4 JAN 2008 No good deed goes unpunished.

"I'm waiting for 1600. At 1600 it will be okay to start surgery on my patient. We would be done by now but he decided to have a nice big egg and fruit breakfast. "Oh yes", he said yesterday in the clinic, "I understand" as we instructed him that he couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight. No food, no drink, not anything, I explained. I had the translator repeat it several times.
Last night I was on call. We had a steady flow of blown up and shot up Iraqis and US troops. One came in with CPR in progress. He had been shot in the side and had lost his vital signs at the scene of injury. The crew worked tirelessly and hustled him in. But he started dead and he stayed dead. We worked on him to try and get back signs of life but to no avail. How many more?"
Made a Difference