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"I absolutely loved this medical thriller...

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ABOUT THIS SHORT STORY

A mystery medical condition starts killing hospital patients. 29 year Dr Tess Scott is utterly dedicated to using her medical skills to relieve human suffering. And that was working well enough until one particular Tuesday. Her investigations spiral into unexpected dangers in this fast-moving medical thriller.

Readers will enjoy crisp clean language as they get to know a heart warming heroine in these medical thriller books.

Is sweet romance on the horizon for Tess in this short story?

Book 1 in the Doctor Tess series. If you love medical thriller books, it's time you met Dr Tess. 34 pages.

THE STORY STARTS...

This Tuesday night would be like no other for 29 year old Dr Tess Scott.

Tess was in charge of the Emergency Response ward on the ground floor of CityWest Hospital and at 2 in the morning she was taking a short coffee break.

So far, the caseload had been normal. “Well, as normal as it ever gets in ER,” she said to herself.

Her mid-shift pickmeup was coffee. Fair Trade coffee. Not so much for its flavor, but for the fact that the profits went to help poor families in the Third World.

This particular Tuesday night, her time-out was cut short when a nurse barged in to the break room without knocking. “We need you in ER, Tess. It’s pretty bad. Middle aged male, vomiting, seizures. And he’s incoherent.”

Tess took one last gulp of the hot brown brew then made her way quickly to the ER entry foyer where the ambulance crew were completing their delivery paper work. They had just wheeled in a middle aged man in work clothes. Tess immediately noticed an “other worldly” pallor to his skin... a hint of blue and gray. He was groaning and writhing in evident pain.

“The poor guy,” thought Tess. “If you weren’t strapped onto the gurney, mister, you’d have thrown yourself off it, onto the floor.” She often talked to herself when she was assessing patients.

Especially the ones who couldn’t answer for themselves. It helped Tess to humanize her patients. Maybe they couldn’t tell her what she wanted to know, but Tess could answer for them.

Sort of.

Well, this patient was barely coherent but she did manage to get his name.

Jorge.

Jorge what? - she didn’t know. The rest of whatever he was trying to say was slurred. Tess knew she’d get nothing more from him for the time being. They would have stabilize him first.

“Initial diagnosis? Let... me... see...,” mused Dr Tess.

She still wasn’t sure what the underlying cause might be. Actually Tess was stumped.

After watching Jorge a little longer, seeing him thrash around in obvious agony clutching at his stomach, Tess decided to run with abdominal cramps - at least for now.

Moments later, Jorge screamed in pain again but this time his big industrial hands clutched his head, one hand each side, and he squeezed his skull hard. She took note of the wedding band on his left hand.

“So Jorge X is a family man suffering from massive head and abdominal pains.”

And that was all she knew. None of her initial diagnostics had taken her any further. This was going to be a tough one!

“Nurse, as soon as the sedation has kicked in, we need to run full blood tests. We’ve got to know more.”

But one thing was clear - the patient was deteriorating. Fast. His contortions looked like epilepsy. But he wasn’t wearing the epileptic notification necklace that the American Epilepsy Society recommended. So maybe he wasn’t an epileptic.

Each seizure was worse. More dramatic. With more thrashing around each time.

And the convulsions were lasting longer too. Jorge’s breathing was increasingly erratic, his eyes were rolling and Dr Tess was worried - and confused.

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