Catch Me If You Can Page 0,32

well, Doctor. Hell, as a bonus, I'll even put Nurse Strong on the shift for the ten days. I tell you, Doctor, I'm in a bind. If you refuse me, I don't know what the hell I can do."

The request astonished me, and I promptly objected. "Mr. Colter, I'd like to help you, but there's no way I could agree," I protested.

"Oh, why not?" Colter asked.

"Well, in the first place, I don't have a license to practice medicine in Georgia," I began, but Colter silenced me with an emphatic shake of his head.

"Well, you wouldn't really be doing anything," said Colter. "I'm not asking that you actually treat patients. I'm just asking that you act in a stand-in capacity. As for a license, you don't really need one. You have a California license, and California standards are as high as, if not higher than, Georgia standards, and recognized by our medical association. All I have to do, Doctor, is to bring you before a panel of five doctors, licensed by this state and members of this hospital's staff, for an interview conference, and they have the authority to ask the state for a temporary medical certificate that will allow you to practice in Georgia. Doctor, I'd like to have that conference in the morning. What do you say?"

Reason told me to refuse. There were too many hazards to my posture involved. Any one of the questions that might be asked me on the morrow could strip me of my pretense and expose me for the "doctor" I was in reality. A snake-oil specialist.

But I was challenged. "Well, if there's not that much difficulty involved, and if it won't take a lot of my time, I'll be happy to help you out," I agreed. "Now, specifically, what will be my duties? Mine has been an office practice only, you know. Save for calling on patients that I've had to admit for one reason or another, I know nothing of hospital routines."

Colter laughed. He was obviously relieved and happy. "Hot dog! Your duty? Just be here, Doctor. Walk around. Show yourself. Play poker with the interns. Play grab-ass with the nurses. Hell, Frank-I'm gonna call you Frank because you're a friend of mine, now-do anything you want to do. Just be here!"

I did have misgivings when I walked into the conference room the next morning to face the five doctors. I knew all of them from my frequent visits to the hospital, and Granger headed up the panel. He flashed me a conspiratorial grin as I walked in.

The interview was a farce, much to my delight. I was asked only basic questions. Where'd I go to medical school? Where'd I intern? My age? Where did I practice? How long had I been a practicing pediatrician? Not one of the doctors posed a question that would have tested any medical knowledge I might have possessed. I walked out of the conference with a letter appointing me temporary resident supervisor on the staff of the hospital, and the next day Granger brought me another letter from the state medical board authorizing me to use my California medical certificate to practice in Georgia for a period of one year.

One of my favorite television programs is "M*A*S*H," the seriocomic story of a fictional Army medical unit on the Korean War front. I never see a "M*A*S*H" segment without recalling my "medical career" at Smithers. I imagine there are several doctors in Georgia today who also can't view the program without memories of a certain resident supervisor.

My first shift set the tone for all my subsequent "duty tours." I was aware from the moment I accepted Colter's plea that there was only one way I could carry out my monumental bluff. If I was going to fake out seven interns, forty nurses and literally dozens of support personnel, I was going to have to give the impression that I was something of a buffoon of the medical profession.

I decided I'd have to project the image of a happy-go-lucky, easygoing, always-joking rascal who couldn't care less whether the rules learned in medical school were kept or not. I put my act on the road the minute I arrived for duty the first night and was met by Brenda in the R.S.'s office. Colter had not been jesting, it seemed. She was smiling.

"Here you are, Doctor, your smock and your stethoscope," she said, handing them to me. "Hey, you don't have to work this dog shift," I said, shrugging