Original subtitles

Well, why didn't you take a tray?

I was just going to have coffee when I started off.

Well, I've seen train seals do that better.

Yeah, but would a train seal eat these donuts?

If he could afford to pay for them, he would.

I'll get you on the way out, dear. Trust me.

Help, help.

Here.

Here we go.

You, uh, you gentlemen finish your breakfast already?

Yeah, we're working on it.

Well, uh, how do you expect your patients to mind you when you tell them

a good breakfast? Physician, feed thyself.

I believe he means to eat it all.

An emotional symptom.

Obviously. Wrong diagnosis as usual, Dr. Barnes.

I admit he doesn't look too unhappy.

Unhappy? On the proudest day of my life, as of this evening, I will have

finished my services under Dr.

Nicholas Keith.

Gentlemen, a toast to the tenacity of Dr.

Atkinson. Okay, I got the point. Don't maul it.

We're all aware that I'm next on Keith's service.

I hear he's a very fine doctor.

Fine? Why, Jimmy, he's downright brilliant.

When he can't diagnose through history and physical, he just leans over that

patient and smells it out.

Yes, but did you know that he applied for the chief residency?

Heath?

Straight, I guess.

Applying doesn't mean he'll get it.

He'll get it. He'll get it, Jimmy, my boy. He knows twice as much about

as anyone else they can get around here. If he didn't, they wouldn't let him out

of his cage.

Careful. Here he comes.

Just let me get through to him.

Barstow. Hokey, sit down.

You were interned on an emergency last night?

Yes, sir.

You admitted a patient named Harry McGovern.

Well, it was a busy night, Dr. Keith. Why didn't you examine his eye grounds?

Well, I don't know.

Maybe he came in... Well, I don't know either, but I know a lot of other

For instance, I've just discovered a subdural hematoma.

Six hours after he was brought in, Barstow.

When you're that busy, you don't have time to do a full report on every...

did you have time to do last night?

Now, you listen to me. I'm not about to stand around in my ward and have

patients brought in ready to die because some clown of an intern in an emergency

hasn't got time, can't spare it to do his job.

Now, just a minute. If I ever, ever hear of you pulling a thing like this again

in this hospital, I'll personally take you to the front steps and kick you all

the way to Kansas.

ever tell you to go to blazes it's been suggested well buddy buddy you're

finally on your way and you've just seen the gentleman who keeps it hot

I hear I found a new home in this army.

Look at him, Colonel. My kid brother, and I'm the one who's got to send him in

there. Well, you weren't acting very sisterly the other night at the Gursky's

party. As a matter of fact.

Please, Doctor Kildare.

Has Doctor Keith come in yet?

Not yet. We've just got time for the ceremony.

Ceremony? Have a funny night.

This way, sir.

Where are we going? Just follow me.

All of me to all of you.

What's this for?

In honor of your first day on Dr. Keefe's service.

Oh.

Very touching inscription.

I wrote it myself in the blood of the last intern we had here.

Oh, this needs some explaining.

A pair of earplugs.

And the next.

A dictionary of slang and profanity, so you can hold your own in case you lose

earplugs. Carrie, I know you're just kidding.

But there's something I should make clear about my work with Dr. Keefe.

I expect to learn a lot from him.

And since the only way I can do that is to get along with him, I intend to get

along with him.

Well, maybe I should take my process back.

It may sound pompous, but that's the way I feel.

Well, pompous or not.

Good luck.

Dr. Keith, I'm Dr. Kildare.

Ah, nice to meet you.

Ah, happy birthday, if that's the occasion.

Oh, no, sir.

Thank you, sir.

Uh, Miss Palmer, would you keep this for me, please? Certainly, Doc.

You ready to make rounds?

Yes, sir.

Admitted early this morning with unexplained anemia.

You feel tired?

Oh, yes, Doctor.

Feel cold? All the time.

What else bothers you?

Leg cramps.

They get real bad when I stand on my feet too long.

Yeah, me too.

