A Bitter Pill to Swallow: Part 1

Posted on 07 Oct 2014 @ 1:43am by Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Olsam Mott & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Jonah Chaparral M.D. & Crewman Corealina Vipsania & Commander Scarlet Blake

3,054 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 2 - First Officer's Quarters
Timeline: MD 10 - 1358

ON:

Scarlet was stood in front of her desk, leaning back against it with her arms folded. Her features were cool and calm as ever, but she was actively having to keep the frown from them. Both from the situation and her headache. It probably didn't improve her mood. She glanced to the time, expecting the medical staff to arrive any minute. Her office wasn't huge, but it was big enough for the chairs she'd set out, even if cramped with so many people in close together. Besides, it was one of the least tribble infested places left to hold a meeting, by some minor miracle. After reviewing the security footage of the triage situation in Sickbay after the return of the Away Teams from the mine, it had become clear that the incident with the Commodore that had been referred to them as a complaint by the Chief and Assistant Chief of Medical was only one part of a very big, messy picture.

Olsam shuffled into Blake's office and eased himself down into a chair, resting his hands comfortably on his protruding belly. He'd just come from his lunch break, which has involved a heavy, calorie-laden meal that was likely to have him yawning through the entire meeting. He was trying not to put too much thought into it but the circumstances of the meeting were putting him slightly on edge. Meeting in Blake's office instead of Sickbay put them on Command's turf, and the presence of the entire medical staff didn't seem to bode particularly well for their complaint. And it also meant that exceedingly annoying EMH had been left in charge of Sickbay. He was probably rearranging the medcarts at that very moment...

Allyndra had gotten the message that there was a meeting in the Executive Officer's office and for all medical personnel. She had followed that up with her own admonition that all were required to attend. All that is but the EMH, after all someone had to be there and keep an eye on things. He would no doubt have his memory banks filled in from the proceeding. She was not on duty currently and though sleep called to her, she got up and dressed in a uniform. Her mind thought about the possibility and either things had not gone their way or perhaps they had or perhaps some middle ground. She had hated having to make the complaint in the first place, she liked the Commodore but she still felt irritated that when she had asked for people to leave she had been ignored. She felt irritable as she made her weary way to the office, lack of sleep and her left hand itched something horrible. Allyndra arrived and put on a friendly neutral look before entering surprised to see Mott already present.

She nodded to the Executive Officer and then took a seat next to Mott who looked like he was about to fall asleep. She couldn't blame him one iota, everyone was tired from the past couple of days.

Though he heard the gossip, Naois had not been anywhere near sickbay to witness the incident. And, as he'd not spoken to anyone involved he went into this meeting with an open mind. "Doctors, Commander," he greeted those already present. Today, he was feeling good, somewhat cheerful in fact. But still, fear gnawed at the back of his mind, and it made him apprehensive.

Lina entered shortly after Naois, looking around the office briefly before bowing her head out of respect to her colleagues and the Commander. She took a seat in the corner, not wishing to take up the more valuable seats. She, unlike the rest of them, did not have any idea what this was about. She assumed some sort of briefing.

Outside the door, Tuula paused momentarily to get her wits about her before entering. She was dreading this meeting. She knew that Allyndra and Mott had filed a complaint regarding the commodore's actions, but she wasn't optimistic that there would be a positive outcome. The commodore was the highest ranking officer on the ship, and no doubt commanded the loyalty of the senior staff. Not to mention that apparently everyone else on this ship enjoyed playing armchair doctor. Tuula's only glimmer of hope lay in the fact that the commodore's actions were so outrageous and there were so many witnesses that they couldn't possibly blame everything on her.

As she entered the room, she gave Blake a subtle, polite not before navigating the minefield of chairs, albeit with some difficulty, to an empty space next to Mott. She didn't want to talk about the incident with the rest of the medical staff, but she knew at least he had her back.

Jonah, really wasn't sure why he had been summoned to this meeting. Yes, he like the rest of the medical staff, but he didn't put much stock in rumors. And besides he was just a civilian, still it was a departmental meeting, of sorts, so he thought it best that he attend. So dressed in grey slacks and a white buttoned down shirt with a pasiely tie he had arrived waiting to hear what was going on and what all the fuss was about.

Alexion was one of the last to arrive, just finishing doing his uniform jacket up as he moved through the door. After the Away Team nightmare, he'd finally managed to get some rest and felt more refreshed. It also helped he'd eaten a good few, solid meals too. Now, if they could just get rid of these tribbles, everything would be good.

