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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.
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