There is a patient on the ward who has lost their mind. This is a quaint turn of phrase which implies an act of carelessness on their behalf. It suggests they weren’t concentrating properly, became distracted and somehow mislaid it. Like a set of house keys or a Jack Russell Terrier. It also suggests that it was their own fault. It suggests that we are all responsible for our own sanity and, if we should be foolish enough to shirk that responsibility, well … to be honest, we deserve all that we get. Of course, we don’t use that phrase. …
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Death and Raincoats
Some time ago, I found myself loitering around A&E. It’s what you do when you’re on a night shift and everything on the ward is quiet, when you’ve exhausted every possibility of the vending machine and run out of things to say to the security guard. When all your patients are sleeping soundly in their beds, you may find yourself heading down there purely to try and stay awake. If nothing else, they have brighter lighting and a better class of chocolate. On this particular night, it was absolutely pouring with rain. It was the kind of weather where people…
