"Driving in that condition was probably the stupidest thing I have ever done..."

I'm in my Family Medicine rotation right now. I work with this attending who is easily in his 80's. He took over the practice his father started in The Bronx in the 1930's. Today he told me this story:

"A few years back I had an MI*, a pretty big one too. I was in Central Park for that art exhibit 'The Gates' by Christo. When the pain started and I knew what it was I said to myself: 'Shit, I don't want to die here in Central Park looking at these stupid gates.' So I drove myself to the emergency room. Driving in that condition was probably the stupidest thing I have ever done, but I didn't want some cowboy ambulance driver taking me to Metropolitan Hospital or something. I think that if it had happened while I was at home in bed I probably would have just said 'Ehhh...fuck it'."

Priceless.

*MI = heart attack.