The story was an 82 year old guy with a broken neck. He had apparently fallen in his bathroom that morning, cracking his 1st and 2nd vertebrae. I had a vague memory from medical school that this wasn't a good thing--the expression "hangman's fracture" kept bobbing up from the well of facts I do not use --but I had a much more distinct impression that this was not a case for cardiology."And Ortho isn't taking him because?" I said wearily."Because he's got internal organs, dude."I sighed. "So why me?""Because they got an EKG."The MAO was clearly enjoying himself. I remembered he had recently been accepted to a cardiology fellowship. I braced myself for the punch line."And?""And there's ectopy on it. Ectopy." He then made a noise intended to suggest a ghost haunting something.
Terrence Holt, Internal Medicine: A Doctor's Stories
cardiology, cards, doctor, internal-medicine, medicine, ortho, orthopedic