Aaron the orderly

Aaron was a black orderly at Bay View Hospital and a nice easy going guy.  One day, I got into the elevator as he wheeled in a gurney with a patient asleep on it.  Just as we started to move, he said, “Doc, you better check this patient, he’s not breathing”.  I did…he wasn’t  and he didn’t have a pulse.  I quickly became alert and started pumping his chest when Aaron broke out laughing hysterically.  This was right at the time when hospitals changed their method of transporting dead people.  We used to cover them up completely and it was decided this was too disturbing to the other patients, so instead, they transported them with their eyes closed as if they were sleeping.  One of the better practical jokes pulled on me.