Table of Contents
Introduction vii
1 Climbing the Mountain of Medical School (and Finding It Is Just Snow and Ice) 1
2 Medications Can Make You (and the Fishes) Sick 15
3 The Emergency Room at Night: Radioactive Patients and Chocolate All Over the Place 25
4 Dead Men Don't Tell Tales, but Sometimes They Get X-Rays and ECGs 35
5 The Toughest Man in the Hospital Becomes the Most Pitiable 45
6 A Black Man in Dallas on the Day JFK Was Assassinated 55
7 Rib Tips and Homegoings 61
8 Of Little Green Men and Imaginary Highways 71
9 Poisons: KGB Umbrellas, the First Ricin Survivor, and a Suicidal Biochemist 81
10 The Woman with the Sore Thumb: Why Listening Is an Art 91
11 Don't Believe Everything You Read in the Medical Record 99
12 Sources of Embarrassment: Vibrators, Rashes, and Medical Students 107
13 The Mystery of the Seductive Nurse 117
14 The Princess and the King 125
15 The Duke of Spain and the Professor from Penn 131
16 West Side Drama in Three Parts 139
17 Mr. Rodriguez's Secret, and the Assassin's Victim 145
18 Of Presidents, Negro Leaguers, Serial Killers, and Linda Darnell 153
19 Tales from the Movies 163
20 Stay Away from the Hospital on Holidays If at All Possible 177
21 Yes, Physicians Can Be Arrogant and Heartless 183
22 The Disease That Turned Out to Be AIDS 191
23 Chicago Has Two Seasons 199
24 Working in a Free Clinic: Health Without Wealth 209
25 You Can't Stop Progress 217