A yellow bracelet was placed on Emily when she was taken to the hospital by ambulance. Emily was unconscious and didn’t notice. Her husband, who had left the children with their parents, arrived and immediately realized what had gone wrong. He immediately contacted the police
Dial the emergency number
Michael had received a call that his wife, Emily, was being transported to the hospital. It had been a fluke of fortunate circumstances that 911 had been dialed in the first place. But how had it all happened?
Neighbors usually saw Emily at least twice a day when she was walking her dog. She hadn’t come by that day, which seemed extremely suspicious. Probably nothing bad had happened, but she decided to stop by Emily’s anyway.
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Help
Maybe she could help Emily with something, she seemed too busy to walk her dog. However, when the neighbor rang the bell, she quickly noticed that something was wrong. She tried ringing it for a few times.
As expected, when she rang the bell, the dog barked loudly and jumped against the door. However, Emily didn’t come to open the door. Something must have happened in the house and the neighbor was trying to see if she could see something through the window.
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Emily was on the floor
Emily lay unconscious on the floor of her own kitchen. She didn’t move or react when the neighbor knocked on the window. She quickly dialed 911 and explained the dire situation. Paramedics arrived within minutes.
They forced the door open to get to Emily as quickly as possible. It only took Emily a moment to be in the ambulance headed to the hospital. The neighbor could now contact Michael to tell him what had happened.
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I have no idea what happened
Michael was shocked, he had absolutely no idea what could be going on with Emily. She had no medical history to speak of and this morning everything had been fine. All sorts of worries swept over him.
When he got the call, he was picking up the kids and taking them home. Now it was clear that they would not go home. In fact, he didn’t want the children to know what had happened to their mother at all. He had to keep a cool head.
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Bring to the grandparents
He picked up the children from school and brought them to his parents. He explained to them that he had something to take care of and that they would stay with their grandparents in the meantime. Luckily, the children were extremely ok with this and Michael’s thoughts could now focus on Emily.
He was already trying to reach the hospital in the car, but he received no new information. He was told Emily was hospitalized, the doctors were attending to her at the moment, but that was about it. The receptionist was not allowed to give more information.
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Seek the truth
It wasn’t enough information for Michael, but luckily he would soon have the opportunity to go there in person and ask. At least he knew Emily was under medical attention. That was the first step in the right direction.
Michael knew the hospital well because he was a doctor himself. Often he had already called there for his patients before he sent them there. Would his fame or title help him in this case?
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Avoid documents
The hospital did everything as expected of them. He had to sign some documents to even be allowed to see a person in critical condition. Michael would have liked to avoid the documents, but unfortunately that was not possible.
When a sister brought all sorts of documents to him, he explained who he was, what his job was and that he just wanted to see his wife. The woman stopped and seemed to be both reluctant and avoidant.
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Michael had to wait
She looked at Michael in surprise and told him that she had to make a quick call. It only took about a minute for her to return. Her expression had changed, she was now smiling and pointing Michael to a room where he should wait. A doctor would come to see him soon.
Michael was glad, so his status seemed to be helping him after all. At least that’s what he thought: he had to wait in the room for what seemed like an eternity. He thought about the neighbor’s call again…
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Memory
He considered carefully what she had said. Apparently they had put a yellow bracelet on his wife. Did he actually remember that detail correctly? Normally such emergency patients were given red bracelets – what was going on here?
He had visited many patients in this hospital and he knew the colors of the wards. He had only noticed a yellow bracelet a few times, always on very special patients. Emily couldn’t fall into that category, could she?
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Want to see his wife
After this realization, it was even more important for Michael to finally be able to see his wife. He waited another 10 minutes, but no one seemed to be moving in his direction. His patience was slowly coming to an end and he now wanted to look for a responsible person.
When he finally wanted to leave the waiting room, he noticed that two security guards were standing on either side of his door. Michael got angry, the hospital acted like he was a threat. So he wasn’t allowed to leave the room.
