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
