Doctor Krenshaw snake charmer extraordinaire

Dr. Krenshaw snake charmer extraordinaire

fiction
edward w pritchard

Back when Warren Crenshaw was a resident early in his medical career some rainy mornings at 4:30 AM after a double shift he would catch a few winks by finding an empty room somewhere on a quiet ward and catch an hour or two of much needed sleep before starting his next very long day.

Today was forty years past Dr. W. Crenshaw's residency and out of ancient habit after driving four hours on a snowy night from Cleveland to Mansfield General Hospital he awoke in a strange bed to find twenty young medical students and nurses surrounding the bed he was sleeping in. Glancing quickly Warren groggily blinked his eyes to reorient himself to time and place; it was 3:45 AM as Warren remembered last night, actually about an hour ago, finding an empty room and bed in a long  dark out of the way hall and room of the Mansfield Hospital he was to lecture at later this morning in hopes of catching a few of hours of shut eye before work.

The young residents taking notes crowded close to his bed. The chief Physician obviously from  Neurology and a bit too pompous was finishing up a long answer to a student question concerning medical ethics and billing choices as Dr. Crenshaw quickly surmised to his dismay they were talking about himself. He was the patient they were talking about in the example that the chief Physician was discussing and he was the patient in the story example that had been unconscious for a few days and had not signed the legally required intake forms as required by Medicare. 

In a panic but thinking carefully Warren looked again to his wrists to check his watch for date and time and verified he had no watch but he did have an IV in his left arm. Moving only his eyes he glanced from student to student and despite his predicament had to smile a bit at their boredom. Been there done that he thought. 

The chief Physician droned on about the medical billing question. Sadly Dr. Crenshaw couldn't speak to interrupt when they called the patient in the story a snake charmer, as if that had anything to do with Medical billing ethics anyway thought Warren.