That's also unexplained thyroid disease.

Now, you ask the right questions, you'll get the right answers.

You're in orders for 604?

Yes, sir, right here.

Disseminated infiltration of the lung could be one of several conditions.

Name one.

Malaria tuberculosis.

This man's a chicken farmer, Kildare.

Now, if you've never heard of histoplasmosis, you look it up. We still

medical library, I believe.

Let me take a look at that unbowed head.

Drooping a little, that's all.

Membership's still open in the key fanny fan club.

Still not interested.

I'll hold it for you.

Where is he now?

Oh, he's having dinner with Dr.

and Mrs.

Belmono.

It must be business.

Couldn't be pleasure.

Hmm?

I know you enjoy playing doctor, but aren't you going to feel a little

in those at the colony?

Oh, look, I thought I was invited for dinner here.

Gee, it's my fault, Nick.

You first suggested going to the colony, so when Julie didn't seem like she was

ready to lick the world this morning... Listen, it doesn't make any difference.

I can just cook something here.

No, absolutely not.

We'll just wait for Nick to go and change.

Look, if you won't take it the wrong way, I think I'll just back off.

Oh, no.

Then we'll eat here.

Look, really, what I really need most is sleep.

Oh, come on, Nick. Now, the whole idea was for us to get to see you.

Oh, yeah, I see, Tom, every day. I mean it, Nick. Now we can eat out any night.

Sure, we really shouldn't spend the loot anyway.

Look at him. A couple of months away from a $20 ,000 practice.

If I ever make $20 ,000, I'll have to take spending lessons.

Well, that's one problem a chief resident's not going to have to worry

But if you don't get the job, you're going to have to learn to be a rich

You heard something I don't know?

I know, Nick.

She just meant, you know, you ought to have something else in mind in case you

don't get it.

Let me tell you, I'd better get it.

You better get going.

Have a drink anyway.

No, you'll lose your reservation.

I'll see you.

Let's make it soon, huh, Nick?

What's the matter with him?

Oh, Nick's always been the dedication kid.

No, that's not true.

I mean, gee, don't you remember that... Look, honey, don't get carried away with

the mother bit.

He says he's sleepy.

He's always sleepy.

Oh.

Kildare, am I to understand he's been in coma since he was brought in?

Yes, sir.

Who brought him in, relatives?

No, a hotel clerk called emergency.

Well, I presume we have a past history on him, then?

No, sir.

Will you please explain to me why you ordered penicillin and why not a broad

spectrum antibiotic?

Well, in the stage of pneumonia, I thought we should get it as quickly as

possible. Uh -huh.

You mean it's Friedlanders?

I don't know.

You don't know?

What are you, colorblind?

What did the gram stain look like?

Will anyone ever teach you the difference between red and blue?

I didn't order a gram stain. The diagnosis seemed clear.

I ordered sputum and blood cultures to confirm it.

Well, that's very thoughtful of you, isn't it?

I mean, it's always interesting to know what the patient died of.

He's not going to die, Dr. Keefe. He's responding to the penicillin. Don't brag

about it, because it's luck. That's all it was, luck.

I think my diagnosis has proved right.

Diagnosis? What diagnosis? You put an unconscious man on penicillin, you don't

even know whether he's allergic to it.

Are there not informing medical students these days this lifesaver can

occasionally turn around and kill someone?

I've heard of penicillin reaction, yes. Oh, you've heard about it. You just

don't happen to believe in it. Is that right?

I knew the vast odds were that any given person could take it. It was a

calculated risk. I felt we had to get the infection as quickly as possible.

off it. You don't even know what the infection was.

You're waiting 24 hours for a culture to confirm your diagnosis.

What if it had been Friedlanders?

This man might be dead by tomorrow noon.

What if it had been a virus? What about that? What's your penicillin going to do

against a virus?

Why, a diagnosis a boy scout could diagnose better than that out of a first

manual. I think that's a matter of medical opinion, Dr. Keefe. And you

change the fact that I was right.

