Original subtitles

ALISON: We're here to inquire into the events that took place

in the Emergency Department yesterday.

Let's begin, shall we?

With all due respect, I've written out an incident report.

That's it in front of you.

So you just need to let me know your decision.

Sit down, Nurse Ryan.

Is this the incident report in question?

Yes.

And this is the same report you reviewed, Nurse Richardson?

Then, we have a serious problem on our hands.

Oh, start without me, did you?

Oh, no.

I didn't know you were joining us, Frank.

My ED, my staff.

You didn't think you were going to hang Von out to dry

without me playing, did you?

Leave it, please, Frank.

Keep your mouth shut. You've said enough already.

Right. First things first. Why are you pursuing this, Alison?

There are reports like this written every day of the week,

and are dealt with by Nursing Unit Managers.

Nurse Ryan has admitted her negligence.

Her name's Von, and, yes, she made a mistake,

but under extremely extenuating circumstances.

That's hardly what it says here.

And this report was reviewed and accepted by your Acting...

That report should never have hit your desk in that form.

I am amazed, Deanna, that you let it through written like that.

This document will be going before the full board,

along with a survey conducted in the ED yesterday.

That stupid survey has nothing to do with this.

On the contrary, it's proved invaluable.

Well, it wasn't very valuable to us yesterday morning.

We start off the day with a critical patient

who's been banged up in a head-on,

and she sends in Wallace and bloody Gromit.

PHONE RINGS

Who the hell are those two?

No idea.

Oi. Who are you? What are you doing here?

I'm Wallace and he's Smyth.

We are Organisation and Methods officers.

You doing a Time and Motion study? You must be bloody joking.

CATE: Straight to Resus. MAN: I need to be with my wife!

Mr Maguire, it's okay.

You need to let us look after her now.

It's okay. Come on. I'll show you where you can wait.

He didn't even stop, he just drove off!

I'll deal with you two later. Hide that for me, will you?

CHARLOTTE: Heather, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?

What's her story?

Heather Maguire, 26. Hit and Run.

Impact on the right side of the body. Her head hit the windscreen.

GCS?

It was 10 on scene. Decreased to 4 en route, then intubated.

Dan, can you page Hughes and Quade for a surgical review?

She'll need a CT, head and abdo, and a trauma series.

DAN: I'll get that. Bilateral air entry.

BP is 92, systolic. Pulse 120. And respirations 14.

You two, bugger off.

Uh, yeah. Can I organise a CT, head and abdo and a trauma series?

She'll need another cannula for bloods,

FBC, UEC, BHCG, group-and-hold, and cross-match.

She's lost a considerable amount of blood,

so she'll need a bag of normal saline, two units of packed cells,

ECG, nasogastric tube, IV antibiotics and a tet tox.

Laceration to right forehead, compound fracture of right humerus,

deformed right femur and suspected pelvic fracture.

Okay. Get her started on a morphine and midaz infusion.

Mm-hm.

Are you two deaf? I told you to get out.

Administration have given us access to all areas of your department

for the entire shift.

On whose bloody authority?

Dr Alison Newell.

Night shift's over, Charlotte.

Why don't you write up your notes and get outta here?

I'll stay till she's stabilised, Frank.

Suit yourself.

Just pretend we are not here.

FRANK: Is it any wonder mistakes were made

with those clowns under our feet all day?

If it was stats you wanted, Alison, I could have given them to you.

How many patients would pass through the ED on an average shift?

96.

Yesterday's survey says only 53 were treated during the day shift.

So yesterday was a quiet day?

Patients aren't numbers.

We were so busy,

Charlotte Beaumont had to stay on an entire shift to help us out.

The board will only see the statistics, Frank.

Then it's your job to show them

that raw numbers don't tell the whole story.

Some patients need more care and more time.

You of all people should know that.

Alright.

Tell me about the patient who walked into the ED

yesterday morning at 7:20am,

when, according to the survey,

the waiting room was virtually empty.

