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Sickbay - Attn Vock

Posted May 30, 2019, 12:03 p.m. by Ensign Jazzin Lauren (Medical Officer) (Alex Lorien)

Posted by Lieutenant Seddk Vock (Chief Medical Officer) in Sickbay - Attn Vock

Posted by Ensign Jazzin Lauren (Medical Officer) in Sickbay - Attn Vock

Posted by Lieutenant Seddk Vock (Chief Medical Officer) in Sickbay - Attn Vock
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Having time off wasn’t something an officer in Starfleet should expect; it is a luxury … and thus it was that Jazzin was called in to work when one of his fellow doctors had taken ill and they needed someone on shift.

Entering Sickbay, he was greeted by Nurse Kella, smiling. “Good morning, Jazz!” She said, cheerfully.

Still rubbing his eyes, the young doctor sighed. “I had so much planned for today.” He grumbled.

Handing him a PaDD, she raised a brow. “Like what?”

“Sleeping,” he said as he tapped at the screen, bring up his patient’s records. “Lots, and lots of sleeping.”

Kello gave him a friendly pat on the arm. “And yet you choose the medical profession; you do know that rest and work don’t often work in tandem here, right?”

“I’m learning fast.” He said, before bringing up the file of his first patient. “Okay … Lieutenant Carson, Security …headache?” He looked up at her. “You could have handled a headache for me, at least!”

The nurse put her hands up. “The Lieutenant wants a doctor … not entirely sure why, but each to their own.”

He reluctantly smiled and made his way round the corner to the biobed where a man sat, looking a little anxious, rubbing his palms together.

“Good morning, Lieutenant.” Jazzin said as he reached for the medical tricorder.

The man, perhaps in his 40’s, shifted uncomfortably on the biobed. “Where is Doctor May?”

Without looking up, Jazzin was instantly his by a wave of apprehension from the man sat on front of him. Fear, almost. “Doctor May isn’t feeling well,” he explained. “So I am stepping in. Don’t worry,” he said, giving the man a reassuring smile. “I can handle a headache.”

As Jazzin lifted the wand part of the medical tricorder, the security officer suddenly reached forward and grasped Jazzin’s hand. “I don’t need that!”

Not only was he shocked the action, he could feel Kella’s surprise at what had just happened. “Lieutenant; this is just a routine …”

The security office stood up. “I’m feeling better. I think I can just wait it out.”

“Lieutenant Carson …” Jazzin began, but was silenced as the man stalked from Sickbay as if his heels were on fire.

“Well,” Kella said, moving closer to Jazzin. “That was odd.”

But the Betazoid’s eyes were on his tricoder. “To say the least.” He murmured. Looking at the nurse who had served on this ship as long as anyone, he asked: “How often does the Lieutenant come to Sickbay?”

Kella shrugged. “He’s a frequent ‘guest’,” she said, diplomatically. “But we have a lot of people who have the same need to be constantly made sure they’re not suffering from something awful. Standard practice, really.”

Jazzin felt troubled. It wasn’t just his emapthic abilities that had given him reason to doubt the Lieutenant, but also looking at his medical file … although his visits to Sickbay were well documented, all of them had the same primary carer; Doctor Elizabeth May … and she had always prescribed a low level analgesic … every time. But when Jazzin looked at the medical tricorder in his hands, it showed his levels of morphenolog were high, even though no prescription was ever written up for the drug. In fact, the drug was prevelant in the fats on his body, suggesting to the young doctor that Carson had been taking it over a long period of time.

Could he be dealing with an addict? And could one of his fellow practitioners be complicit in the human man’s addiction?

He had the right to order security to bring the man back for further investigation … but …

“Everything okay, Jazz?”

The Betazoid looked up to Kella. “Not really.” He said, with a sigh. “Can you handle things for a few moments while I talk to the Chief?”

“Of course,” the nurse said, simply; though Jazzin could sense that her curiosity was piqued. But he wasn’t about to turn this into gossip.

“Thank you.” Keeping the tricorder on him, the PaDD with Carson’s record of visits and prescriptions, Jazzin made his way over to the Chief Medical Officer’s own office and rang the chime. He sighed as he did, feeling like he should be able to deal with this alone; his position as a medical officer trumped that of a senior officer on almost any department … but he was still learning to be confident, and he needed a little help.

Holding the PaDD and tricoder, the young Betazoid waited to speak with his boss.

Ens Lauren
Doctor

“Enter.” came the voice of the CMO from inside and the door slid open. Seated at his desk, Lieutenant Vock said “Yes, Dr. Lauren?” in his typical flat and unemotional manner and without looking up from his work. “How may I be of assistance?”