Gilder, more than anything else in this world, I hate lazy blundering quacks

that go crashing around a hospital substituting wild guesses for good

and hard work.

Ah, when their guesses happen to luck out.

Well, then they are glad to grab the glory. I'm not after glory, Keefe. But

they are wrong, they've got a whole vocabulary full of excuses.

They call it everything but what it really was, which is their own failure

know what should be done and their own failure to do it.

I'd like to know where you get this marvelous gift of always being right.

Let me tell you, it's no gift.

Dr. Keefe, Dr. Gillespie just called.

He'd like to see you in his office right away. Thank you.

I suppose I'll have to leave this patient with you killed there, but if he

should happen to fall out of his bed, just go to the next ward and ask the

resident there what to do.

No comment, Jim.

And no jokes either.

You know, Nick, I'm always a little flattered when one of our people

desire to stay on at the hospital.

I guess I'm a little puzzled, too.

Why is that, sir?

Well, one obvious thing, money.

Well, I don't need much money. I have no dependents. I can get a long fine

on the chief's salary.

Don't you think you'd like private practice?

Dr. Gillespie, I don't want to be rude, sir. We both know why you called me in

here. Let's get to the point.

All right, Nick.

First, you're a talented doctor.

One of the most talented we've ever had.

I don't think there's any doubt about that.

Perhaps you're too good.

That's a strange thing to say.

For this job, I mean.

With all the administration and personnel work, you'd have far less time

medicine. Well, I know the job, and as for the time, I'd find it.

What is the job of chief resident, Nick?

Well, firstly, it's to be responsible for the medical staff to see they

efficiently.

Efficiently.

And in harmony.

All right, and in harmony.

I don't think you could do it.

During the three years you've been here, I've had glowing reports of your

ability.

I've studied some of your diagnoses.

And I can find only one word for them. Brilliant.

But I've also had to contend with other reports.

Arguments and fights with other doctors.

An actual physical fight on one occasion.

Sir, you must remember what that clown Paul... Protests from the nursing

supervisor.

I have never considered my job a popularity contest, no, sir.

Nick.

One night your first year here, you told me about your father, you remember?

Yes, I remember. I don't think that has anything to do with this. I think it

does, to a degree.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have brought it up.

Well, I appreciate it if you don't bring it up again, sir.

All right.

Strictly professional.

I'm going to recommend a doctor more temperamentally suited to the job.

Well, I see it doesn't matter to you who knows the most medicine just as long as

you find a laughing boy to keep the family nice and happy.

I'll ask you to control yourself. Why don't you suggest to the medical schools

they set up new entrance requirements, like are your teeth nice and flashy when

you smile, you mix a good martini, or do you play a little piano at parties?

I want you to sit down. I'm not through. No, sir. There's nothing more I want to

hear. I want to talk to you.

Going off duty, Dr. Kildare?

Yeah. Well, I was supposed to tell you you're wanted in the utility room.

What?

Go on in.

Ta -da! Ta -da!

James, my boy! Someone give my friend the doctor a drink.

A drink, here?

Non -alcoholic.

What's going on? We are having a celebration.

Haven't you heard?

Friends?

He hasn't run.

Tell him, tell him. I guess I haven't.

The best intelligence system since the Normandy invasion has been working. And

as just flashed word, the Dr. Nicholas Keefe left the offices of Dr.

Leonard Gillespie about an hour ago.

And he was in a dither. And I mean a foaming at the mouth dither.

Well, what do your interpreters tell you? They have definitely concluded that

Dr. Gillespie called in Dr.

Keefe to talk about his appointment. And what Dr. Gillespie said was, uh -uh.

So, we're having an uncongratulations party.

An uncongratulations party? And it's my turn to toast.

Nicholas Keefe, M .D. Are those all the initials you can think of, Doctor? Well,

I could think of some others, but they might shock the ladies.

For Dr. Nicholas Keefe, may he have all the questionable success he so

questionably deserves in some other place at least 10 ,000 miles from Blair

General Hospital.

