[Closed to Thirteen] Not-so-patient history
"I've been smoking for twenty years. Father's a smoker, mother's a smoker, everyone in my family smokes, but no one in my family has ever had lung cancer. I don't have lung cancer, or whatever the hell 'Wegener's' is. It's bronchitis. I get it all the time."
"Genetic predisposition is only one factor for a lung cancer diagnosis, and Wegener's isn't genetically transmitted," Kutner explained, attaching the ECG nodes to Jim's chest, reaching over to flip the machine on. "Just because nobody in your family had it doesn't take away from the fact that you've smoked two packs a day since you were fifteen," he added pointedly, watching the electrocardiogram's screen to make sure it was taking the proper readings. "Besides, none of us think it's lung cancer, we'd just like to rule it out before making any sudden diagnoses. Wegener's is a form of vasculitis that affects your lungs, kidneys and upper airway. Makes it hard to breathe, gives you a runny nose all the time."
Taub had his hands shoved into his lab coat pockets, and tilted his head. This guy was an idiot. "We just... need to do a CT scan to make sure."
"They did that already after they admitted me," Jim argued. "They said they didn't find anything. Can't you guys just give me something to stop the coughing and let me go?" He didn't want to be here. He hated hospitals. The sterility and abundance of machinery and needles creeped him the hell out, and he wasn't allowed to smoke.
"Genetic predisposition is only one factor for a lung cancer diagnosis, and Wegener's isn't genetically transmitted," Kutner explained, attaching the ECG nodes to Jim's chest, reaching over to flip the machine on. "Just because nobody in your family had it doesn't take away from the fact that you've smoked two packs a day since you were fifteen," he added pointedly, watching the electrocardiogram's screen to make sure it was taking the proper readings. "Besides, none of us think it's lung cancer, we'd just like to rule it out before making any sudden diagnoses. Wegener's is a form of vasculitis that affects your lungs, kidneys and upper airway. Makes it hard to breathe, gives you a runny nose all the time."
Taub had his hands shoved into his lab coat pockets, and tilted his head. This guy was an idiot. "We just... need to do a CT scan to make sure."
"They did that already after they admitted me," Jim argued. "They said they didn't find anything. Can't you guys just give me something to stop the coughing and let me go?" He didn't want to be here. He hated hospitals. The sterility and abundance of machinery and needles creeped him the hell out, and he wasn't allowed to smoke.