This was a patient who simply required review, wound care,

possible IV antibiotics,

a patient who should have been in and out in, what,

less than an hour?

All I did was I scraped my shin against the coffee table.

When was that?

About a week ago. But it isn't healing.

Just have a seat, Mr Tyrell.

I should know better.

With diabetes, I know I have to be careful of cuts and scrapes.

It's cellulitic.

I know what cellulitis is. I'm used to it.

But this is becoming quite painful.

Yeah, I'm not surprised. Have you seen your GP?

No. It really was just a scrape.

Yeah, it's become more than that now.

So I just need to take your blood sugar level,

and we'll get you assessed by a doctor.

I knew I should have had it seen to, but I've just been too busy.

It's easy to overlook these things.

I'm a bloody idiot.

VON: Morphine 60.

Morphine 30 and 30, expires September '07.

Midazolam 30.

Midazolam 15 and 15, expires October '07.

Dan, I've just put a diabetic with cellulitis and a leg ulcer

in Sub-Acute.

Now, blood sugar level's normal. Temp's 38.5.

He'll just need some blood cultures.

Von's on Sub-Acute.

Yeah, whatever. One of you please follow up with him?

Yes, I'll organise the cultures.

What's going on between you two?

He's angry at me.

Oh.

Get out of my way or I'll walk straight through you.

"Thanks, Von. I don't need a hand. I'm fine."

Stay outside the curtain.

VINCENT: Abdo's firm. DEANNA: She's still tachycardic.

CHARLOTTE: Clear return of the right fingertips

is greater than four seconds.

Let's get that infusion up and get her off to CT.

Her BP's dropped - 88/50.

Give me some good news, Hughes.

Positive for free fluid - she's bleeding into her abdomen.

Don't worry about the CT, Jack, just get Theatre on standby, please.

Pump those IV fluids through.

DAN: I'll call for an orderly.

Hi, it's Dr Quade here in the ED.

Yeah. I have a patient here for an emergency laparotomy.

Heather Maguire.

Um, Graham, her husband,

says Heather has no underlying health concerns.

She isn't allergic to anything that he's aware of.

Did he calm down enough to tell us what's happened?

Yeah. It's their wedding anniversary today.

They were on their way to a romantic breakfast.

They were crossing the road to the restaurant,

car came out of nowhere and collected Heather.

Is there an update I can give him?

She's bleeding into the stomach. We're getting her to Theatre now.

Just... Out! Out!

And stay out!

Did you stop for a second

to consider the disruption that those two clowns would cause the ED?

If you had concerns, why didn't you call me?

I tried.

If I did manage to get through to you,

would you have kicked them out of the ED?

No. I didn't think so.

You should know that the survey report flags

a possible charge of assault against you for manhandling one of the team.

Should have thrown him through the bloody wall.

How much did you blow on those clowns, anyway?

That's hardly your concern.

Does any of this matter?

No, it doesn't.

What does matter is what happened when you met the diabetic patient.

I couldn't see him straightaway.

We were extremely busy.

At exactly the same time

as the hit-and-run was being taken up to Theatre,

another patient was wheeled in the door, requiring resuscitation.

Does the word "emergency" mean anything to you?

PHONE RINGS Von Ryan.

ETA? Okay. Thanks.

Incoming VT arrest, ETA less than two minutes.

DEANNA: Dan, we've got an incoming.

Mate, you click that thing one more time under my nose,

I'll shove it where you can time your own motions, got it?

Just pretend I'm not here.

Frank Campion. Get me Alison Newell.

Well, bloody well get her out of there!

Deanna, there's a Mrs Carson in Sub-Acute. Gastroenteritis.

I've been trying to get her a bed in the wards since midnight.

I'll have Von call a Bed Manager.

Then you get off home, Beaumont.

TONY: Watch your back. Coming through.

Hold that thought, Frank.

You are a glutton for punishment.

Unknown male in his 60s, witnessed collapse in street.

CPR commenced on scene.

