Who's Killing the Doctors? II. Alex Swift
part of her anatomy, which most of us would have indeed accepted as actual intended assault. Yet none of that was reported by either party -that was aired-. Was that, if THAT was what happened, true assault? Couldn’t the boy (drunk?) and his friend have just been horsing around without intending intercourse/rape? And we were not told about the atmosphere -their attire, their demeanor- before such ‘event’…”
“I agree, Frank. It was, if it happened, just her own ‘perception’ of assault that then she hid for 36 years. An accusation of that nature against a person not running for public office these days would not be considered ‘sexual assault.’ But I guess, regardless of any political motivations to derail the Kavanaugh nomination, THAT was enough to call it ‘assault’ and inadmissible to become a Supreme Court in the eyes of Democrats – and largely of those in the ‘Me Too’ movement… But again it would not stand TODAY, against most guys, in most courts, as true ‘assault’”
“And do you think, Isabel, that at some point in the future, that not just borderline or suspicious ‘horsing around’ but even excessive female exposure -like clear/excessive cleavage at work or in a close social encounter as King Louis XIV’s courtiers did- might be considered actual ‘sexual assault’ just by showing themselves?”
“That’s a tough one, Frank. Perhaps as extenuating factor if it happens just prior to an actual physical assault or rape. ‘Me Too’ ladies defend ’I can show you what I want and you may get all excited; but you can’t touch or grab if I don’t want you to. It will be sexual assault!’ It probably doesn’t sound fair to most men. Yet I doubt just ‘exposure’ (of one’s cleavage, thighs, or one’s crotch while seated) will ever be considered ‘assault’ like men’s ‘flashing’ or ‘mooning’ (or words!). Right now, obvious mooning -of one’s rear or front end- in public, gets a guy fired from work, but not if a woman shows just cleavage… But who knows how the future will see it; perhaps… if more such cases -even of just ‘horsing-around-later-claimed-unwanted’ and accusations (like Dr. Ford’s)- come to the forefront and get public attention by the Media.”
“As for me,” went on her husband, “Isabel, I have already installed in my office, out in the open for everyone to see, a continuous video recording of all my face-to-face encounters with patients. I did have a couple of silly reports against me of sexual nature, both of comp cases, infuriated by my report to the insurance company. Both were dismissed as just likely fabrications. After the second, I installed the camera. I have one disc per office day. I keep all in our basement… Both patients had seemed, at least initially, quite pleased with me. Now I can’t trust anybody!… And I’ll probably stop seeing Comp cases soon…
……..
The phone rang in Dr. Martin’s home that Sunday as the couple were busy discussing the Ford-Kavanaugh affair, so juicy for the Media when it was news. It was a call from his friend in the Irwing Hospital ER, Dr. Bob Stein:
“Hi Frank! Sorry for bothering you at this late hour. I have a young kid here, Eddy Floss, who seems OK now but had a Grand Mal seizure today at home, his first one ever, after a day at the Valley Days Fair. His labs look all OK and I just talked to his pediatrician on the phone. He tells me to send him home and have his mother call you in the morning so you can see him at some point later with no rush and do an EEG. But I did not feel comfortable sending him home now… What do you think?”
“I agree with you, Bob. Keep him there. I’m not on call but I’ll be there in 20 minutes. Let me take a look at him myself.”
“You really don’t have to Frank. It is late, and Sunday. I can just admit him to the pediatric floor and keep an eye on him; you can see him in he morning… Or perhaps I’ll just send him home as his pediatrician tells me. The kid is really OK.”
“It is no bother. I’ll be right there.” And Dr. Martin hanged up. He was already in his pajamas, but quickly got dressed and got on he road.
He was in the ER 15 minutes later.
[In retrospect, now that we have this full, real story and outcome some time later, Dr. Martin’s decision to be kind, assiduous, extra-caring and see the boy in the ER at odd hours on a Sunday evening and he was not on call and didn't have to, would eventually cost him!].
He examined the boy -who was sitting up on a stretcher- in front of his mother and grandmother. All seemed fine except for his noticing that when bending the boy’s head all the way forward, the boy grinned and raised his shoulders a pinch. Demonstrating this to his mom and to Dr. Stein, Dr. Martin, as he did it again for them to see, he told the boy:
“Eddy, tell me if your back or your neck hurt when I bend your head again as I just did.”
“Ouch!” the boy said when Dr. Martin brought his chin to his chest with a gentle down push.
He interpreted that as ‘guarding,’ a subtle positive ‘meningeal’ sign. Dr. Stein believed Dr, Martin’s demonstration and accepted the need for a spinal tap. The neurologist offered to do it right there himself.
He did the tap easily, with the boy ‘siting up’ at the edge of he stretcher – Dr. Martin’s then and there amid his colleagues and residents, famous trademark in a place where other neurologists always did it with the patient lying down on one side. And the fluid he obtained (with 51 white blood cells per cubic mm, all lymphocytes) confirmed his suspicion of a mild case of meningitis, probably viral. The fluid should have had no cells at all or at the most, 2 or 3. His diagnosis of viral meningitis was correct on all accounts. Most likely benign.
CHAPTER 2
A Prize For Being So Good
But perhaps it was not that benign…
Such a diagnosis explained the reason for the kid’s seizure. Dr. Martin thought of admitting him to the pediatric floor, so he called the pediatric resident to obtain a bed. That fellow, a second year resident still in training, controlled all admissions from the ER at late hours in the day when the daytime guys had gone home. If Eddy was going to be admitted it had to be cleared by him. But when Dr. Martin talked to him the resident questioned the real need for an admission on a Sunday evening:
“If we bring him upstairs, he won’t be in ICU or close to the nurses’ station, but in a quiet room at the end of he hall… Viral meningitis, I know, is not a serious condition. He could be watched by his mother more closely and better at home. Why don’t you explain that to his mother. Perhaps she will understand… And it will save us unnecessary work on the floor at late hours on a weekend.”
Dr. Martin got caught by surprise by such a negative reception, was a bit pissed off -that a young guy in training would question him- but he understood. He passed the resident’s comments to Eddy’s mother and grandmother and these were actually happy to hear that their boy did not have to stay in the hospital overnight. Mom in fact assured Dr. Martin that she could certainly watch her son at home better than the nurses, especially if he was going to spend the night at the end of a long corridor. So they took him home. Dr. Martin gave them not only his office number but even his home phone number as well. “Please call me during the night any time you feel you have to or if there is in him any change you don’t like,” he told them.
Mom was in fact so happy with Dr. Martin’s kindness, flexibility and his having explained everything to them so well, that she even called him at home that very evening as soon as they got home:
“Doc, we thank you for your wonderful care, so dedicated of you at odd hours… I hear that spinal taps are often tough -and that it is often harder to think that a tap is needed- and that they hurt, but little Eddy hardly even felt it… By he way, as we drove home, my mother and I were talking about what you said about there being often some family history to these brain things. Well, yes. I don’t know of any history of epilepsy in any relatives, but two of my mother’s siblings, a brother and a sister, had Polio, that started, if I recall, as a form of meningitis, encephalitis, or something like that. In fact, her brother died of it…”
“Thanks