The Taxi
The Taxi driver worked in a small northern town. Not exactly the place where he would have expected to have his cab hijacked at knife point by a crazy person, and be forced to drive the lunatic to a remote ritzy housing development 15 minutes drive outside of the town limts.
The man with the knife seemed highly agitated, but not overtly dangerous, to the cab driver cooperated and drove where he was told. Which was to drive the man wout to the home of one of the local physicians. Whereupon the man jumped out of the cab with his knife and ran up the the home to try and break down the doctors front door, presumably to take the doctor and his family hostage.
The man with the knife seemed highly agitated, but not overtly dangerous, to the cab driver cooperated and drove where he was told. Which was to drive the man wout to the home of one of the local physicians. Whereupon the man jumped out of the cab with his knife and ran up the the home to try and break down the doctors front door, presumably to take the doctor and his family hostage.
The reason why
The man's motives were well known within the community. He had been experience severe back pain for months. Initially his symptoms has been accepted and he had been treated with stronger and stronger medication, until eventually he was on high doses of painkilling narcotics.
Then things changed. The doctor could discover no organic reason for the pain. No justification for the amount of narcotics the patients was receiving.
The drugs were stopped. The patient became angry, and tried to break into the doctors office to steal drugs. The police were called, and said patient was committed to the psychiatric ward of the hospital under heavy physical and pharmacological restraints. His friends were shocked by his behaviour, and he was shunned by the local church that he attended.
Honorable Patient became even more outraged, and hijacked the taxi at knife point to go out to the doctors house and confront him.
Then things changed. The doctor could discover no organic reason for the pain. No justification for the amount of narcotics the patients was receiving.
The drugs were stopped. The patient became angry, and tried to break into the doctors office to steal drugs. The police were called, and said patient was committed to the psychiatric ward of the hospital under heavy physical and pharmacological restraints. His friends were shocked by his behaviour, and he was shunned by the local church that he attended.
Honorable Patient became even more outraged, and hijacked the taxi at knife point to go out to the doctors house and confront him.
And along came me ....
This is where I entered the story. The doctor - A Chinese fellow named Wu, who had a wife and four daughters - had decided to take a break from working for a few weeks while I looked after his practice for him. This sort of substitute doctoring is referred to as doing "locums".
Since n0b0dy else wanted "knife - hijacking patient" I inherited him.
At the request of a nervous nursing staff I kept him so drugged up that he couldn't even walk properly. The nurses had to strap him to a stretcher and wheel him to the phone on the ward so that he could even make phone calls. Without the straps he wouldn't even have been able to keep his balance enough to stay on the stretcher. ( I am a firm believer in industrial strength pharmacotherapy for some applications. )
Since n0b0dy else wanted "knife - hijacking patient" I inherited him.
At the request of a nervous nursing staff I kept him so drugged up that he couldn't even walk properly. The nurses had to strap him to a stretcher and wheel him to the phone on the ward so that he could even make phone calls. Without the straps he wouldn't even have been able to keep his balance enough to stay on the stretcher. ( I am a firm believer in industrial strength pharmacotherapy for some applications. )
The Ending
The patient eventually settled down, , and I got him stabalized on some more normal doses of psychiatric medications, and no pain killers and at. His wife, and members of the church decided to start talking to him again. It looked like he was going to be okay. But his taxi - hijacking trip out to the doctors home was doomed to failure from the start.
The Punchline
First of all, Dr. Wu and his four daughters all had black belts in karate, and frequently travelled together to complete in Team Kata competitions. If the man had managed to make it into the house he would almost certainly have been anhialated by any or all of the house occupants.
Then there was the fact that the police arrived rather promptly. As soon as his knife wielding far had left the cab, the cabbie had used his radio to call the local police, who came screaming out to the subdivision with lights and sirens going, and were on the scene within minutes.
Finally, there was the degree of mental clouding caused by anxiety and drug withdrawal. This caused the patient to make a slight miscalculation. The police picked him up howling and banging his knife on the door of the house one house along from the Wu home.
All that work, and he ends up attacking the wrong house !
Then there was the fact that the police arrived rather promptly. As soon as his knife wielding far had left the cab, the cabbie had used his radio to call the local police, who came screaming out to the subdivision with lights and sirens going, and were on the scene within minutes.
Finally, there was the degree of mental clouding caused by anxiety and drug withdrawal. This caused the patient to make a slight miscalculation. The police picked him up howling and banging his knife on the door of the house one house along from the Wu home.
All that work, and he ends up attacking the wrong house !