By the look of the scar on his chest, he could have had bypass surgery.

Monitor showed pulseless VT.

Cannulated, intubated and defibrillated three times.

Went into asystole as we pulled up.

DAN: On three.

A resuscitation, in the Emergency Department?

That must have been confronting for you, Frank.

This one was...

..difficult.

CHARLOTTE: Bilateral air entry.

DEANNA: IV adrenaline 1mg in.

Stopping compressions. He's opening his eyes.

What rhythm have we got?

Is that asystole?

No, it's fine VF, isn't it?

Looks like it to me.

You sure?

Yeah, it's fine VF. We'll have to defibrillate.

Whoa, Frank, he's conscious - his eyes are open.

What? Check his carotid for a pulse.

Nothing.

Cate, he can't be conscious and not have a pulse.

He's still in VF.

His eyes are closing.

Recommence CPR.

Check the cables on that bloody thing, will you?

They're probably loose.

They're attached.

His eyes are opening again.

Stop...stop compressions.

What rhythm have we got now?

Frank, he's still in VF.

What the hell is going on?

Recommence CPR.

FRANK: He can't be conscious and have no pulse. It's just not possible.

Almost ready here, Frank.

His eyes aren't tracking. It must be an involuntary reflex.

Come on, come on. I wanna look at his underlying rhythm.

Come on!

DEANNA: Ready.

Right. So he's in VF.

So it's not a fault with the machine?

Nope. Stop compressions.

Charge to 200.

Charging.

Clear.

Still VF. Charge again to 200.

Charge to 200.

Clear.

No change.

Recommence CPR.

I want adrenaline, 80mg of lignocaine.

No signs of cardiac tamponade or trauma.

But that scar tells us that he's had cardiac surgery.

We need a bloody history and an ID for this man.

Get Von on to it, will you?

He's doing it again.

Stop compressions.

Still no pulse.

What's his rhythm?

No change, Frank. Still VF.

What the hell is going on?

Just calm down, Dan. He can't be conscious.

His eye movement must be an involuntary reflex.

What if it's not? It must be.

He's doing it every time I start CPR.

What if he can feel the compressions?

Dan, if I thought he could feel anything,

I would've paralysed and sedated him long ago.

He's going again.

Recommence CPR.

Recommence CPR! Alright!

What if he can feel it?

Frank...

Stop compressions.

VF. Frank, have you ever seen anything like this before?

No. But we have to get him back to a normal heart rhythm.

Charge to 360.

Charging.

What if it isn't a reflex and you're just torturing him.

Clear.

Charging again to 360.

Charging.

Clear.

So, do you still think yesterday was just another ordinary day

in the life of an ED?

If that story is true, it's quite...remarkable.

It's true.

I've never seen anything like it before

and I hope I never do again.

How long did it go on for?

Another hour.

What did you do then?

I called the cardiologist.

We've been giving magnesium and lignocaine with no change.

Can you shed any light on what might be happening?

No, no, no. He's too unstable to be shifted anywhere.

It's happening again.

I can't handle this.

Can you think of anybody who might have seen this before,

anyone who might be able to help?

No nurse of mine walks out on a resus.

Back off, Deanna. He's just exhausted.

Okay. Okay. I appreciate that. Thanks.

I'm sorry. I can't stay in here.

Well, get out. Go, go, go. Get Jess to replace you.

Stop compressions. Check his rhythm.

VF.

Charge to 360.

Charging at 360.

Clear.

No change. Still VF.

Von's still trying to track down his ID

and she needs a doctor to assess some patients.

Go, go. I can manage. Resume CPR.

I'll do it.

Go on! Go on.

That one patient took a lot of staff off the floor

and ate up a lot of our resources.

And there are unseen costs -

everyone was confronted and emotionally drained

by what was happening.

I still don't understand how a patient in VF could open his eyes.

No, the cardiologist had never heard of it either.

But he got back to me 20 minutes later

with an article that suggested a theory.

So there's been a documented case?

Yeah.

