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Dr. Short and his assistant led his team of interns into the patient’s room and had them gather about the bed. He handed a tissue and clipboard to his assistant and addressed the group.

“I’d like each of you to read the chart. The cause of the patient’s comatose state has been redacted. Initial vitals and circumstances from E.R. are with your notes. Any questions?”

The baldheaded young intern quickly spoke up.

“Er, what’s dacted mean and why did they do it again?”

The other three interns groaned silently at yet another of his idiotic questions.

The doctor glanced over to a grinning nurse tending another patient.

“Nurse Bright, would you care to inform young Einstein here what redacted means?

“Sure!” grinned the nurse with a snicker, “It means . . . omitted!”

And with that nurse Bright burst into uncontrollable laughter.

One of the other interns, the quiet one, flushed bright red and lowered his gaze. He felt sorry for the other intern’s obvious intellectual shortcomings, and only prayed that Doctor Short wouldn’t single him out for ridicule as well.

Another young medical student raised his hand.

“Yes young man?” asked the doctor.

“I don’t mean to interrupt your roast,” he said with a scowl, “but I DO have the next E.R shift and would appreciate moving this little party along.

Dr. Short glared at the young man, who only stared right back at him, as if challenging his authority. Short said nothing and opted to avoid confrontation. He cleared his throat and continued,

“Now, considering the contusions to the tissue surround her superior laryngeal nerve and the subsequent toxicology report, can someone please tell me what may have caused this patient’s lapse into a coma? You? Remley, isn’t it?”

The intern didn’t say a thing. He just stood there swaying back and forth with his head lowered.

One of the other students elbowed Remley, who then jerked to attention.

“Eh? What’s that?”

I asked if you can render an opinion as to the cause of the patient’s current state.

“Oh. Well, it seems pretty obvious.”

With that Remley amazed the doctor with his analysis.

Can you?

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The patient is asleep? Or perhaps a more practical answer; the windpipe was damaged and the lack of oxygen to the brain caused the coma? But I think the analysis can be conducted with the doctor's words omitted, since the intern didn't seem to hear what he said anyways.

A well written short-scene, very intriguing.

Edited by Jonn
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A seemingly important point about this riddle: it does not merely ask how the patient became comatose, it asks for an analysis that would amaze Dr Short. I'm always a bit reluctant when there's a clue that doesn't seem to fit, but here goes.

When we walked into the room, I saw you hand your assistant a tissue. Knowing that the patient had contusions around the neck and that a toxicology consultation was involved, I suspected that the handkerchief had been soaked with chloroform and the bruises were from a struggle.

But something seemed odd when nurse Bright broke out in laughter. A bit extreme for a reaction at the ignorance of my balding colleague. Other oddities: another intern becoming flushed but not from vasovagal presyncope (as he did not bend down and pretend to be tying his shoes to keep from passing out as most interns would), a medical student losing the restraint to hold his tongue at an attending physician, and myself nearly falling asleep. All of this points towards one thing - that we ourselves are being mildly intoxicated.

How? We haven't so much as touched the patient, so the intoxicant must be airborne, and flooding this room. An inhaled anesthetic, one that is not metabolized by the liver or excreted in the urine, but is simply exhaled unmetabolized so it can affect the rest of us. As you may have suspected from the laughing, nitrous oxide seems the the most likely culprit. So, why the bruises around the neck? Not from struggling against an assailant, but self inflicted. Specifically, by tying a bag around her head to keep an airtight seal and prevent the gas from escaping, and worsening her lack of oxygenation.

But that does leave me with one question, Dr Short. If the tissue was not soaked in chloroform, and it would hardly be an effective filter to prevent your assistant from inhaling the gas in this room, why hand it off to your assistant when we entered?

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A real strange case Dr. Shake. Having worked with a Dr. Google in the recent past, I would like to proffer a more professional response.

I can see know that the woman is of Greek origin and that the problems with the paperwork stem from the fact that her name and ailment are uncannily similar.

[spoiler=]

Name. Anna Phylaxis

Diagnosis Anaphylaxis

Administration of epinephrine should sort her out.

Yours

Dr. DDT. Wilson

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The doctor asks for "her" condition, but is a female the answer you are looking for? If so, then is outer knowledge needed to answer? I am truely stumped.

nevermind :lol:

Edited by Jonn
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Perhaps we should not yet focus on the name of the patient, but first on the names of the other players.

Bright is of course a doc.

The baldheaded intern seems rather dopey.

Nurse bright is happy about something or other.

The quiet intern is blushing bashfully.

The young student is awfully grumpy.

Remley is perhaps post-call and sleepy.

So by process of elimination, the patient's chief complaint was undoubtedly being sneezy.

And I must admit that plainglazed's guess helped me with this one.

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Perhaps we should not yet focus on the name of the patient, but first on the names of the other players.

Bright is of course a doc.

The baldheaded intern seems rather dopey.

Nurse bright is happy about something or other.

The quiet intern is blushing bashfully.

The young student is awfully grumpy.

Remley is perhaps post-call and sleepy.

So by process of elimination, the patient's chief complaint was undoubtedly being sneezy.

And I must admit that plainglazed's guess helped me with this one.

I had the assistant as the Mock Turtle - handed a tissue by the Dr so must be sad/crying; the hapless bald intern as Humpty Dumpty; the grinning Nurse Bright as the Cheshire Cat; the impatient intern as the March Hare; but Remley? and Dr Short as the shrinking Alice couldn't be right because the good doctor was a he. Nice one plasmid

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Yeah, well done Plasmid.

The assistant is sneezy, as he receives the tissue. The patient is suffering a poison induced coma after choking on a laced apple of course.

Cheers

Well done. I wish I had more background on Snow White, for I've never seen the actual movie. Just those advertisements you see on other tapes. :lol:

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