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No good answers
Michael now wanted to know what was going on from the nurse who had spoken to him earlier. She just said she was afraid Michael would explore the hospital all by himself – that’s why she contacted the security guards.
Michael was speechless, he couldn’t believe how he was treated. He had worked with this hospital for a long time and there was absolutely no reason why the staff should treat him like that. Was anything else going on?
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The yellow bracelet
Didn’t the hospital want Michael to visit his wife? Could it be that he should stay away from her? Had all this to do with the yellow bracelet they gave his wife. The hospital staff soon realized their mistake.
Whatever was going on, Michael knew one thing for sure. He wasn’t just going to sit around and wait to be helped. His wife needed him and he couldn’t just sit around and wait.
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Find a way out
Michael thought of an escape plan. He knew he couldn’t use the door because there were two guards there. He looked around and otherwise only saw two windows. This escape would be far too dangerous and in the end it would be him who needed medical help.
Then Michael thought of something that might give him a chance. Through the window he recognized the hospital entrance, the window was open a crack. He might catch the attention of passers-by who might be able to help him.
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Police
Michael continued to think. The chances that this plan would work out for him were slim. He still needed help to get out of his situation. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and called the police – now the hospital would surely have to answer.
Michael had told them the truth about the situation and the police seemed very surprised. Of course, Michael could have signed the papers without many questions, but he didn’t deserve to be locked up without information.
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Another 10 minutes passed
The police car pulled up 10 minutes later. Michael had waited quietly and patiently by the window, not saying a word to the guards. When he realized that the police were here, he didn’t waste a second! Every moment counted.
Now the hospital had no power over him. The police would find out the reason for Michael’s situation. The guards had to answer the question why they were guarding Michael – unfortunately they had no idea at all, except that he wasn’t allowed to visit the hospital halls unsupervised.
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They informed their manager
After only a few minutes, the security guards had no choice but to let Michael back into the entrance hall. The police now wanted to talk to Michael, after all he had called them. Michael was glad that the situation seemed to clear up.
Michael drew a lot of attention because he was now accompanied by two police officers. The worst thing about the whole situation was that Michael still had no idea what was going on with his wife. He had to find out now.
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Senior Physicians
The police officers now helped Michael to see the senior physician. Michael knew the senior physician because he regularly contacted him when he sent patients to him. The man looked like he was about to jump out of his skin himself.
One of the police officers asked him to briefly explain the situation. Michael explained how he got here, that he was looking for his wife and still hadn’t received any information. The senior physician ordered a nurse to bring Michael to his wife.
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The hospital opposed his visit
Michael felt like the staff didn’t want to deal with him at all, at least that’s how it felt. They were apparently unaware that he was a doctor himself, even working with them on occasion.
On the way to Emily’s whereabouts, Michael asked for an explanation regarding the yellow bracelet. The nurse was stumped and could not give Michael any information. He frowned and walked a little faster.
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The room
Michael didn’t understand what was going on, but he hoped that at least his wife was okay. The nurse took him to a room where Michael’s wife was said to be waiting for him. He opened the door.
When the door finally swung open, he immediately saw his wife. Emily lay in bed asleep. She looked a little pale and worn out and in fact the neighbor was right – A yellow bracelet wrapped around Emily’s arm.
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Michael demands an explanation
Michael turned to the nurse and gave her a piercing look. She already knew what he would ask. Michael explained that the yellow bracelet had to be a mistake. The yellow bracelet had a meaning.
Yellow stood for people who arrived at the hospital without insurance. This error could cost them dearly if not corrected immediately. Luckily Emily is fine now. She had lost consciousness from not drinking enough. Now only the error with the insurance had to be fixed.
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Home
The nurse had made sure Emily was put on an IV and she was able to rest for a moment. Soon she would be fit enough to return home. Michael could finally breathe deeply.
After Michael recognized the error and spoke to the senior physician, everything was fixed. The two then had a conversation about how they could improve their working relationship in the future and Emily was allowed to return home.