Hospital Whispers
A hospital; its language and culture, a world of its own. Medical terminology – a select few, a secret language, a secret society. Shared understanding, what understanding? Arrows shot in multiple directions, subtext, context… Your words matter. Your actions or inaction matter. Are we speaking the same language?
A child: Too big for paeds, not yet an adult, stuck in between. Why am I here? Absconds under darkness, needing escape But back in bed as the clock strikes twelve. Still itching to be free…
A doctor: Low platelets, plunging platelets. We can’t help you anymore. You must go to Adelaide. Did I tell the family? I did, didn’t I?
A nurse: Absconds again, more distance, more time. Where is she? I told someone to find her (didn’t I)? “No, I told someone…” Says another.
Shifts change: A missing patient, a passing thought – passing blame. No notes, no truth, no proof Just verbal recall.
An inquest death, she was only fourteen Took her own leave from this foreign place so cold, so clinical.
A life cut short by Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, A violent attack, Or falling through the cracks of the system?
Allison Gray is a PhD Student in Alice Springs and enjoys studying health and boutique fitness classes.
