Universal Assistance asked me to see a young woman with abdominal pain at the Airport Marriott. According to the dispatcher, she had no other symptoms.

Arriving in the room, I learned things the insurance dispatcher hadn’t mentioned. The woman was three months pregnant and had noticed vaginal bleeding. That meant she had to go to an emergency room. It’s surprising how often doctors know the diagnosis as soon they set foot in the room, but it looks bad to blurt it out, so I asked questions, performed an exam, delivered my conclusions, and then phoned the insurance office with the news.

The following afternoon, the lady’s husband called. They were back in the hotel. The emergency room doctor had diagnosed a miscarriage, he explained. That was also my diagnosis. He had then discharged her. But she was still bleeding. Was that normal?...

It wasn’t. A woman having a miscarriage usually needs a minor operation, a D&C, to remove remaining tissue. I have no explanation of why the doctor sent her out still bleeding. I told the husband that, sadly, he would have to take her back. The second time she received her D&C.

Mike Oppenheim