Vock, CMO

Walking into the office, Jazzin inclined his head as a mark of respect. “Good morning, sir.” He said. “I’m … I’m having an issue with a patient and …” He didn’t want to say the next words. “And possible a fellow practitioner.”

He passed his tricorder over to Vock. “I covered for Dr May today, as she wasn’t feeling well. One of the patients who presented was a regular of hers. He seemed very perturbed that it was me who was seeing him, not her.” He nodded to the tricorder. “When I started to scan him, he pushed the tricorder away, but luckily the tricorder was faster than him. What I found was morphenolog in his system … not just a one off dose too. It’s evident in the inter-cellular spaces of his tissue,” he hesitated a moment, maybe second guessing himself, but he proceeded anyway. “That would suggest to me long term use of the drug. Also, there were no signs of withdrawal, apart from my sensing his apprehension at my treating him instead of Doctor May …” The Betazoid scratched at his temple, showing his nerves. “Sir, there are no records of him ever being prescribed morphenolog, and yet, according to the nursing staff, he is a regular visitor to our Sickbay, and he only ever comes when Doctor May is on duty. His file suggests that he suffers from chronic headaches, and he is given analgesia for it … but never morphenolog.”

Jazzin felt very uncomfortable as to what he was about to express. “I’m concerned,” he said, slowly. “That he is being given, off record, morphenolog. And he may be an addict. I also fear .. and stars know I don’t want to even say this, but I fear Doctor May might be giving him this drug.”

Taking a deep breath, he looked at Vock. “I didn’t stop him from leaving Sickbay, sir. Maybe I should have. But this situation is very new to me, and I didn’t want to make it without consideration.”

Ens. Lauren
Doctor

Vock reviewed the tricorder readings as as Lauren spoke, gesturing for him to have a seat. After Lauren had finished speaking, Vock pulled Carson’s record and sent a copy to a PaDD and handed it to Lauren as he reviewed the record in the desk interface. “Let us see if there is any indication of an explanation within his full record together, Doctor. While I would agree with your preliminary assessment, we need to ensure that we are quite certain that assessment is at least justified as much as possible before we proceed into further investigations.” and he began looking at the subjects medical history starting from day one.

Vock, CMO

The young doctor nodded, and his eyes went to his PaDD, scrolling through the Lieutenant’s medical history.

“He’s had his fair share of analgesic treatments, but well, I suppose that’s nothing out of the ordinary. ” He stopped for a moment. “Sir … on stardate 16041.2 he was given morphenolog during an away missing after suffering a series of fractures to his hip.” The Betazoid bit his lip as he continued to read, something he tended to do when concentrating. “But that was only given in a continuous dose over 2 days,” he glanced up. “Certainly not enough time to develop a physical addiction … as far as I know about Human physiology … there aren’t any more records of him receiving this drug. Just that one instance.”

Jazzin looked up. “There’s certainty no record of a repeat of that drug being given, and we’d see it if it was given as a repeat prescription …” Lauren felt uncomfortable about what this all might mean. “So …, sir; he must be getting this from somewhere.”

Ens. Lauren
Doctor

Vock nodded as his eyes darted over the record. “Analgesics are not a drug group known for necessarily causing addiction in humans, thus the frequency of their use in that species.” Vock offered. “Analgesics are viewed as mostly safe with regards to addiction and interactions with other medications, so a prescription isn’t necessarily required in most cases, but is good for keeping records of personnel’s usage. And as you are aware, any such disbursement aboard a star ship is supposed to be documented. But in humans and many other species, there is a syndrome that can present in cases where the over use of a drug to treat a minor issue, such as a headache, can actually induce the symptom the drug is being prescribed for. Medication Overuse Syndrome.” and he looked up at Lauren. “That is an avenue of investigation we should look at as well. But in the interim, we need to discuss the matter with Doctor May. Tell me, Ensign. When Ensign May was unable to come in for her shift, you said she wasn’t feeling well. Did she receive any attention here? Was she diagnosed?”

Vock, CMO

Jazzin nodded as Vok spoke; it was nothing unusual for an analgesic to be administered in almost any situation; from a headache to a loss of a limb .. but this was different. “I never interacted with Doctor May when I got the call that the shift needed to be covered,” he said. “As far as I know, all it is just a doctor not feeling up to it so i stepped in There was no reason for me to question it.” He shrugged. “It’s hard to argue when a doctor says she is feeling ‘unwell’, for me to question her about it … especially when she is a rank above me and has served on this ship for quite some time” He offered.

Ens. Lauren
Doctor


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