i knew that i needed to get help. he grabbed my arm and whispered, “i’m dying, don’t leave me alone.” the look in his cloudy blue eyes and his firm grasp on my arm made all of the noise in the emergency room melt away. i made a decision: i was not going to let this man die alone. i asked a nurse to page the resident, and stayed by his side.
it took hours before any family was located and even longer for his niece and nephew to make a decision with respect to their uncle’s care. for the first hour, if i so much as shifted a foot farther 