Agreed.

I'll drink to that.

Why? Isn't he at the hospital?

Yeah, I suppose he is. Well, I was just walking around and I thought I'd drop

in. I wanted to talk to him for a while.

Well, you can call him from here if you want to.

I don't even know what it is I want to talk about.

You do, too.

Tom called me.

He told me about your appointment.

Well, I...

It's big news. I suppose the hospital bulletin will put out an extra.

I'm really sorry, Nick.

I know how disappointed you must be.

You want to talk?

You used to be able to talk.

What should I talk about?

Maybe I should tell you what I think of your husband's profession.

I don't think I'd better do that.

What, you mean you're going to blame the entire medical profession because you

didn't get the job you wanted?

Look, Nick, I'm going to tell you the truth.

I don't think you realize how much you've changed in the last three years.

Do you know that Tom told me that most of the medical staff of the hospital is

afraid to come near you?

Well, I bite when I got a reason.

And then I bite hard. That's right.

Why do you have to be the conscience for the entire medical profession?

I get sick in my stomach when I see mistakes made in the hospital.

So it hits every doctor. That's no excuse. Every doctor.

Tom says that you're angry all the time.

Well, I've been angry for a long time.

Why, Nick?

You want me to tell you why?

Your father alive?

Yes.

Mine isn't. He died when I was ten years old of indigestion.

At least that's what the doctor said before he went home and went to bed.

You mean to tell me that you've been angry since the age of ten?

I didn't know enough to be angry then. As that god figure of a doctor said that

my father had indigestion, then he died of indigestion as far as I was

concerned. It took me 14 years to get angry.

I was in med school. I was sitting in a lecture, I remember, and all of a sudden

I let my...

myself think about it. I guess I would have thought of it sooner, but I pushed

it, always pushed it out of my mind, you know.

But it came.

All of a sudden I was standing there in the room with that doctor and I was

asking him questions. What's his pulse like, doctor?

What's the blood pressure?

What do the chest leads on the electrocortogram look like?

But you know a severe coronary when you see one, doctor?

Well, I... I had to leave the room. I got sick out in the hall.

For 14 years?

Well, what's 14 years? The fact is that my father died when he might have lived

because some doctor made a mistake.

That's right.

So I decided I was going to quit med school.

And then I thought to myself, oh, no, I'm not going to quit.

I said... I am going to be... the best doctor this place has

ever turned out.

And if I have to give my whole waking life, that's what I'm going to give.

You can't.

You just can't give that much.

Oh, that's what you have to give.

And that's something that these...

Honey -mannered clowns never understand that an hour away from medicine is an

hour that you might use to learn something that's going to help you so

make a mistake someday.

That is what you have to give.

That's what I have given.

And for the last three years, I've given it to this hospital for that I get

kicked in the teeth.

And that's right, I'm angry.

And I'm a good doctor because I'm angry.

And so I just hope to God I never calm down.

Oh, yes, he is. Just a minute.

Nick, it's for you.

Hello.

This is Keith.

Well, how'd you know I was here?

Yeah, I'll do it.

No, it's okay.

Right.

Western been over too close to a patient and he caught something, so I got a

cover emergency for him.

Hey, I have an idea.

Why don't you just let them get somebody else to cover and you go get drunk or

something, huh? You think I'm going to lose this chance to put on my boogeyman

act?

You think.

Thank you for the year.

Did it help?

I don't know.

Thank you.

Dr. Keith, this is an emergency.

We just admitted a patient in coma.

All right, I'll be right there.

Oh, uh, tell Dr.

Kildare to meet me.

All right, thank you.

I trust you don't mind having your sleep disturbed, Doctor.

I'm always grateful for the opportunity to learn something, Dr. Keefe.

Can I talk?

Nothing that makes sense.

You notice he didn't use his right hand even though it's closer? He might be

paralyzed on that side. Do you smell his breath?

Well, his wife's out in the hall. Says he doesn't drink.

