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AD LIBITUM

Birth in the ER

Bonnie Salomon, MD

1 January 1993 | Volume 118 Issue 1 | Page 75

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Grins around the room
from tough and weathered nurses
who "plug in" the nursing homers,
bloodied drunks, assorted comers
to this place of first resort.
Congratulations
from the doctor,
words not used here—ever—
in this place of panic
over decay and brutality.
The baby comes quickly,
ruptured membranes and splash,
the gush of rich fluids.
Hardly time to open the OB set-up.
Hardly time at all.
Behind other curtains
sit the wounded and scarred.
Infirmities untreated, lost
time with lost looks.
"Waiting for labs ..."
"Waiting for a bed".
"Hanging antibiotics now".
They only heard the screams of birth.
Infuse hope and health into them
(if only, if only)
they absorbed the grins around this room.

Article    Table of Contents                  Services    Send comment/rapid response letter    Notify a friend about this article    Alert me when this article is cited    Add to Personal Archive    Download to Citation Manager    ACP Search                            Get Permissions  Google Scholar    Search for Related Content  PubMed Articles in PubMed by Author:    Salomon, B.    PubMed