But why were his first words “what did she say?”
Why not, “How badly is she hurt?” or “Is she alive/dead?”
Slow day in the emergency room. Late afternoon the police and orderlies wheel in a middle aged, unconscious man. We try to revive him, he's dead, he's been dead for 20 minutes.
Then the dead man's buddy walks in and asks about his friend.
He's told his friend is dead (the blue-tinged body is laying on the floor at his feet), and that we'll see to that his body is taken to the funeral home.
The Buddy says, "Well, I hope he'll be all right...when he comes to, tell him I'll be back to visit."