How nice.

What else do you know about him besides blood pressure?

His wife says he's had high blood pressure for at least five years.

He's been taking white pills and yellow pills.

He ran out of the yellow pills about two weeks ago.

You know whether he's on digitalis?

I can't be sure. It doesn't sound like it.

How long has he been like this?

This morning he had a bad headache and what his wife calls the blind staggers,

the nausea.

Tonight he started talking out of his head and said he couldn't see.

See what? The end of his favorite TV program? Why the devil didn't she bring

in here sooner?

Well, if it really matters to you, I'll go out and ask her.

Just wheel him up to the room yourself. I don't want to wait for the orderly to

get around.

All right, slip some between his teeth. I'll get an airway.

Please get out of the way.

Robert! Robert, what are they doing to you?

Will you please get out of here?

Oh, Robert, Robert, don't die.

Please.

All right, let's get him to the room.

All right, let me take you someplace where you can wait for him. What are

doing to him?

What's wrong with him?

Miss Collins, we don't know yet. We're trying to find out.

Well, Robert's all I've got.

You know, I've just got to stay here and find out if your doctors can stop him

from dying. You don't know what that's like.

Yes, Miss Collins, believe me, I do.

Well, what have you found?

Grade 3 hemorrhages and exudates. Possible early papilledema. I can't be

You want to take a look?

Okay. We agree on that.

Neurologic?

Well, that's a little confusing.

He has bilateral Babinski signs and his tendon reflexes are depressed.

More so on the right.

But he responds to painful stimuli on that side, so you can't exactly call it

paralyzed.

Have you ordered an electrocardiogram?

Not yet.

Oh, you get one.

Lumbar puncture.

I hadn't decided about that. With the intracranial pressure he's built up, it

might be dangerous.

Oh, come now, Dr. Kildare. I thought you were fond of calculated risks.

Here's a place to take one.

How else are you going to make a diagnosis?

Oh, you already have one?

Oh, don't be shy.

My impression's written on the chart where it's supposed to be.

I didn't ask for your impression.

I asked do you have a diagnosis.

I call it a cerebral hemorrhage.

I see.

Well, I hope you won't be insulted, Dr. Kildare, or offended if I disagree. I

mean, I wouldn't want anyone to be offended around here.

I expected you to disagree no matter what I said, Dr. Keefe.

Oh, I have upset you.

Well, here's what I think of your diagnosis. I think you're digging his

with it. That's right.

I think your diagnosis, oh, pardon me, your impression stinks.

Statistically, it's the best conclusion. I still say that.

I read statistics, too. You know, are you wrong, huh?

I got out of bed to learn something. Why don't you tell me, Dr. Keefe?

You're wrong because you can't treat cerebral hemorrhage. That's why.

You can order all sorts of tests to confirm your diagnosis, but meanwhile,

if this man dies of something else, something you could have treated?

You want to change your mind now?

Let's make it two guesses out of three. What do you say?

All right. What do you call it? I wouldn't worry about calling it

just treat it like it was something treatable.

Like what?

Hypertensive crisis.

Encephalopathy, for instance.

I admit your statistics say there's not as much chance of it being that.

But it matches the symptoms just as well.

And it has one giant advantage as a diagnosis. You can do something for it.

Yes, sir.

Now, if you want to insist you're right, you're going back to bed and wait for

the autopsy to prove your point.

But as for me, I'm going to treat him for hypertensive crisis, for congestive

heart failure, for pulmonary edema, and anything else, including ingrown

toenail, if it'll give him the tiniest chance to stay alive.

Now, you have any little acid comment to make?

No, sir.

I'll set up the spinal tip.

Do you have a finger across the doctor?

Let's see how we stand.

Here it comes. High head of pressure.

See any blood?

Clears water from a spring.

Well, looks like we're still in the ballgame.

And what were you saying about statistics, Dr. Kildare?

Yes, sir.

Never mind.

What would you prescribe?

Get his blood pressure down as quickly as possible.