"As some of you may know, there was a formal complaint made about an incident that occurred in Sickbay during the triage situation following the return of the Away Teams to the ship," Scarlet looked around the group with stoic features, still resting back against the desk, her hands holding onto the edge of it. "I am not going to discuss that complaint directly, it is under review by the Captain. However, the complaint prompted us to review the security footage of the entire triage situation to get an overview, and frankly? I am disappointed. In fact, I'm beyond disappointed. What I saw on that screen was a shambles. An absolute shambles...

"You started off well....a holodeck triage centre, great idea, get the Sickbay quieter to deal with the critical injuries and move non-critical patients to the holodeck. Good idea, only...that didn't happen. Your triage system virtually broke down after a few minutes. You had 23 Away Team members beamed into Sickbay who needed attending. Only 6 of them were beamed to the holodeck! Apart from a couple who decided to join the medical team, the rest were left cluttering up a very small and chaotic Sickbay. And that is where it all just started to fall apart. People with minor injuries not sent to the holodeck, standing around instead, cluttering up Sickbay as you try and work on the critical, it was an absolute mess. You had a great idea, and it went out the bloody airlock. 6 patients out of 23 triaged out to the holodeck. Just 6...Sickbay was such an overcrowded mess that you even had some patients just walk out!"

Scarlet shook her head, her eyes cold with her anger of how they'd let their crew down when they were most vulnerable, walking slowly around to stand behind the desk. "So, what happened next?" she picked up a PADD, tilting her head as she rested a hand on her hip. "We have Dr. Voutilainen and a nurse left to treat one of your most critical patients by themselves. Problem is, Dr. Voutilainen is not yet a fully qualified attending physician, she is still in her residency. She should never have been allowed to treat one of the most critical patients in Sickbay without supervision, with only her first year of residency under her belt and just a couple of days on board the ship...let alone a treatment that became full on surgery!"

Scarlet looked at the senior staff with disbelief on her usually calm and cool features. "That is the point of a residency! And that supervision is the senior medical staff's responsibility. If there weren't enough staff to supervise the resident doctor while having so many patients to attend to, then she should have been sent to the minor treatment group in the holodeck...

"And on the other side of that, it also means a doctor in their residency should be giving feedback about their patient's condition and treatment," Scarlet fixed her attention to Tuula instead, motioning with her PADD. "Instead, you were in your own little bubble, driving ahead with a bloody, open surgery to treat lacerations that needed closing, without asking for confirmation or assistance. And when a fully qualified attending physician tells you to change your treatment," she motioned to Dr. Wylde, indicating the point at which he had tried to intervene, "as a doctor still in their residency, you listen to them and do as you're told, you don't just keep ploughing on ahead your own way thinking you know better. That's not how it works..." she said firmly, shaking her head. "Especially when your way consisted of open, bloody surgery like a scene out of a horror film and the doctor's option was a far less intrusive treatment plan!

"Which brings me to the next master stroke," Scarlet waved her PADD in front of herself, the movement tense with her obvious frustration and anger over the whole mess. "A patient being further cut open for surgery in the middle of Sickbay with absolutely no form of screen or obscuring of the view or even an arch to protect their privacy!"

Blake chucked the PADD down onto the desk with a loud clatter, shaking her head. "That is the fundamental right of every patient, and it was blatantly broken. Not only were the patient's rights completely ignored, but it also subjected an already traumatized and injured crew waiting in Sickbay to the even more traumatic sight of open surgery! In the footage you can clearly see one patient staring directly at the blood and surgery before passing out! It is completely unacceptable! Has anyone stopped to think that if Ms. Hex had been screened then the next of kin would not have been able to see her in such a state, and so the ensuing incident with a flag officer would never have occurred?"

Scarlet didn't stop for anyone to answer her question. Instead, she planted her hands on the desk to lean forward just a touch to watch them all. "So, what happens? A flag-officer comes in and demands to know what is going on.....cutting open a patient instead of healing them with regenerators, in a position where everyone can see her blood and insides...and instead of just answering the question calmly which could have stopped the situation escalating any further, you think you have the right to swear at her with abusive and aggressive foul language!"

Scarlet shook her head firmly, leaning further forward onto her hands as she looked at Tuula. "That is conduct unbecoming of an officer no matter what rank you're talking to, let alone a flag-officer! But even worse in this kind of situation, if you use aggressive foul language while you're elbow deep in the patient's blood with said patient's insides on display to the room, you make yourself look unhinged at best and an outright threat at worst. I have no idea what you were thinking, and frankly, I don't want to. Because all that time you were allowing yourself to get distracted by arguing, your patient was laid with her stomach open, not being treated."

