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Excerpts
Readers will find the story entertaining, educational, and shocking…
Entertainment
“Okay, please take out your lab books. It’s very important you listen carefully to what I’m saying because….Andrew, what are you doing?” Andrew had come to the front of the lab and was busily helping himself to the items he thought he needed for the experiment.
“Uh, I’m getting the stuff we need,” explained the red-haired young man.
“What did I tell you to do?”
Andrew was silent as I watched the color rise in his face. Finally, one of his classmates rescued him by shouting out, “She said to sit and listen!”
I suppressed a smile. Andrew sat down and I resumed my instructions, “You must have read the entire section of the lab and have all your supplies at hand before starting. Whatever you do, do not prick your finger and then start wandering around the lab looking for supplies.” I mimed a person looking through the tray of supplies while dripping blood on the floor and the students laughed.
I then went through all the instructions, especially the safety precautions, and told the class they could begin. Gloria was one of the first to get up. She obviously had not spent time to read the instructions, but collected the alcohol wipe, the lancet and a Band-Aid. She then sat down and began to prepare to prick her finger.
I hurried over. “Gloria, stop! What are you doing?”
“I was just going to prick myself.”
“I can see that. Where are the slides and reagents you need for this experiment?”
“Oh…. I guess I forgot them.”
Once again, I called for silence and reminded the class to have everything ready before they began. Eventually, they were ready and the bloodletting started.
Again there was a range of responses. Some students had no problem sticking themselves; others were afraid to apply enough pressure and had to try several times before getting blood.
“Dr. Crocker, it’s not working. I’m not getting any blood,” complained Andrew.
“The lancets do work. You just didn’t prick hard enough.”
“Will it hurt?” asked Thiang.
“Probably.” I answered encouragingly.
“Do I have to?”
“Well, you can use fake blood, but then you won’t know your blood type.”
Others had not listened to my instructions about using their middle finger and were trying to get blood out of the back of their hand or their arm and still others did not dare to stick themselves and requested the artificial blood that the college provided. Chaos reigned. Then came the excitement and questions as the students began to get results.
“Dr. Crocker, what do these dots on the slide mean?” asked Demitri
I walked over to see the slide and pointed to the board, where that result was detailed, “Well, look up there. It means that you are blood type AB.”
“Is that good? What type is he?” Demitri asked, indicating …
Education
“Can any of you think about any scientific theories that were overturned by new evidence?” I asked, hoping to stimulate thought.
Kaljit raised his hand, “What about people finding out that the Earth is not flat?” Some of his classmates giggled.
“Yes, but that has not been widely believed since the third Century. How about any more recent discoveries?”
Again David answered, “For a long time doctors thought that stomach ulcers were caused by overproduction of stomach acid, but now we know that they’re often caused by an infection.”
“That’s right. And, in fact, the scientist who proposed Helicobacter pylori as the cause of ulcers was not believed until he drank a flask of the bacteria and got ulcers himself.”
“Oooo, that’s gross! I wouldn’t have done that, even if people were making fun of me!” exclaimed Kaljit.
Janice chimed in, “Lots of scientists experiment on themselves or their families. What about the vaccine for small pox? The guy who discovered that tested it on his own son.”
I smiled, “Unfortunately, you’re right. And the scientist who first showed that it was possible to pass a tube from a blood vessel in the armpit into the heart, did it to himself, walked up several flights of stairs…
Shock
Less than a week later I received a phone call from Edward informing me that his law firm was going to fire me as a client because they had accepted George Mason University’s offer to represent them and GMU had objected to me as a client. Although Edward had no specific knowledge about this, his experience as a partner made him think that this contract for an unrelated paying commercial matter between Arnold and Porter and GMU could net the firm tens of thousands of dollars in billings. In comparison, since I had no job and no way to pay for legal representation, they had been handling my case pro bono. Edward also told me that he would be leaving the firm by January 9th, less than three months away.
“You mean to tell me that GMU bought your law firm and they even agreed to throw you out to sweeten the deal?” I questioned in astonishment. This seemed more like a John Grisham novel than reality. I felt dizzy with the shock.
Edward, of course, could not answer this type of suggested accusation.
“No, my job is over for unrelated reasons...
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