New York City Treating The Funny Bone

Dr. Stubs pokes his head into the hospital room of five-year-old Dorothy. "I hope I'm not bothering you," he says before entering. At her bedside, he pulls several crumpled sheets of legal paper from his worn leather bag, digs for a pencil stub and begins his examination:

"Are you married?" "No," the patient replies. "Any children?" She shakes her head. "Does your nose ever turn red?" She furrows her eyebrows thoughtfully and answers, "Yes, sometimes." "Aha," says Stubs. "Does it turn red when it's cold outside?" The girl thinks for a moment, then says, decisively, no.

Though he makes rounds in...