THE CALL from a junior medical resident at Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, was puzzling.
"We have a 55-year-old lady with a serum cholesterol of 600 mg percent because there is a stone blocking her common bile duct!"
"Is she jaundiced?"
"Not at all. The stone is causing cholesterol to back up."
I had learned by the time I was chief resident, in 1964, not to play 20 questions with referring doctors. Stifling incredulity, I replied, "I'll be right there."