No Way Out

I'm sorry. We don't give out that information.

Thank you. Grosse county hospital.

Where? Hold on.

Wilson.

A shooting. Two men.

Middleton and bay. Right.

7:58.

Here we go, doc.

Hi, lefty. — hey, luth. What do ya know?

I've been lookin' for you. — what's up?

[Woman on P.A. I Dr. Smith, call operator two. — hello, Brooks.

Good evening, doctor.

Dr. Smith, call operator two. — good evening.

Good evening.

Dr. Thomas wanted in surgery.

Brooks. — Dr. Thomas wanted in surgery.

Well, how does it feel? — the reaction hasn't set in yet.

Like a woman who's just had a baby, I won't believe it till I see it.

I hear it was pretty tough. — It was for me.

But then I don't think state boards can be tough enough.

Well, that's one thing doctors agree on.

After they pass the examination, they all want it made tougher for the next one.

Congratulations, doc. — same to you, Eddie.

Anytime you need any help in pathology —— — I'll look you up.

Well, it looks like a busy night.

Good chance to Polish up your hem stitching.

That's what tickles my wife when I tell her I sew people up.

She won't let me work on an old sock. —

I'll bet she's happy you finished your year at county, huh?

Yeah, I suppose so. That part of it hasn't been much fun.

It's no good a man's wife supporting him, his mother and the rest of the family.

Well, it's over now. — [ Woman on P.A. I Dr. Wharton, call prison ward.

Dr. Wharton, call prison ward.

Dr. Wharton.

Oh, I see. Well, Brooks will cover.

Thank you.

One of the interns in the prison ward has reported sick.

You take over until he gets back. — right.

Oh, Dr. Wharton...

I've applied to stay on here another year. — junior resident? Why?

Because I think it's more important than a few extra dollars.

A little easier living. I've got a lot to learn.

Well, you'll always have a lot to learn. — I don't mean it just that way.

I'm not sure of myself yet in many ways.

I think I need a little more time than the others.

I'll be happy to have you with me for another year. — I was hoping you'd say that.

I think that if I left you now, I'd never again find anyone as considerate and interested.

My interest in you, Brooks, is no greater than in any other good doctor on my service.

Good night. — good night.

Hello.

Prison ward, Brooks. You on your way?

As soon as I get my whites on. — be right up.

Dr. Billings, call ward 7.

Dr. Billings, call ward 7.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Try information right over there.

Right there. That's the window right there.

Hold it, lefty.

All the way up tonight, lefty, I'm in prison ward.

You mind going down? Someone's leaning on emergency.

Right.

Say, what about that new exam you had to take?

I thought you was a regular doctor already. — state board?

Everybody's gotta take it so as you can get your licence to practice.

Well, the boys were saying it was just for coloured doctors.

Well, you can tell the boys it's for all doctors.

I bet they laid it on you. — no more than anybody else.

They don't even ask your name. They give you a number.

They look at your number. They know.

They got ways of knowing. — oh, why don't you quit?

What's it about? — for the prison ward.

Shot in the leg, both of them. I caught 'em sticking up a gas station.

A couple of two—for—a—nickel tough guys.

Hey, officer, will you bend down for a minute? I wanna Polish your badge.

You sure you hit this one in the leg only? — right over the knee, one shot.

And what's it to you?

Clean that up. Where's your mop?

Take 'em away. — hey, Mac, I thought this was a hospital.

You got mixed up. We're at the cotton club.

How you doing, Johnny?

N—not so bad.

No, no, I'm over here, Johnny.

Not so bad.

Aw, a slug in the leg don't mean a thing. We'll be outta here in a week.

A week, is it? I'll make book it's for two years or more.

Oh, dry up. — for how much, big mouth?

The biddle brothers. Look at 'em.

Ray, he's the king of beaver canal.

Yeah, he's beat up more women and old people than anybody.

Such bright boys.

They don't figure a cop also knows a gas station's a setup in the rain.

I pops this one through the window, and he drops.

Then this one, he gets hysterical or something...

