The EMT’s worked to stabilize their patient as the ambulance tore through the town, attaching IV bags and giving quick injections. The man on the stretcher was unresponsive, eyes open but clearly not present. They flew down Route 12 to Keene, bypassing traffic along the way, halting at the emergency entrance to Cheshire Medical.
Fluidly they brought him from the ambulance to the ER. More controlled chaos as the ER doctor on call and two nurses descended. Tests were run, diagnoses made, more IV bags and injections resulted. The patient remained oblivious.
Finally the hubub died down and the patient was moved from the ER to a normal hospital bed. Nurses came in occasionally to administer drops to prevent his eyes from drying. Still the patient remained mentally absent.
The next day a team of doctors doing rounds visited the patient. Doctor Ellen Zhang was lead, and she brought five others with her, most younger and more junior.
“This is a new addition, what’s his story?” she asked of a younger man holding a clipboard.
The young doctor checked his paperwork. “Unidentified white male, late 40’s or early 50’s. Found unresponsive behind the CVS pharmacy in Walpole.”
“Drug issues?” asked Zhang.
“Toxicology came back clean, and there are no signs of drug use such as needle marks. Our John Doe was suffering from some slight exposure, but recent weather hasn’t been cold enough to truly pose life-threatening problems. He was severely dehydrated when he arrived, making it plausible that he may have been back there for a few days. His clothing does not suggest homelessness, but he carried no wallet, although perhaps that was stolen. He presents a persistent hypoconscious state, likely some kind of coma. He is currently stable and at no known risk of complication, of course until we know what is causing this state we can’t be certain of that.”
“First schedule John Doe for a cranial X-ray, and then a cerebral fMRI. We need to find out whether this state is functional or organic. It would also help a lot to find out more about this patient’s story, to do that we need to know who he is. Anyone reported missing?” Zhang inquired.
“No one that matches our John Doe’s description.” replied the doctor with the clipboard.
“Well hopefully the scans will give us a little more to work with, but keep an eye and ear out for local news reports about anyone missing that could be our guy.”
“Will do.”
Dr. Zhang gazed at the patient who stared with unfocused eyes at the ceiling – or beyond. Then she turned and walked out, and the group followed.