At these moments, the beating heart seems to respond to what the brain knows with its own kind of understanding. After working in the emergency room for five years and evaluating approximately 1,500 patients, I have come to recognize the moment when the truth of a patient's situation reveals itself to me. I know what that person's life is up to. I know it in my head and in my gut. Sometimes, as happened with Keats, the epiphany quickens my pulse.
Every patient tells a story.
This is a spoken text. That story is rarely an accurate account of events and their meaning. Most had personality disorders or had abused drugs or alcohol. After getting to a patient's authentic story, often after some struggle and unmasking, I am sometimes told the bogus story that led to the wrong diagnosis. Alice was in foster care and had been assigned a social worker by the department of social services.