The Patient in Room 18 · Chapter
II: In Room 18 explained
On a stormy night, nurse Sarah Keate tends to patients while Dr.
What happens
On a stormy night, nurse Sarah Keate tends to patients while Dr. Letheny visits Mr. Jackson, who is undergoing radium treatment. After Dr. Letheny leaves, a power outage plunges the hospital into darkness. Keate discovers Mr. Jackson dead from an apparent morphine overdose, with signs of murder. The radium has been stolen. Keate and nurse Maida Day struggle to manage the crisis, unable to find Dr. Letheny or rouse the janitor Higgins. Drs. Hajek and Balman arrive to investigate.
Themes in this chapter
Death and Mortality
Mr. Jackson's sudden death from morphine overdose dominates the chapter, raising questions of murder.
Secrecy and Suspicion
Keate suspects foul play; the radium theft and Dr. Letheny's disappearance create an atmosphere of distrust.
Isolation and Entrapment
The storm and power outage trap the characters in the dark hospital, heightening tension and fear.
Characters to notice
- Sarah Keate
Narrator and head nurse; discovers Mr. Jackson's body and suspects murder.
- Maida Day
Nurse on duty; seen entering from outside, later helps Keate during the crisis.
- Dr. Louis Letheny
Visits Mr. Jackson at 12:30 AM, then disappears; later cannot be found.
- Old Mr. Jackson
Patient in Room 18 undergoing radium treatment; found dead from morphine overdose.
- Dr. Fred Hajek
Called to Room 18; arrives and examines the body.
- Dr. Balman
Arrives at the hospital; confirms death by morphine overdose.
Key passages
“The gleaming white and black of his pearl-studded shirt front and smooth-fitting dinner jacket were incongruous in the bare, night-lighted hall...”
Dr. Letheny's formal evening attire looked out of place in the stark, dim hospital corridor.
Highlights the contrast between the social world and the clinical setting.
“It was as if some evil spell held us all staring at the dead man.”
Everyone in the room was frozen, transfixed by the sight of the corpse.
Conveys the supernatural dread and shock of the moment.
“A corpse bleeds when its murderer is near.”
An old superstition says that a dead body will bleed in the presence of its killer.
This belief intensifies the suspicion and fear among those present.