Island Med Student

Today was an interesting day. I was supposed to be at the clinic, but I had to go to court to plead against a case. As I mentioned before, I received 3 summons to appear in court for simply having my doggy doos in a park in Brooklyn.

I was supposed to appear at 2:00 in court. But there was just one problem. I couldn’t figure out which court to go to. I looked at my summons, I called people, I searched the Internet. And after searching all over NYC, I eventually found the correct courthouse, which was in Manhattan. By this time, it was already 3:00. I was tired and incredibly fed up with the crappy NYC court phone system.

My attending had given me a suggestion yesterday. She told me to appear in court in my white coat and stethoscope. She suggested trying to plead my case as a med student, hoping that would lend some credence to the fact that I am not a prostitute. I wasn’t so sure about the idea, but I ended up deciding to do it.

So, I walked into the courthouse, hoping that I wasn’t too late. In all the confusion of the day, it never occurred to me that I would have to pass through a metal detector, but that is exactly what faced me at the entrance. So, I took off my stethoscope and put it in a tray. I put my keys and cell phone in the the tray. And then it hit me. My white coat pockets were jam packed with medical tools. I had tuning forks, pen lights, reflex hammers, and a variety of other items. But wait, it gets worse. The day before in clinic I had been giving immunizations to children. Yes, you guessed it. I had hypodermic needles (unused, of course) in my pockets. But wait, it gets worse. I also had empty bottles (long story) of various vaccines, labeled “polio,” “diphtheria,” “hepatitis A” and the like.

So, I emptied out my pockets into the plastic bin. The security guard looked down and his jaw dropped. What the hell?! He picked up the reflex hammer, and said, “is this a weapon?!” “No, it’s a reflex hammer,” I returned. But he had to call over his boss. After hitting each other on the head with the hammer, rummaging through my hypodermic needles and vials, they both looked at me like I was completely insane. But I think my good humor saved me. I cracked some jokes, gave them a big grin, and told them that it had been a very, very loooong day.

They let me through.

However, when I finally made it to the courtroom, the judge was just about to leave. He didn’t feel like hearing my case. He told me to leave. I have to go back on Monday.

This is all rather insane, really. Seriously, insane.

Anyway, I’m trying to just laugh about the whole experience. Actually, the incident at the security check was pretty darn funny in retrospect.

I just got back from a long walk with the doggy doos. I took some cool iPhone pics for my collection (seen throughout this post).

Tomorrow is Saturday, and I have the day off. I am happy!

“Yo Brooklyn, Fuhgeddaboudit” Photo Series