At a writing workshop I attended recently, we were asked to respond to specific prompts. We wrote for 15 minutes or so, and then read what came up for us to the group. One of the prompts was to write about a time someone lied to us. I wasted a good five minutes trying to recall a story-worthy episode to write about. This is it:
True story:
Telling a lie can have life-threatening consequences.
My shift in the Emergency Room was almost over, and I was already counting the minutes until I could head home to my tail-wagging, cheek-licking puppy and my own warm bed.
Just one more patient to see.
I pulled the curtain aside to find a young woman with a tear-stained face, pressing an ice pack against her right eye, her boyfriend holding a bloodied towel.
"We were just having fun jumping on the bed," she explained, "but I lost my balance and hit my eye on the corner of the nightstand. Right, Kevin?"
It occurred to me that they were rather old to be jumping on a bed for fun. And he looked like a bodybuilder, suggesting the bed must have been made out of reinforced steel and concrete.
"Let's take a look," I said...thinking it would just take a few quick stitches and I'd be done for the day.
But under the ice pack, her eye was bruised and swollen shut. Blood oozed from a cut above her eyebrow, and her nose looked a little crooked, too.
The technical term for her injury is a blowout fracture of the orbit, or eye socket, and it represents a medical emergency. It's like a skull fracture, and it can result in blindness. You hardly ever see this kind of injury except in a car crash, or an industrial accident, or a major league baseball game. It takes a lot of force to cause a blowout fracture.
I got to work. I ordered Xrays and summoned the surgical team while they prepped the OR. I started an IV, drew her blood, and convinced her to sign the consent form.
One of the nurses escorted her boyfriend out of the room as chaos erupted. When he was safely out of earshot, I tried again.
"Linda," I said. "Tell me what really happened."
A direct blow to the eye by a fist is a terrible injury, and it adds layer upon layer of extra work. You have to summon the police and file a report. You may have to obtain a protection from abuse (PFA) order. You have to consult someone in Social Services to secure a safe place for her to shelter when she recovers.
If she recovers.
Because, in medicine, telling a lie can cost you your life.
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