It suggests that even the low amount of blood circulated by CPR

could be comparable to the normal flow

for a person who had chronic heart disease.

Does that mean

there was a possibility the patient was conscious after all?

I want to sedate and paralyse him.

Thiopentone, Sux 100mg,

Vecuronium 10mg, IV magnesium.

And give him some Midazolam - it won't hurt.

I'll take over.

Got a name.

About bloody time.

John Arthurs. His wallet was found in the ambulance.

There's an appointment card. Cardiologist Dr Lawrence.

We're still chasing up his other records.

Right. Stop compressions.

I can see why Dan wanted to walk.

Mmm, John, you've been a mystery to us,

but we're on the right track now - we'll get to the bottom of this.

Recommence CPR.

I can understand how stressful the resus was for all those involved,

but you weren't in there, were you, Nurse Ryan?

I wasn't.

Then what were you doing while all this was happening?

Oh, for God's sake, Alison.

Why don't you ask her for a breakdown of all the bedpans she emptied?

Finished?

We were busy. There were only a couple of us on the floor.

The patients were banking up. They really needed to see a doctor.

None were available.

Alright. But what were you actually doing?

Does it really matter?

Deanna, you were in charge of the shift.

Haven't you got something to say?

Well, we had a patient with gastroenteritis waiting on a bed.

Von chased up the ID on the man in Resus.

She helped calm down a young man with self-inflicted lacerations

while he was waiting on a psych review,

and persuaded him that it wasn't a good idea to pull out his sutures.

She took Graham, the husband of the hit-and-run victim,

upstairs to a waiting room so he could be closer to his wife.

And then she played with a three-year-old with minor burns

while her mother had a good cry in the toilets.

I notice you didn't mention the diabetic patient

in that little summary, Nurse Richardson.

There wasn't much I could do for him until he was seen by a doctor.

CHARLOTTE: I'll send this off to the lab,

but it's definitely an infection.

I've already ordered some antibiotics for you.

Will they do the trick? It should do.

It helps that you're pretty fit,

and the only problem you have is diabetes.

I've referred you to the surgical registrar, but, um...

..he may be a while.

Great. I'll be stuck here all day.

Bob, he'll probably want to admit you overnight

for IV antibiotics and wound care.

And we'll need to keep a close eye on your blood sugar level.

Diclox, penicillin, paracetamol for the pain.

Bob, have you eaten this morning?

No. I was in too much of a hurry to get here.

Thanks, doc.

My pleasure.

I'll get you a meal.

Who's your friend?

Won him in a raffle.

Makes you wonder about second prize, doesn't it?

Okay.

Does your leg hurt, Bob?

You better believe it.

Serves you right for leaving it so long.

I know, I know.

How old are you now?

64.

Yes. And how long have you been diabetic?

Yeah, yeah. All my life.

And you still can't remember how easily wounds can get infected?

Okay. 9mmol.

You sound just like my daughter.

"Have you taken your insulin this morning?

"Have you eaten anything yet?"

Nag, nag, nag.

I think we'd get along.

Everyone does. She's a good kid.

She's done everything for me since her mum died.

I'm retiring at the end of the year and I'm taking her to Ireland.

That's where her mother was born.

Very nice.

I haven't told her yet. Be a huge surprise.

Okay. I'm going to get that meal organised for you.

Tell them to add a glass of cab sav and I'll double the tip.

I'm the Director of Emergency Medicine at All Saints Hospital.

I need to talk to Dr Lawrence urgently.

So what if he's not in the office?

You know how to contact him, don't you?

I don't care if he said he didn't want to be interrupted,

we have a patient of his here in Resus

and we're in the dark about his cardiac history.

Well, give me his bloody mobile, I'll call him myself.

Records are through.

No, I want to talk to him now.

Frank, he's NFR.

He's got a "not for resuscitation" order?

Right here in his old notes.

You can stop doing that now, please, Jess.

Um, John, I've just learned about your request not to be resuscitated.

