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.