Today I Watched a Woman Die

I watched a woman die today, her skin, I swear, was ghastly gray, all day she'd cried out in great pain, and asked for relief, but all in vain. Her heart rate dropped point by point, no V-Fib for her, she was leaving this joint, we'd never seen anything like this before, 27...26...25...24 She slipped away slowly, inch by inch, her face soon relaxed, was no longer pinched. And as I stood watching the cold Texas rain, I wondered why no one had relieved her pain. All day the nurses had been begging the docs as the patient kept ringing the nurse call box, why withhold meds from a person with cancer? The docs did not care, wouldn't give us an answer. Don't overdose her, but by God ease her pain! Why should she suffer as she circles the drain? We watched the screen as she finally flat-lined, the emotionless doctors had papers to sign. ©copyright2009DanielleWhite