Introduction: A Compensatory Pause Summary and Analysis

Melvin Konner's autobiographical story Becoming a Doctor: A Journey of Initiation in Medical School was published in 1987 based on his experiences at Galen Memorial Hospital. He had just completed his two-year course of study at Flexner Medical School affiliated with the hospital. At four-fifteen one Sunday morning, medical student Melvin Konner awaits an inflow of human wreckage from a normal urban Saturday night in the Emergency Ward admitting lobby of Galen Memorial Hospital. A stretcher was rolled in by E.M.T.'s (Emergency Medical Technician) that carried a screaming young woman soaked in blood, in apparent pain but breathing and alive. Konner, fellow medical student, Margaret, and nurses are instructed by intern Freddy Robertson to remove her clothes to examine her. Her name is Madeline. Senior resident Mike Bowker examined her head and neck...