That's a noble ambition.

How would you do that?

Gwyneth the Dean?

That's right.

Have you ever done it?

No, I haven't.

Well, I have once.

Tricky?

Well, it's like balancing a basketball on a pencil. You keep injecting the

and nothing happens, and all of a sudden his pressure drops wham, like a duck

with a tail full of buckshot.

You mean he goes into shock?

He might.

If you're lucky, you yank him to and from shock like a yo -yo.

Of course, we don't know what normal pressure is for him. He's been

for a long time.

What's normal for you might be shock for him.

Yeah, it's tricky.

You want to try it?

I think I'd rather watch.

Blood pressure?

Blood pressure's still 280 over 160.

Shouldn't it be coming down by now?

I hope there would be.

Well, maybe one cc at a time isn't enough.

It's not.

Okay, read it again.

It's not budging from the 280 mark.

Oh, we'll wait a little longer.

You've got to get his pressure down right away if he's going to have a

Dr. Kildare, I hope someone explained to you somewhere along the line that it

takes a good head of steam to push the blood through spastic cerebral arteries.

Well, yeah, but... Then you explain to me.

What's going to happen to the brain if we drop him to normal intensive levels

too suddenly?

I see.

I'm glad you do.

We could probably keep him alive, but for what purpose? I can't imagine seeing

there'd be nothing in his head but mush.

I'll be glad to hear any other suggestions.

No, sir.

There's a lot to be learned, isn't there?

He's gonna die.

What did you say?

My husband's gonna die.

Well, that can't be right.

What does it say?

240 over 140.

That's right. That's the way it works.

Now we go slower.

FCC this time.

I would check it again in five minutes.

You want a cigarette? Let's take a stretch.

May I

say

something?

And on my mind all night.

I, uh, I was wrong about yesterday.

I deserved it, I guess. I shouldn't have mouthed off.

I was thinking there a while ago.

The way people talk about you around here.

I'm sure you know.

Well, they're wrong and you're right.

Because when the payoff comes, you've got it. And that's what really matters.

What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that I respect you.

Why don't you ask Dr. Gillespie what really matters?

Kildare!

Is there any trouble breathing?

He's turning side and out. How much oxygen is he getting? Six liters a

See your stethoscope.

His lungs are full of junk.

So is his trachea.

Order a tracheotomy kit and get the surgeon on call.

Right.

Give me a tracheotomy kit, please.

Give me the surgeon on call, please.

Dr. Garvey, this is Dr. Keefe's intern. We have a patient who needs an emergency

tracheotomy.

No, sir, we think he's too far along for that.

Yes, sir, we did.

Both Dr. Keefe and I think it should be done right away.

How long does it take?

We'll get Dr. Keefe now.

All right.

Garvey, this is Keefe.

It's ten after five in the morning.

And I promised myself that this patient is going to have an emergency

tracheotomy at 20 after if I have to come over there and yank you out of bed.

Yes, you heard right.

Well, maybe I am, but you worry about it because I'm too busy.

Once again, I'm sorry to have shocked you, Dr. Kildare. Not at all, Dr. Keefe.

Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I wasn't asleep.

What is it?

It's down to 190 over 120.

I think his color's improved.

Yeah, it has.

Matter of fact, I'd say we just came out of the woods.

You would?

Well, at least I guess he'll live.

You mean you think there may have been brain damage?

Well, there's no way of knowing till he comes to.

So pardon me if I'm not quite ready to relax yet. I just soon wait till he

his eyes and starts asking questions about what the devil he's doing in this

place. If he can ask questions, then I'll relax.

Is Dr. Keith on the ward? Yes, Dr. Blackley. I guess he's been here all

Good morning. Morning, Doctor.

Can you spare a minute, Dr. Keith?

Yes, sir.

Oh, I'll go get some coffee. No, you stick with him. We can talk outside.

Nick?

I hope you've calmed down a bit since yesterday.

That's the only thing I have.

It was unfortunate. I wish it hadn't happened.