Scarlet sighed sharply, shaking her head as she pushed herself back up to stand straight, hands on her hips as she sent a cold gaze across the room. "Now luckily, at this point, Ensign Rice intervened. She, somehow, with some minor miracle, managed to calm the situation down...she successfully managed to persuade the Commodore to step back and at the same time she got the doctor back to work on the patient. The situation was diffused, there was no situation any longer.....and it's at this newly calm moment when everyone is back to work and calm that the Chief decides to clap hands and try and order everyone out of Sickbay?" she shook her head with disbelief.

"So taking a diffused situation and setting it right back on fire again, turning the calm right back to volatile...the complete opposite thing that was needed at that point. And if that wasn't enough, during all of this time, another patient is laying passed out on the floor without assistance, until the point where another vulnerable patient felt the need to get up and help her to give her bed to her because no medic was helping her. Un-bloody-believable."

Taking a moment to catch a breath, Scarlet shook her head from side to side with clear anger, the usually calm and unreadable woman musing the entire situation. "And for those who were in the Holodeck, do not think that this was a situation where Sickbay was in a mess and the Holodeck clean, absolutely not, I am just as disappointed with the performance there," she warned, looking back up to them.

"The Holodeck staff had the easy job!" Scarlet pointed out, motioning with a flick of her hand. "You were set up for the more minor injuries, and had three medics to six patients...that's a pretty good doctor/patient ratio, even on a bad day. And yet, you still had patients walking out.

"I can speak from my own experience here. The ship was on alert, all the senior officers are out of action....and yet I, as the First Officer, with a head injury, was sat without being seen or checked while people have arm fractures fixed and knees wrapped in bandages? I had blood coming from my nose and mouth that I didn't even realise, and I had to get back to work with a critical and potentially dangerous situation, and was left to sit and wait with my head injury in favour of arms and legs being patched up; I ended up having to leave to get back to work and a scientist healed the cut on my head.

"And on the subject of bandaged legs, since when does medical staff bandage a knee and tell them to let it heal by resting it and keeping the weight off!" Scarlet lifted her hands into the air with disbelief. "We have regenerators for a reason! The reason being, so that when the ship is on alert, we get our valuable staff fixed in a few minutes and back to work as soon as possible! We do not use bandages and bed rest while the ship is in a critical situation as if this was the bloody dark ages....

"Not to mention the Chief of Security," Scarlet continued with a tense, clipped tone of voice that came through a tight jaw. "Who was also left unchecked and unseen for some time on the holodeck floor in favour of arms and legs, despite the fact that he had been slipping in and out of consciousness in the mine!"

Scarlet's jaw tightened as she shook her head to herself, looking down, hands on her hips in an effort to keep herself still as she pressed her lips together. "Do you know what disappoints me more than anything else?" she looked back to them, shaking her head slowly from side to side. "We have some talented individuals in this department....but when I watched the footage, do you know what I saw? I saw individual egos working in their own little bubbles instead of a team working together.

"Teamwork is important in any department, but in Sickbay? It's critical. And lives depend on it. And more, when an official complaint was brought to us about the situation by medical staff, we only have accusations made at two non medical officers, showing absolutely no self-awareness or responsibility for the mistakes that medical staff made in the situation, and that concerns me deeply. We have one of the best crews in this fleet, and they deserve better than that shambles that went on back there."

Scarlet walked slowly back around to the front of the desk, leaning back to rest against it, folding her arms firmly, her features cool and still. "I understand that you weren't in an easy situation. But trust me, that was nothing close to truly difficult circumstances to deal with. Difficult is being out in the field with no back up, people bleeding and broken and burned, only a couple of small medical kits left between you, no way out, no way forward, no word from command, no clean hands, no cover and no let up in fire....that's difficult.

"And that's what really concerns me...." Blake looked around the group, meeting the eyes of each staff member. "If you couldn't hold it together and keep to your triage system and cope in that little bit of heat, what the hell will happen if we're ever thrown truly into the fire? It's not good enough, and I expect to see improvements. I pulled you in as a team because that's what you are...you succeed or fail together, and the only way you're going to do better is to work together and be honest with each other about the strengths and weaknesses in the team so you can find solutions for the weaknesses and to improve your working methods."


TBC:

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CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo

Nurse Corealina Vipsania
Medical
USS Galileo
[PNPC Rice]

Jonah Chaparral
Civilian Epidemiologist
USS Galileo
[PNPC Nicholas]

Lt Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Gallileo

Lt. j.g. Naois Mercy
Medical Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC T'Vanna]

Lieutenant Olsam Mott, M.D.
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Gallileo

SWO Alexion Wylde
Doctor
USS Galileo
[PNPC Blake]

Lieutenant (J.G.) Tuula Voutilainen, M.D.
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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