Caught Up and Missing

In the early morning hours of the third day after Abdullah’s death, the guard standing watch over Abdullah’s body was seated at the head of the bed had dozed off. The rustle of bed sheets covering Abdullah’s body suddenly awakened the guard. When he stood at his normal position near the bed, the guard saw the movement of Abdullah’s right arm under the sheets. As he stood gazing at the violent movement shaking, Abdullah’s entire body appeared to go into convulsions. The guard dropped his rifle in panic, ran to the door and yelled for a nurse. The second guard stationed at the outside of the door asked what was wrong.

“Something weird is going on with Mr. Abdullah’s body; it’s shaking and moving like you wouldn’t believe!”

“I want to see!” said the second guard as he stepped into the room to see Abdullah’s body heaving up and down while still covered by bed sheets. The movement of the body startled the guard turning his face ashen; his mouth dropped open as he took several steps backwards towards the door. He stopped just on the inside of the room. The head nurse came running down the hall to the room. She had to forcibly push the guard out of the way so that she could enter the room. She immediately ran to the bed upon observing Abdullah’s body moving. She yelled for the second guard to call the other duty nurses; she called for the first guard to help her hold Abdullah’s body on the bed to prevent it from falling onto the floor. Four additional nurses rushed into the room and took positions on either side of the head nurse so they could provide additional muscle in order to keep Abdullah’s body pinned down on the bed. When they had him secured, the head nurse ordered Abdullah hooked to the life support system to check for any signs of life. As a nurse struggled to connect Abdullah to the machine, the head nurse called the nurses’ station and told the desk clerk to page the on‑call physician.

Twenty minutes passed before Abdullah’s body stopped its violent movements. At that time, the nurse was able to complete her task of hooking him up to the machine. Although the body still twitched with movement, the heart monitor showed no heart beat and there was no blood pressure. The head nurse told the group standing around the bed that the reason that Abdullah’s body had experienced such an unusually high nerve reaction for was due to a case of delayed constriction of his body parts. But, she said, she needed to have the on‑call physician to examine the body for confirmation.

It wasn’t long before the on-call physician entered Abdullah’s room. He was surprised at the number of people milling about for no apparent reason. He ordered everyone out but the head nurse. The guard who had been assigned to watch over Abdullah’s body refused to leave and told the physician so. The doctor, observing that the guard held his finger on the rifle’s trigger, agreed to allow him to remain.

The young doctor was in his last year of residency at the hospital. After listening to the statements of the nurses, he said that he would need to telephone the chief‑of‑staff along with Abdullah’s personal physician before proceeding. He was unable to reach Abdullah’s personal physician but he did speak to the chief-of-staff who said he would come to the hospital within the hour. The young doctor was relieved because he didn’t know what to make of the situation, and anything concerning such an important figure, even if dead, could have serious career ramifications. The young physician was not willing to take a chance.