Intensive Care

One of my father's pumps is beeping again. A nurse is immediately there, checking his picc-line and resetting something. There's a flurry of activity as another nurse comes in to adjust his oxygen and someone comes from Nuclear Medicine to transport him, all at once. A man from housekeeping slips in and out to change the needle bin.

I step back to get out of the way, feeling utterly

inutile
adjective
Lacking in utility or serviceability; not useful.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin inūtilis : in-, not; + ūtilis, useful.]
"inutile." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers.com 07 Jul. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/inutile