What I wanted to tell you when you... left in a hurry, was as an opening in

Pulmonary Research Clinic at Charity Hospital in Chicago.

I'd like to recommend you for it. Thank you.

They're doing important work.

Productive work.

You'll be assistant director under Dr. Walter Pelsley. I think you've heard of

him. Yes, you think I'd fit in there, doctor? I mean, you don't want me around

here, so you're glad to recommend me to someone else. Isn't that solving a

problem by pushing it off on someone else? If that's your attitude... Keith!

Keith!

Never mind that. Let me see.

Let him alone!

All right, Kildare.

You see what we've done?

We've used our wonderful skills and our wonderful drugs and we saved his life.

There's only one important little footnote.

We destroyed his brain in the process.

We'll never even know that two brilliant doctors saved his life.

Did you hear what I said?

You choose to call it necrosis, I choose to call it something else.

You're kidding yourself.

Can you treat permanent brain damage, Dr. Keefe?

It was just an unfortunate combination of circumstances, sir.

His exhaustion, his disappointment over the chief residency.

And then, just at that moment, seeing the patient like that.

He was convinced he'd made a mistake with the quinethidine treatment.

Well, all these things piled up and he lost control for a minute.

But it didn't last long. He took over again just after you left.

He's still there. And your point is?

You shouldn't blame him, sir.

Dr. Kildare, I gather from what you say that you're convinced you were right in

this matter.

I don't think I know what you mean, sir. Then why are you so blindly certain

that you were correct in trying to save a man's life?

What do you accomplish when that man survives merely as an organism, without

awareness whatsoever?

In effect, though I despise the term, a vegetable.

Saving the patient is my job.

I'm trained and I'm qualified to do that.

I'm not qualified to decide whether the patient should be saved.

I know that's the obvious answer, sir, but... And the correct one.

And as important as any you'll ever give.

And now that you've said what you came here to tell me, let me say that I was

fully aware of the conditions you describe. And furthermore, I never for

moment seriously doubted either Dr. Keefe's skill or his intentions.

Good day, Doctor.

Dr. Gillespie, there's something else I'd like to say.

It's out of line, I know, sir.

Dr. Kildare, I have a full morning's work there and teaching rounds in half

hour. If you have something to say, please don't waste ten minutes

but say it.

I think Dr.

Keefe deserves the chief residency, sir.

And what is the basis for your opinion?

I think he's the best doctor you can get.

I know he'll never win a personality prize, but that's beside the point.

He can teach us things we need to know.

And maybe in that position, he can show a few interns what dedication to

medicine really means.

Well, I certainly appreciate your helping me make my decisions, Doctor,

don't you think, to be fair, I ought to let the other interns register their

opinions as well?

Perhaps the chief resident should be chosen by a vote of the interns. We

have a regular political campaign with torchlight processions through the

corridors. I said it wasn't my place to bring it up, or at least I tried to

before you cut me off.

So you can brush it aside with sarcasm if you want to, Dr. Gillespie.

But it won't change my opinion that a mistake is being made.

An injustice.

Sit down, Doctor.

I've robbed you of enough time already, sir.

Sit down.

You seem quite impressed with Dr. Keith.

Sir, I am. Is there any reason I shouldn't be?

Frankly, there is.

I'm sorry, sir. I guess we just disagree.

Doctor, I'm not in the habit of discussing my administrative decisions

interns, nor discussing the careers of residents either.

But I am concerned in keeping your admiration for Dr. Keefe in balance.

I'm sure I don't understand you.

He's too dedicated.

When human life is the prize, how can a doctor be too dedicated? He can, believe

me.

Look, I'm not talking about clock hours invested when necessary or caring deeply

for one's work.

In those senses, perhaps one can't be too dedicated.

But when a doctor lets medicine rob him of his ability to survive in a world of

social animals, he is too dedicated and there's no other way to describe him.

I'm sorry, but you haven't convinced me. Look at what such a doctor does.

