I Save a Life

After apologizing for waking me, the caller explained that his companion couldn’t sleep because she felt short of breath. Shortness of breath in an otherwise healthy person is either anxiety or a serious matter. The caller added that she was prone to respiratory infections. Maybe she has pneumonia, I thought. I can cure pneumonia.

She didn’t appear ill, but she was English, not a demonstrative people. She had no fever. Her heart was racing. Listening to her lungs, I heard the crackle of fluid which is audible in pneumonia but also in heart failure. I suspected heart failure. When the heart beats weakly, blood backs up into the lungs waiting to pass through, so victims have trouble breathing.

Calling paramedics was risky because they might decide she wasn’t sick enough to transport. Leaving after obtaining her promise to go to an ER was not an option because I would worry. Long experience has convinced me that if guests need to go to a hospital, I must make sure – with my own eyes – that they go. So I drove the couple in my car. Watching them disappear through the emergency entrance made it certain they were now another doctor’s responsibility. 

When I phoned later, the doctor explained that she was suffering rapid atrial fibrillation, an irregular, inefficient cardiac rhythm. He had performed cardioversion – delivering an electric shock to the heart – and she was now in a regular rhythm and feeling better. They were scheduled to fly to Las Vegas the day after my visit, and when I called they had checked out.