I'm very, very sorry to put you through all of this.

We had no idea.

We've stopped now, so...

..you can go.

Get out of here.

Sorry about that, John.

I can't believe I walked out. I didn't think I'd ever do that.

Well, what happened in here today was unique.

Maybe. But no-one else walked out, did they?

I think you overestimate

just how well everyone else has coped with this.

Jess, can you please gather the rest of the Resus team?

I wanna have a debrief in the Common Room.

A debrief?

I think we need time together to talk through the day's events.

The way to deal with it is getting on with the job.

We were resuscitating that patient for almost two hours

under the most unusual and stressful of circumstances.

I know you all know the ED and the way it works,

and maybe you don't need to talk this through, but I do.

Deanna, it's too busy for a group hug, okay?

That's not how we do it here.

We debrief over a drink at the pub after work.

I'm going to ask Von to hold the fort

while the Resus team have a debrief session.

Could you keep an eye on her and help her if she needs it?

I can't leave Triage unattended. She'll just have to manage.

Nelson...

I'm not stupid, you know.

I know there's something going on between you and Von.

If you need me to do anything...

Bob. Told your daughter that you're here.

Oh, what did she say?

That you were an idiot.

I bet they weren't her exact words.

No, I'm being polite. We had quite a chat, actually.

Oh, God. I'll never hear the end of this.

Hmm, I've ordered your meal.

I suggested chicken chasseur. They'll send a Vegemite sandwich.

And the cab sav?

I asked, they laughed.

Hooroo.

Still here, Beaumont?

Looks that way, Frank.

Listen, I appreciate you hanging around,

but I think we'll be okay from now on.

Go home and get some zeds?

I'll finish this and then I'll go.

Just pretend I'm not here.

WOMAN: Nurse? Nurse?

Tell me that's not Mrs Carson.

Okay. But it is.

How can she still be here?

She's been ready to go upstairs since...midnight.

I'll just dump these and attend to her.

This is Charlotte Beaumont in the ED. Can I have the Bed Manager?

Okay. I'm here. What can I do for you?

I'm terribly sorry, but...

For God's sake, give the woman some privacy. Just get out. Go on.

Okey-doke. Let's change this bed.

I've soiled it. I'm so sorry.

I didn't have time to call for a bedpan.

Don't worry. It won't take a second to change the sheets.

I'm sorry to cause so much trouble.

No, you're no trouble.

I know it isn't your fault. Have they found me a bed yet?

Dr Beaumont is talking to the Bed Manager again as we speak.

I don't like to complain. You've all been so kind to me.

Well, sometimes you've got to complain, you know,

just to get things done.

Righto. Let's sit you up.

The orderlies are here.

He's all set to go.

Von! Vonnie!

Uh, Bob, won't be a minute.

Vonnie!

Right.

I'm hungry, and I'm not feeling too good either. I need a nurse.

Can you help me, please? Coming, Bob. Coming.

Von, you're a lifesaver.

I know you're busy, but I haven't had anything to eat yet.

What? Nothing's come over from the kitchen?

Not a dry cracker.

Oh, bloody hell. I'll get on to them, hey?

Tell them it'll take a bottle of vintage cab sav

to get any sort of tip now.

I'll fix it up.

God, even if I have to make you a sandwich myself.

So you had some heavily dependent patients and a death.

Isn't every day like that, Frank?

Rarely that bad.

Then our Time and Motion study should prove invaluable to you.

How do you figure that, Alison?

Well, their report shows

that there were adequate staff to cover the department yesterday.

Clearly the problem lies in the usage of those staff.

I resent that.

You had less patients than the daily average.

John Arthurs had six medical and 15 nursing hours during his stay.

No doubt there were patients who were in and out in a few minutes.

Mrs Carson was waiting for a bed for 18 hours.

Do you have any idea how many nursing hours that would add up to?

What is your point?

My bloody point is

that Von was worked off her feet the whole damn shift.

Do I have to remind you

that the hospital could be involved in litigation

regarding this incident?

