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Miscellaneous
Poem
What I wanted to hear
Free
  1. Michael J Green
  1. Penn State College of Medicine, Departments of Humanities and Medicine, 500 University Drive, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA
  1. Correspondence to Michael J Green, Penn State College of Medicine, Departments of Humanities and Medicine, C1743, 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; mjg15{at}psu.edu

https://doi.org/10.1136/jmh.2010.006619

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    Routine ER page. He says it's a COPDer.

    This will be easy—nebs, steroids, O2. Home in a day.

    “What about the murmur?” I ask

    “No worries, it's innocent.”

    Just what I wanted to hear.

    Admit to floor; return to bed.

    3 a.m. nurse is calling. Looks worse.

    “I can't breathe.”

    Smell of fear. Lunge for my arm. Dead.

    Autopsy: pinpoint aortic stenosis.

    Fixable.

    Footnotes

    • Competing interests None.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.