Emma as she was in charge of his treatment, he asked me whether Emma did it on purpose or it was a mistake, I told him that it was a mistake, he was surprised at my answer,

“Well, you are trying to save your friend?”

I was shocked, “You know it sir?”

“Yes, she has prescribed high doses of pain killer for George,”

I gulped, he continued,

“It can’t be a fault as no doctor would prescribe such dose of pain killer for cancer patients, it is evident from the reports”

I pleaded to Doctor Thomas to help Emma out of the hearing, I told him all about George, and he nodded and told me that he would do his best. The hospital board members called me and asked about Emma’s action whether it was a fault or purpose, I glanced at Chief Doctor Thomas, he nodded, I told them it was a fault, as Emma was stressed out at George’s condition. They asked me to leave, Doctor Thomas told me that I made a good decision, later I met Emma she was crying, and she thanked me for helping her.

    After the hearing, the hospital board concluded, they were amazed as Emma didn’t misdiagnose any patients or accused for malpractice; also she had gained good scores, so they announced it as a mistake, and asked Emma to pay penalty and suspended her for seven months and allowed her to write her final exam. On hearing that, I relieved as they didn’t cancel her license. Later at the evening, I told Emma not to do this type of things again,

“I swear buddy”

She assured me, I smiled and hugged her.

Days passed, Emma and I prepared for the exams, the exam day arrived, I was little tensed, but Emma gave me courage. We wrote the exams and waited for the result, to my surprise I was the topper, everyone congratulated me, Emma was so happy for me, she secured good score and gained her doctor degree, and our Chief Doctor Thomas congratulated us and asked Emma to stay out of trouble. I pursued my doctor career, later after Emma’s suspension she accompanied me and we happily did our duties.