At best, he jeopardizes his chance to use his skill.

At worst, he endangers his physical and mental health. He may even inadvertently

destroy himself. I've seen it happen.

Well, even if that does make sense, how can you say that Blair doesn't need a

man of Dr. Keefe's capabilities?

Dr. Keefe has yet to learn the difference between errors caused by

and those attributable to the basic fallibility of human beings.

Right now, he can see no difference.

Mistakes of any kind enrage him. Not only those of others, but most of all

own.

Striving for perfection is one thing.

but really expecting to achieve it is quite another.

How is this going to help him?

I don't know that he will be helped, but I'm convinced that as a first step he

should leave Blair.

Look at his world here.

Secure, all -inclusive.

He's built it that way over the years to the point where life doesn't exist for

him outside this hospital.

In a world that cloistered, mistakes can be distorted and magnified simply

through lack of adequate perspective.

I don't know that the move will help him.

But at least it will ensure a period of time before he can build himself a new

nest.

Do you see, Kildare?

I think so, sir.

A long time ago, I got used to the necessity of causing my patients pain in

order to help them.

I don't think I'll ever get used to the infliction of pain through my

administrative duties.

Yet sometimes it's just as necessary.

I hear you and Dr. Keith spent a lovely evening together.

Come in, Dr. Kildare.

Is this the other doctor who worked on me?

Yes, this is the one.

I've been filling Robert in on what's been happening.

Seems he's been out of it.

So he's had a lot of questions to ask.

Well, you picked the right man to ask.

They said I could see him.

I just knew you were going to die, Robert.

And you're alive.

I've had myself a miracle.

I suppose you better give some credit to the doctor here.

To the other one, too.

He says you're a good doctor, son.

A miracle.

Good.

My caffeine level. It was getting dangerously low.

Jim.

I owe you thanks, I want to say it. I mean, for backstopping me when I came

apart.

What about the one I owe you?

If you hadn't been there, he might have died of a cerebral hemorrhage by now.

Well, that's different. I mean, it's my job to be there and do just that.

Besides, you've never even seen an encephalopathy before.

At least I think I learned something from it.

I don't guess mistakes can be all bad if you can do that.

Why does that affect you that way? Because it's a kind of platitude that's

to fuzzy -cheeked medical students before they have any idea what kind of

torture they're getting into.

If medicine's torture, why don't you get out of it? Because it's my life.

Oh, no, you can't understand that, but it's my whole life.

Well, let it be your life, then.

But don't expect anybody else to come down and live it on your tormented

Oh, listen.

What if it is a platitude? You show me where it's wrong.

If I do my best, that's it. That's as good as I get.

When it's not good enough, who do I help by bashing my head against the wall?

If I'm not doing my best, that's different.

You're going to make mistakes even doing your best.

Now you wait till that happens.

Well, I won't make the same mistake twice.

That's straight out of the Boy Scout's oath.

Well, now let's have some funny lines about the Boy Scout oath. If you can't

make sense, make sarcasm.

You really believe that?

Huh?

Yeah.

All right.

Let's talk sometime.

Away from this place.

I'd like that.

Maybe next weekend.

I don't know. I think I'll be going to Chicago next weekend. I understand

there's a job up there for a misfit doctor.

I think I should go up and show them that I qualify.

Well, whatever you say.

You fish?

Well, I couldn't prove it by the fish I've caught.

Well, I haven't been fishing in ten years.

You know, maybe... I'll tell you what, we'll talk about it.

Good.

I'm beat.

You better get you some sleep, too.

Well, I'll see you.

I would like to shake hands with the new Secretary of State. What?

James, the Irish have a saying for us.

You're a darling.

You've only worked with him one short week, and here you are having coffee

him like he was a regular, normal human being.

If you're that kind of a diplomat, you should be Secretary of State.

I'll tell you one thing. I'd a heck of a lot rather talk to him than some pill

-pushing intern who wouldn't know a good doctor if he saw the Mayo brothers

wearing name tags.

contagious.