The small conference room was jammed with white coats, short and long:
medical students, interns, residents, fellows. Beepers chirped, seats quickly
emptied and filled. This was in the new wing of the old hospital—sleekly
modern, white-tiled, air-conditioned. Fluorescent lights dimmed for the weekly
8 AM echocardiography conference.
I stood rather self-consciously in the back of the room. The video images
were magnified on a large monitor, the shadows described in great detail by
the cardiologist and interpreted with an anatomic precision that was reassuring.
My mind wandered: I thought of World War II submarines navigating through
oceans of predators and prey by sonar so long ago. The beeps, the small circular
screens with green geometric patterns, the tension of danger. I then thought
of the startling advances in medical technology, leaving much of medical practice
in its wake.