We should have paid attention to the nutjobs.
Not the conservative, Thou-Shalt-Nots; no, I mean the Certifiables. The papers barely registered the should-have-been alarmingly high suicide rates. One shift I walked in and the head nurse had recorded seventeen dead in four hours. The worst part, for her at least, was how they had figured out how to scam the system. Self-asphyxiation in the only corner of the room not visible on closed circuit. Slit wrists in a bath filled up just enough that the blood wouldn't overflow. And then there were the jumpers. How they found roof access was inconceivable, but somehow they did.
It wasn't just us either; every hospital in the state reported the same or worse. At least their administration had the decency to not publicly express gratefulness that the overburdened infrastructure would finally have enough resources for its patients.
That's how the story finally saw light of day, actually. Not because the mad ones were offing themselves, but because some dickhead in a suit was grateful. They caught him on the security camera -some guard probably put that shit online after he got fired for being redundant. He was one of the big admins, gleefully chatting away on his mobile about how easily he would be able to get his raise now that they weren't wasting so much money "on strapping down the retards."
He said more, and worse, but apparently they hate it when you call them that, and some of them've got some powerful friends.
