bad guys

Today, I did a very good thing. It’s not every day that I feel like I’ve done something positively, concretely, good. We had a “john doe” in our ICU today and I was called to help figure out his identity. For a medical social worker, getting ‘john does” is sometimes fun. You get to be a detective and get inside the puzzle of someone’s life and the moments leading up to their hospitalization in hopes of identifying them. Today’s “john doe” ended up being a wanted rape suspect that has dodged the local police for over a week now. It’s been all over the news: failed highway speed chases to get this guy, his photo up on the TV screen, a plea to the public to find him. After many calls, finger printing, etc, he was positively identified as the man on the news and the detectives from various counties seemed to swarm the place. The lead detective personally thanked me for breaking the case. Although I was horrified at what this man had done, I was also beaming with pride that I was able to help. I thought of the victim the detective would call later. I hoped that perhaps she would sleep a little better tonite knowing her attacker was in custody. The whole thing made me think of my beloved friend Clare who was once attacked herself many years ago. Thank god, she’s okay. Her attacker was eventually found and jailed. I thought of her all day long. About how strong she was to have fought for her life. About her resilience to come out of an experience like that unjaded and happy. About how much she means to me and how simply lucky I am to have her in my life after all these years. Helping to identify the rape suspect today somehow gave me a sense of empowerment that, as a friend of somebody who’s been attacked, is a really, truly, a satisfying feeling.