At the Emergency Room
Story A:
Though it is almost the end of September, the hot, humid Georgia air makes it feel like the peak of summer. You sip your iced tea, glad to have a break in your shift, and ask Susan when maintenance is going to fix the air conditioner. "Not 'til Tuesday," she replies.
An agitated young man is talking to the receptionist. He is wearing a tank top and glistening with sweat. When the receptionist sees you, she asks the man to have a seat in the waiting room, then summons you over.
"Doctor, that man has been feeling nauseous and his muscles and joints have been hurting. Do you think it's the flu?" she says. You glance over at the man and notice stains running down the front of his shirt. The receptionist confirms that he vomited just 10 minutes ago.
"Hey, man, do you think you could turn the air conditioner down? It's freezing in here," says the man, now lying on a couch.
You excuse yourself to question the young man, whose name is Bill. He tells you that he went to an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet about six hours ago with his buddy Roy. Roy bet Bill $20 that he could eat more than Bill could.
"We started eating plates and plates of fish. Four hours later, though, I started feeling queasy, like I had to throw up. At first I thought I had just eaten too much, but I had this headache and my mouth, fingers, and toes were tingling and going numb. So I told Roy I was feeling sick.
"Roy said I was just trying to get out of the bet. You see, he had finished six plates of fish and I had had five. That's when I first threw up and asked the manager to call me a cab. I threw a $20 bill at Roy—I was mad at him for making fun of me—left $7.95 for the meal, and told Roy I was going home. But when I threw up again in the cab, I told the driver to take me to the emergency room. You don't think I'm overreacting, do you?"
You tell Bill he did the right thing. On a hunch, you ask him to close his eyes and hold out his hands. You fish an ice cube out of your cup and touch it lightly to Bill's hand. He pulls away and says it is hot.
You ask Bill if he can stand up. He tries, but you can see he is feeling weak and you help him get off of the couch. After you put him in a hospital bed, you ask him for Roy's phone number and the name of the restaurant.