Tell me something, Alison.

Do relatives rate a mention in your little stat sheets?

Clearly the one who became a patient does.

Another person in your care, I believe, Nurse Ryan.

I'm sorry it took so long to get you a bed, Mrs Carson.

That's okay. It's not your fault, love.

Okay, Mrs Carson. At long last.

You get better soon.

Thanks, Von. I'll do my level best.

Hello. What are you doing back here?

No-one's given me any news about my wife yet.

I didn't know who else to ask.

Okay, okay. Don't get worked up.

You just come with me and I'll see what I can find out.

Von, you should take a break.

I will if you will.

That's funny.

Right.

They can't let her die, Von.

Listen, being in Theatre for a long time doesn't mean that.

I couldn't live without her. I couldn't.

Dr Quade will explain everything to you when he gets down here, alright?

Graham, hey.

Woo-woo. Graham.

Take nice deep breaths for me.

Come on. Nice...

You're trying to fob me off.

No, no, no, no. I need you to take deep breaths.

Come on. Slowly. I can't breathe.

Just take it easy.

I need help. Help!

Nice and slow. Nice and slow. That's it.

Hurry up.

Here you go.

Okay, mate. Let's get you into a bed.

Probably need to discharge someone to get one.

I know it's hard, okay, but just try to relax.

That's it.

Get a Ventolin and Atrovent neb now.

For Christ's sake, he's asthmatic. Didn't you see the tag?

That's it. You're breathing easier already.

Alright, Let's give him two more nebs of Ventolin

and try and obtain a peak flow after the third.

I'll get it. You stay with him.

I'll get on to Radiology and try and organise an X-ray.

I didn't know he was asthmatic.

He wasn't even a patient.

Unbelievable.

Mrs Carson!

I'm back, I'm afraid.

What happened?

When I got to the ward, there wasn't a bed for me after all.

There seemed to be some kind of argument going on.

The nurse said I had to come back here.

I'm so sorry.

If I could just lie down...

We're pretty over-crowded, as you know.

But don't you worry, we'll find somewhere.

I'll work this out, I promise.

Sorry to be a nuisance.

I told you. You're not a nuisance.

Okay. We'll put you in Resus.

What is with these Bed Managers?

Bed Managers?

They deal with beds and bodies.

They never have to put names or faces to them.

You can't blame Von if a visitor has a bloody asthma attack.

We don't Triage relatives.

I am not blaming anyone.

I'm just trying to ascertain what happened.

That's it.

Where do you think you're going?

This whole thing's a joke.

You listen to me.

You? I don't even know why you're here.

I'm here because you're a great nurse and I'm your friend.

We both know how this is going to play out, Frank.

Well, your bloody report isn't helping very much.

Talk about professional suicide. What the hell were you thinking?

Anyway, we can turn this around.

Forget it. I was negligent. I know it, you know it.

There's bloody good reasons why things went wrong yesterday.

Get your backside in there and tell them facts,

nothing more, nothing less, no embellishments and no guilt trips.

Just tell it like it was.

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

I appreciate you coming down so much.

I realise that you're very, very busy.

It's very unorthodox. I'm not even sure I should be here.

Mrs Carson, this is Geoff Bailey. He's the Bed Manager.

Nice to meet you.

So you're the person who decides who should get a bed?

That's one of my responsibilities, yes.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

I'm 62 years old and I still work full-time.

I've paid taxes all my life, the Medicare levy every year.

I've never had a day's sickness.

And what happens when I need a hospital bed?

If I could just explain...

Do you know how many times these poor doctors and nurses

have had to apologise to me for your incompetence?

I might just leave you to it, huh?

Do you have a mother?

Well? Do you?

Yes. Yes, I do.

How do you feel?

Much better, thanks.

Good news, Graham.

Your wife's out of Theatre and in recovery.

Dr Quade's been held up, but he said everything went fine

and he'll come down and update you soon.

Thank God.

No worries now, hey?

