There was a tally chart in the staff room of West Uxlade that was kept behind an anatomical poster. It wasn't something the doctors knew about, nor the paramedics, the receptionists, the visiting social workers - not even the police were aware. Only the nurses knew and that's how it was kept through shifting ranks and whatever job changes life threw at them. Only the nurses knew.
It wasn't the fact that they kept a tally of their patients that could have cause them any issues, it's that they kept a tally of which doctor had "accidentally" killed which patient. Theirs wasn't officially or legally allowed to be a centre for euthanasia but when you write the charts for a living you learn how to fake a natural death and which staff members would be most sympathetic to the situation.
For the first few times it was all about mistakes being made to the elderly who had no-one to miss them or report unusual behaviour in the days prior to their death. That didn't last long, there were just too many people suffering through unnecessary months of agony that they could stop. And so they moved onwards and upwards, from the terminal ward to the cancer ward to the children's ward.
Wherever a mercy was needed the doctors would ask a nurse to report a "Code Patch" which used to mean fixing the situation at hand, be it a complaint or a particularly difficult condition requiring multiple doctors present. Once the doctors decided to bring mercy back into their wards "Code Patch" then stood for covering it up, making everything neat and tidy once more by hiding what they'd done.
The nurses never spoke when they showed trainees the tally, only met their gaze with a kind of stern sadness. While a doctor prescribes the medicine, says what will be done and how and when - the nurses are the ones who carry it out. Underneath every patient's name in tiny letters are the names of the doctor, the nurse and the patient's final words.
Sometimes a local newspaper will suspect something about the high death toll only for their "inside source" at the hospital to claim it's because some people come in too late for anything more than a comfortable bed to end in. People have always had their suspicions, nurses don't always listen and relatives just want the best for each other when faced with death.
Still, nobody wants to stop the mercies.
Nobody really wants to.
They're an act of kindness.
Truly.
It wasn't the fact that they kept a tally of their patients that could have cause them any issues, it's that they kept a tally of which doctor had "accidentally" killed which patient. Theirs wasn't officially or legally allowed to be a centre for euthanasia but when you write the charts for a living you learn how to fake a natural death and which staff members would be most sympathetic to the situation.
For the first few times it was all about mistakes being made to the elderly who had no-one to miss them or report unusual behaviour in the days prior to their death. That didn't last long, there were just too many people suffering through unnecessary months of agony that they could stop. And so they moved onwards and upwards, from the terminal ward to the cancer ward to the children's ward.
Wherever a mercy was needed the doctors would ask a nurse to report a "Code Patch" which used to mean fixing the situation at hand, be it a complaint or a particularly difficult condition requiring multiple doctors present. Once the doctors decided to bring mercy back into their wards "Code Patch" then stood for covering it up, making everything neat and tidy once more by hiding what they'd done.
The nurses never spoke when they showed trainees the tally, only met their gaze with a kind of stern sadness. While a doctor prescribes the medicine, says what will be done and how and when - the nurses are the ones who carry it out. Underneath every patient's name in tiny letters are the names of the doctor, the nurse and the patient's final words.
Sometimes a local newspaper will suspect something about the high death toll only for their "inside source" at the hospital to claim it's because some people come in too late for anything more than a comfortable bed to end in. People have always had their suspicions, nurses don't always listen and relatives just want the best for each other when faced with death.
Still, nobody wants to stop the mercies.
Nobody really wants to.
They're an act of kindness.
Truly.
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