Overheard at the hospital,

or "What not to say to patients."

Before I recently sedated a patient for his endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (henceforth ERCP), the gastroenterologist was reiterating the logic of the plan to the 80-year-old patient.

"We have to put in the biliary stent first. If we were to place the duodenal stent first and then your biliary system becomes obstructed, that would be the straw that broke the camel's back. I mean, that would be the final nail in your...(awkward pause)...roof."

Probably best to stay away from death metaphors in the hospital setting.