So the question is, how does a promising young Medical laboratory scientist with a bright future ahead of him, find himself in a prison cell, full of criminals, rapists, and murderers. It's quite simple, this is my tale, a take of how genuine kindness and empathy can land you in prison in a professional setting. Read can carefully, and don't miss a word!
Today, unlike most days in the Blood bank, the environment was quiet, and Serene after almost 8 hours of long work. After dispatching the last blood bag to the doctor, I smiled and took in a breath of relief. I closed my eyes to take in the serenity that came with the sudden quietness and calm of the laboratory and let out a deep sigh. Finally, I could rest my feet and my back.
I slowly removed my labcoat, mostly in a melodramatic way and in disbelief, always looking over my shoulder to see if my joy would be cut short by the normal cliche word, "this is an emergency". But today seemed different, it's been 20 minutes since I removed my lab coat and no one had called me or knocked on the call room. With one last attempt to persuade me to believe that this is real, I opened the door to the call room and peeked through the hallway of the laboratory. It was cold, quiet and calm, very abstract.
I finally let down my guard, laid on the bed, and closed my eyes. But before my two eyelids could come together, I heard a loud knock on the door with the normal cliche word, "This is an emergency!". Anger flashed through my veins, of course, I only buy human, but then it was quickly replaced by the servitude in me. I jumped off the bed, opened the door, and was greeted by 2 desperate doctors and a bunch of patient relatives.
We need 3 pints of blood immediately, patient's PCV is 9 percent and she has gone into shock. Before they could finish talking, I had already dressed into my superhero cape, or so I called it; my labcoat, and began to work.
"Can you do an emergency cross-match?", The doctor pleaded. She has little time left. Well, sadly, medicine is mostly science that has strict procedures to follow. The patient relatives were all over me at this point I had to ask them to leave the laboratory and stand in the hallway.
"I can do an emergency cross-match but you just brought in this blood and it's not even clotted yet. If I attempt to get the serum at this point, it would be useless because it would keep coagulating the blood, this interrupting my cross match, so at this point, we have to wait."
The doctor understood and obliged to give me a little time. As we waited for the blood to clot, I immediately dived in to try to begin the blood grouping test for the patient. Boom! I was again interrupted by one of the patient's relatives who stormed into the laboratory demanding blood or he was going to hurt me. He was on the phone with someone who said that if any more time was wasted, the patient would be dead.
"But I don't know her blood group, which is the number one rule or thing to know in any crossmatch".
"She is A", the patient's relative screamed.
"A WHAT?", I demanded. At this point, it felt as though I wasn't willing to assist them and all I wanted was for their patient to die. But how can I explain that giving her a wrong pint of blood is like taking her life with my own hands. I have to perform this test.
"A positive!", The patient's relative screamed. Give me the blood now or I'll hurt you. I was scared for myself at this point, but not as scared as giving incompatible blood to the patient.
"Just give us O Positive, no matter what the blood group is, O blood group should do." I thought you myself that there could be a slim chance that she would have a Negative Rhesus factor, but against all my better judgment and the threats flying around, I brought out an O positive blood seeing and gave it to them. They left in a hurry, as procedure demands, I continued with the blood grouping.
Immediately I rocked the blood mixed with antisera for about a minute, my eyes opened in shock, "No way!". I immediately ran after the doctor screaming he shouldn't give her the blood. They should be in the emergency ward, I said, so I ran to the emergency ward and saw the doctor standing.
"Stop, she is A negative", but before the words could come out of my mouth, I saw a lifeless woman laying on the hospital bed, bleeding from all her orifices, mouth, nose, eyes, anus, and so on. She just had a major transfusion reaction.
I stood in shock at the sight of the lady. She was gone and it was all my fault, I am a professional and not a kind and empathic being! I killed her, I killed her. Everyone turned and stared at me like they were looking for who to blame for her death, and I was already standing on the hotspot, with my neck tied to the rope and ready to be hanged.
The chief consultant looked at me angrily and demanded why I issued incompatible blood, "this is the silliest mistake, anyone, not to talk of a professional scientist could do!". I stand ashamed, I could not talk, I could not try to blame anyone, it was my mistake, I should have stood my ground, I should have... But it was late now.
The husband stared at me with disgust, noticed his well-tailored and expensive suit, no, no, no, this is not... My heart sank. Standing right in front of me was the Deputy Governor, and in hindsight, I just killed his mother.
They say before you die, your life flashes in front of you, I wasn't dead yet, but my life was flashing right in front of me.
"You will pay for THIS", that was the only thing he said and left. The next day, I was whisked out like a common criminal from the hospital and sent straight to prison, the next day was my trial and within minutes, I found myself in a prison, filled with thieves, criminals, murderers, and I was serving a life sentence.
I've been here a month now, and the reality of what happened has finally dawned on me, I thought I would wake up from this bad dream one day, but it's already one day more than I could imagine. I was doomed.
I heard the familiar giggles of the Baron of my prison block with his nitwits following him behind like flocks with no destiny.
"Bros, you know what to do, it's dinner time", the Baron said. I tried to cry but tears had dried from my eyes, so I got out of my bunk, pulled my trousers down to my knees, and bent down, awaiting the pain that came with him plunging his genitals through my Anus.
I closed my eyes and felt the sharp pain, there was no getting used to this. I tried to block it but I couldn't, and the line of men waiting to devour me was one too long to think of the pain.
"Remember who you are Shreds, remember!", And instinctively, I picked up a rod, stood up, turned around, and hit very hard on the head. He fell. The eyes of his nitwits opened in shock and disbelief. No one has ever tried to touch the Baron. The news spread immediately like wildfire. Everyone gathered to watch what would happen next.
"If you want a piece of this rod, attempt to come close to me", everyone stood still in shock and no one moved. I smiled and my confidence grew.
I then knelt in front of the Baron who was bleeding now and begging, oh well, your time is up I said. And with the biggest smile, I could summon, I began to hit him in the head continuously till I was sure he was dead.
If this would be my life for the rest of my life, I better make the best of it.
I stood up with blood all over my body and dripping off my clothes like I just walked off from a stream, you see the Irony, Blood? It's always about the blood for a scientist. With the rod on my hands like a syringe in the hands of a skilled Medical laboratory Scientist, I declared,
"I am now your New Baron!"
