Hospital thermometer stayed at minus four after nurse heard warning voice
A night nurse heard a woman's voice warning her to move a patient whose oxygen was failing. The room thermometer read minus four degrees and never changed.
A woman on the room speaker told Amara to move Curtis, but the hospital door was locked. Amara was the night nurse, checking the respiratory ward when Curtis's call light came on. The staff key did nothing.
Curtis sat upright, pointing at the closet. Amara heard the woman say, move him now. She blamed a crossed intercom line and tried the handle again.
The oxygen alarm
The oxygen monitor began dropping. Curtis was still breathing, but his lips had gone gray. Amara pulled the emergency release and dragged his bed into the hall.
The door opened by itself. Maintenance found a pinched oxygen hose behind the closet panel. That explained the alarm.
The impossible temperature
It almost explained the voice. Inside the empty room, the ward thermometer showed minus four degrees. A second thermometer showed the same reading.
At sunrise, Curtis was stable and the doors worked normally. Security found no fault in the speaker system. Amara signed her chart and saw a line she had not written.
The message
He heard me. The room was warm again. Its thermometer stayed at minus four.
