Casualty

Casualty

Casualty may refer to: Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster The emergency department of a hospital, also known as a Casualty Department or Casualty Ward (chiefly in the UK and in some English-speaking Commonwealth nations) Casualty (TV series), a long-running British emergency medical drama series Casualty 1900s, a British medical drama, then series, including Casualty 1906, Casualty 1907, and Casualty 1909 Casualty insurance, a type of insurance

Year:
1986
1,394 Views

[earlier on, Abs ordered a work-to-rule as a protest about Charlie being sacked; now a patient has died and Zoe blames Abs]

Zoe Hanna:
Proud of yourself, Abs? Good day's work, was it? We've put patients' lives in danger today. I don't blame the paramedics. I don't blame Ruth - she made the best call she could, given the experience she has in the field. No, I blame you, because you chose not to do your job when a patient needed you.

John 'Abs' Denham:
Really? Well I've worked in this ED a lot longer than you.

Zoe Hanna:
Then you should know better. How *dare* you leave your colleagues exposed. You were petty, childish, irresponsible - and something much worse could have gone wrong today. You should seriously think about whether you want to be a nurse or not.

John 'Abs' Denham:
Maybe you're right. Maybe I shouldn't be a nurse. No-one seems to want to let me do my job.

Zoe Hanna:
Are you blaming other people?

John 'Abs' Denham:
Well that's what we do round here, isn't it? It's not like after three decades of hard work I'd have the thanks, respect and loyalty of my colleagues and employers, is it? Just ask Charlie.

Harry Harper:
That is not fair.

John 'Abs' Denham:
How did it get to the point where half of what we do is not on our job description and yet unless we do it people start accusing us of letting the side down? Cost cutting. Not taking breaks. Overtime. Working uninsured. This is supposed to be the best health service in the world. So why is it being run like a dodgy car dealership? All of that gets in the way of me doing my job. Maybe I should give up. But I won't. Because I *want* to be a nurse - if this hospital will let me.

[everyone applauds]

[It is Ruth's first day as clinical standards officer. Her staff are playing pranks on her because they do not respect her after she moved Charlie out of the ED to the psychiatric ward because he knows that her husband is gay]

Charlie Fairhead:
Ruth, why don't you just tell the truth?

Ruth Winters:
Scuse me?

Charlie Fairhead:
You didn't dump me because of efficiency or budgets, but because I know something.

Ruth Winters:
[unconvincingly] I've no idea what you're talking about.

Charlie Fairhead:
I'm right, aren't I? You find it very uncomfortable working with me because of what I know.

[Ruth tries to barge past Charlie]

Ruth Winters:
You're in my way.

Charlie Fairhead:
Exactly. I've worked in this ED for more years than I care to remember, and one of the principles that I've always stood by is that you do not gossip about your colleagues or your colleagues' partners.

Ruth Winters:
Oh well that's funny because Staff Nurse Durrani just gave me a very strange look and asked me how I was, so she has clearly heard something.

Charlie Fairhead:
[shouts] She didn't hear it from *me*!

Charlie Fairhead:
What exactly do you want? You're obviously not out to make friends, so it must be power. Let me tell you something about power. True power does not come from bullying people. True power comes from people *wanting* to do things for you.

Ruth Winters:
Oh, and you'd know about that, would you?

Charlie Fairhead:
Yes, actually, I think I would.

Ruth Winters:
Not that it is any of your business, but my only ambition is to make this ED the best in the country. In return, I would like the respect that I deserve.

Charlie Fairhead:
[sarcastically] You've certainly got that.

[Ruth think for a minute, works out Charlie's hidden meaning that she's getting very little respect because that is all she deserves, and walks off]

[Nathan stabbed himself on a hypodermic needle that had been disposed of in a bin-bag. Now he has instigated a witch-hunt and has bullied Sam into resigning because his bipolar disorder may have made him forget to dispose of the needle properly. As Sam's boss, Charlie confronts Nathan]

Charlie Fairhead:
I just wanted to tell you face-to-face that I think undermining and intimidating the most junior, the most vulnerable member of the team here is utterly despicable. I don't want to hear of it happening again.

Nathan Spencer:
I have every right to pursue my enquiries about that needle. I could have been infected with a lethal virus.

Charlie Fairhead:
Oh, and I sympathize. But there is a world of difference between enquiring and bullying. And you have absolutely no right to indulge in the latter.

Nathan Spencer:
My over-riding priority is to the patients. What if a member of the public had got a needle-stick injury? What if Sam had forgotten to clear up another one?

Charlie Fairhead:
He couldn't - for the simple reason that *he* didn't forget to clear up the last one. I did.

Nathan Spencer:
What?

Charlie Fairhead:
Yes, I sutured a patient and didn't clear away the sharp properly. It was me, not Sam. There you are - you have your culprit.

Nathan Spencer:
I think that's disgraceful you haven't owned up before.

Maggie Coldwell:
Actually, Nathan, Charlie's being chivalrous. It was me, not him. He's just trying to protect me.

Nathan Spencer:
What on earth's going on here?

Kelsey Phillips:
Maggie, it's no use. But thanks for trying. Nathan, I left the needle out.

Nathan Spencer:
Oh, I see. Ranks closing - d'you think I don't realize that? I hope you're proud of them, Harry.

Harry Harper:
As it happens I am. At least I would be if they were all telling the truth. Because *I* left it out.

Nathan Spencer:
This doesn't stop here - believe me.

[Nathan strides off, realising that he has been outflanked]

Harry Harper:
Right, let's get back to work.

[Harry shakes Charlie's hand]

Harry Harper:
Well done, you.

[Charlie is giving evidence at the inquest into the death of patient which it is alleged was caused by Maggie's failure to order a crucial test]

Thea Grant:
Am I right in thinking that you have worked alongside Doctor Coldwell for the past five years? And would you agree with Simon Tanner's description of her as "sloppy, inefficient, distracted and lazy"?

Charlie Fairhead:
No, certainly not!

Thea Grant:
Would you describe her as a good doctor?

Charlie Fairhead:
She's more than that. Her commitment to her patients goes well beyond the remit of her job description. I've watched this doctor sit till the early hours of the morning with bereaved relatives after finishing a particularly punishing night shift. That the Doctor Coldwell I know is being forced to defend her reputation in this Coroner's Court, I find frankly ridiculous. And the Doctor Coldwell I know is being framed - and I mean *framed* - in this way, I think is a moral outrage. Clearly the hospital failed in its responsibility to administer the D Dimer test to Mr. Kemp - that's clear. Therefore the failure lies in the administrative system of the hospital.

Pam Kemp:
[very distressed] It's all just words! Someone's got to take responsibility for her death!

Coroner:
Order! Quiet please.

Charlie Fairhead:
Sorry. I'm *so* sorry. The fault, you see, is in the communication of information, for which Doctor Coldwell alone cannot be held responsible. Undoubtedly the hospital failed and let down Mrs. Kemp's son - that is without doubt. But does it now intend to betray one of its finest doctors too? I feel *ashamed* of working for a management that can scapegoat one of its finest doctors, in the interests of covering up what is essentially a management failure. I feel heartily *ashamed*!


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