INT DAY: EMERGENCY ROOM IN A SOUTH DAKOTA HOSPITAL (NOVEMBER 2020)
A patient Mr G with an oxygen mask on. He is trying to
yell through the mask. Jodi, the emergency room nurse, is checking the various parameters
on the screen. Wearing a PPE, only her eyes are visible:
MR G: Nurse, when will the hospital tell me what’s
wrong with me? By the way, why don’t you take that stuff off… it’s like those
Muslim women you know…. So difficult to talk with you.
JODI: You’ve been told. You had breathing
difficulties, you tested positive, that’s how you landed here. You’re lucky,
the hospital has no free beds any more.
Mr G: I’ve had the flu before. Nobody ever took me to
a hospital for flu. A friend was saying they give oxygen to pneumonia patients.
JODI: (Takes the patient card and shows to him): It’s
Covid. You should rest.
Mr G: Come on. You know and I know there is no such
thing. Don’t know who started it, maybe Bill Gates. Maybe China’s plan to
topple our president. Every year flu happens, people get sick, some die. Did
anyone ever ask us to wear masks? Stop working? Don’t keep saying Covid, Covid…
I’m sick of hearing it.
JODI: Well, you know, I’ve been working in this awful
dress every day, for 16 hours a day, haven’t taken an off for the last six
months. I go home, put all clothes in the laundry, take a shower. Then horrible
dreams if I can sleep. Back to hospital. I have no time to have proper meals. And
you think this is all some kind of a hoax?
Mr G: Nurse, may I ask who you voted for? I hope not
for that horrible man – Biden. He’ll ruin America, absolutely. We were doing so
well, the greatest economy in the world, and then this conspiracy. Who did you
vote for? Are you a Democrat? If you believe in this scam, it’s possible you
are. Maybe you voted the fraudulent way, sent your vote by mail.
JODI: Listen, you are on 100% Vapotherm. Please don’t
talk if it’s troubling you. I can see your oxygen level on the monitor. You
need to rest. Already nearly a quarter of a million Americans have died of this
virus. It’s real, very real.
Mr G: Our president is wrong. Governor Noem is wrong.
And you are right. Wow! Governor Noem, a marvelous lady, she has made sure we in
South Dakota remain free. No madness about washing hands with soap, and six
feet distance and all that nonsense. If not for the Democrats, and that disastrous
Fauci we could have continued with our lives… normally. This is no big deal. I
think I have lung cancer and you are trying to hide it from me.
*****
INT: THE SAME HOSPITAL ROOM. LATER IN THE EVENING.
JODI: I’m afraid your oxygen level is very low. We’ll
need to intubate you. Would you like to call your family? On Facetime? Talk to
your kids? Wife? Friend? Brother? I can help you connect.
Mr G: (hardly audible) No, I’m fine. This is just some
little flu.
The Nurse intubates Mr G.
Mr G: (Only he can understand what he says). This can’t
be happening. It’s not real.
Saying this, Mr G dies.
*****
This is not a fictional screenplay. Jodi Doering, a
South Dakota nurse, first tweeted and then narrated on CNN her experience. Mr G
is not an exception, his is a representative case. She has seen hundreds of
such cases. Jodi calls this experience “a horror movie that never ends”. South
Dakota is one of the worst Covid sufferers. Its governor Kristi Noem, a Trump
favorite, attributes the worsening picture to increased testing.
As to why increased testing should result in hospitals
becoming full, and a record number of deaths, nobody bothers to explain.
*****
Ravi