CRASH!

Get out of the bloody way. Bob? Bob? Bob!

Can you hear me?

He's got a pulse.

Get the spine board.

Can we get a spine board over here?

What the bloody hell's happened here?

Insulin-dependent diabetic with a wound infection.

He was given actrapid about an hour and a half ago.

Doing a BSL.

Just putting an oxygen mask on you, Bob.

He was waiting on a bloody meal.

For 90 bloody minutes?

1.8mmol. He'll need IV dextrose 50 in 50ml.

Get him to Resus.

Okay, Bob.

DEANNA: BSL 5mmol. CHARLOTTE: GCS 7.

Pupils equal and reacting to light, though.

Do you have a surgical consult - Bob Tyrell?

Here's your man, unconscious. Head injury after a fall.

I thought he was a diabetic with a sore leg?

He was. Don't ask.

We need to intubate him and get him off for a head CT.

This isn't your fault.

You ordered the meal, Von.

I didn't actually check that it had arrived.

Well, you're not expected to make the sandwiches and feed them to him.

You're being too tough on yourself.

Would you be saying that if it was a drug I failed to give?

Totally different situation.

No, it's not.

And Mr Tyrell remains in ICU, prognosis uncertain?

Yes.

Do you feel this incident could have been avoided?

Of course.

Do you think it could have been avoided yesterday,

given all the special circumstances?

That's an unfair question.

I do.

For Christ's sake, what else do you expect her to say?

Of course it could've been avoided.

But there was a whole raft of extenuating circumstances.

That is not the issue.

Then it bloody well should be.

Von has been a valued member of my ED for over two years.

I don't see how that's relevant.

She has extensive experience overseas in London

and she's even served in Vietnam, for Christ's sake.

I'm well aware of that.

Then why does she have to bear the brunt?

Where's the Bed Manager who increased our workload

because he couldn't do his job?

Where's the bloody kitchen supervisor

who was called twice to provide a simple meal, and failed to deliver?

Frank, you're out of line.

Alison, Von made a simple mistake.

People make mistakes every single day of the week in this hospital.

There's a difference between a mistake and negligence.

She doesn't deserve this, Alison.

Well, we did everything we could.

Did we?

Tell me, Deanna...

..why did you let Von hang herself with that useless report?

It was her report. They were her words.

You are her bloody supervisor. You should have made her rewrite it.

And what was that bloody performance in there?

You're supposed to be her advocate.

You spent most of your time playing noughts and bloody crosses.

It was difficult to find a way to support her

without raising the issue

of the personal problems she's been having lately.

The way things have been between Nelson and Von lately -

something like that was bound to happen.

All the more bloody reason for their boss to support them

and not hang them out to dry.

I'll tell you this - if she swings for this,

you and I are going to be having a bloody serious chat.

You're still here?

I was hoping...

Well, I was wondering if I could have a word.

I don't think I did everything I could to support Von today,

and I should have taken far greater care

to ensure that her incident report reflected

just how difficult things were in the ED yesterday.

I appreciate that.

Dr Campion is right.

Von is a great nurse.

I thought she could cover for me yesterday while I focused on Resus,

but I was wrong.

It was too much to ask of any nurse, no matter how experienced.

Thank you for your input.

His daughter.

He was taking her to Ireland at the end of the year.

Going to be a surprise.

Alison's come up with a very carefully worded recommendation

for the board.

Apparently your NUM had a change of heart

and finally went in to bat for you.

Anyway, the up-shot is that you're in the clear.

There will be no further action taken.

Want to go have a drink and celebrate?

Do you see anything in there to celebrate, hmm?

Any one of us

could've made the same mistake, Von.

You want people on your team who make mistakes, Frank?

I want you back at work.

Just leave it.

No, I can't.

You're grieving. You need time.

I've had a gutful with everybody pussy-footing around me,

waiting for me to fall over.

Nobody's waiting for you to do anything.

I appreciate all the support you've given me...

..but I won't be coming back to the ED.