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Getting Away With Murder

Okay, this is wierd. We had an elderly patient in the ICU with this history. The husband who is wheelchair bound heard his wife yell from the kitchen, then he heard a loud crash... then nothing. He knew it was something bad, so he began trying to wheel himself into the kitchen... he's weak enough that this took a great deal of time, greater than 5 minutes. By the time he got there, he saw his beloved wife laying across the ground with her shirt pulled up in front... her hands and face appeared blueish, and she felt cold to his touch. Strewn about the floor were the usual things they keep on their counter. The despirate man attempted CPR for several minutes, but knew if he didn't get EMSA there it would be of no use. He called 911. By the time EMSA arrived it had been at least 15 minutes that she had been down. EMSA got her heart beat back, and intubated her and were breathing for her. She ended up spending three days in the ICU... she was brain dead. Her heart was strong and she was previously healthy. We assumed she had a heart arrhythmia that had occurred, caused decreased cerebral perfusion, syncope, then arrest. After the third day, and a flat EEG, the family decided to compassionately extubate her... the right decision. Then a few weeks later on the front page of the Tulsa World newspaper... was a picture of our patient. A newspaper thrower was arrested for murder for some other person, and he ended up confessing to multiple murders, some that the police didn't even know had happened... one of which was our patient. We felt shocked that a murder could slip pass us without us knowing it. But there were no signs of strangulation or struggle. He likely smothered her without much struggle. No further medical examination could be done as she was cremated. I felt horrible for the family, the husband in particular... he really needed her help to take care of his daily living. This just doesn't sound like something that should happen. It should only be in the news from a far away city, it shouldn't actually cross paths with my life.

The world has some screwed up people in it. And there seems to be quite a few of them in Tulsa.

dngilb md

Comments

  1. dngilb2:15 PM

    update from 2009:

    the guy who confessed, later recanted and was taken to trial. he was acquitted... he didn't even know this lady had died recently when he confessed... he didn't even really know the lady, so how would he know to admit killing her if he hadn't done it!!! Crazy... i can't believe he got away with it.

    Complicating matters, the poor husband who is unable to care for himself is now in a financial quagmire and in an attempt to help himself decided to sue the Tulsa World... i guess for hiring someone with a criminal record who ended up killing his wife.

    I gave a deposition, my first one. It wasn't bad since I wasn't on trial. It was good to have the experience from that perspective, so if I ever have to give a deposition when I am the one being sued, it hopefully won't be as scary.

    I still can't believe he got off.

    dngilb

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