And he runs toward me instead of his car.

Then when he sees me, he turns around and runs into the pump.

Then he misses me with a bullet, and I hit him with one.

Will you tell me something about your brother?

Sure, sure. What would you like to know?

Has he ever been confused before in his sense of direction or maybe his sense of touch?

Well, let me see.

Every time beaver canal went over to clean up nigger town...

Johnny knew just what direction it was.

You shut up. — of course, he could have just smelled where to go.

Shut up. Shut up. You're talking to a doctor.

A doctor?

Him?

Lie back and lie still. You're in my charge.

Who's your friends, Kowalski? — public enemies one and two.

I'm Dr. Brooks. — yeah, they said you'd be up.

Your first time here, isn't it, doc? — that's right.

Have an empty room? — number five.

Number five. All right, let's get them in there right away.

Won't you wanna be bookin' them first? I'd like to turn them over.

I think it's important to examine them first. Him in particular.

Okay.

I don't want him. I want a white doctor.

We'll turn the lights out, and you won't know the difference.

Haven't I got any rights? — no!

Will you be needing some instruments?

You keep the cases locked? — this ain't no maternity ward, doc.

Just get their pants off. Don't touch the dressings. I'll do that myself.

Now there's a gadget I've always wondered about.

What are you gonna do, wrap something around his leg?

It's for examining the interior of the eyes.

But they got shot in the leg.

We're ready, doctor. — thank you.

I gave them cigarettes, okay? — no.

What are you doing to him?

Just try to hold your head like this.

Don't do it, Johnny. Don't do what he says.

What's the big idea? What are you gonna do now?

Look, I'm trying to help your brother. Why don't you just shut up?

You watch yourself. Black boy. Watch how you talk to me.

Just shut up.

Keep looking up at the ceiling. Attaboy.

Say, doc, I don't recall anyone using that thing before.

You gonna shoot something in his eye? — a spinal tap.

A spinal tap? — checking the amount of pressure on the brain.

First the eyes, now the spine.

Kowalski, you sure you shot these guys in the leg?

You ever seen this doctor before? — no.

Then maybe you'd better check. — no, I know we got one of them in the house.

This must be him.

Just rest easy, boy.

You help me so as I can help you.

Keep your legs in the same position.

Now just rest easy. — doc, don't hurt him. Don't do nothin' to Johnny.

He didn't do nothin' to you. He didn't even say anything. I was the only one.

Remember, doc? I was out of my mind, you know, gettin' shot and all.

Doc, leave Johnny alone. Leave him alone.

Maybe one of you oughta go in and see what's happening.

When a doctor wants an orderly, he'll send for one. — well, just in case maybe —...

Somebody stop him! He's killing Johnny!

Somebody stop him! Doctor, stop!

Everything all right, doctor? — he killed him.

He killed him! That dirty nigger killed him!

You shut up. Anything wrong, doc?

He's dead. — he killed him!

He killed him, I tell ya. I saw him.

He took it out on Johnny. He wanted it to be me, but he took it out on Johnny.

I'll get you for this, you black rat.

If they hang me, I'll get you for it.

Johnny. Johnny!

Johnny. Oh, Johnny, Johnny.

For a symptom like this to be significant, it should have an historical basis.

That's true, but the accumulation of symptoms...

His confused sense of direction, running right into the policeman...

The changes in his optic disks, his increased spinal fluid.

Brooks, I'm not ruling out your diagnosis of brain tumour.

I'm merely indicating other possibilities. — what other possibilities?

Well, there isn't too much you can determine from the outside of a cadaver.

There is a possibility that I killed him, isn't there?

Don't be a fool. — that I was careless in the spinal tap.

That his brother's negro—baiting got me down.

I don't wanna ever hear you say anything like that again.

You're a capable doctor. You were the doctor in charge.

You did what you thought right, and there's an end to it.

Dr. Wharton.

what would you have done?

Probably exactly what you did. — but you don't agree he had a brain tumour.

Well, not to the exclusion of other possibilities. How can I?

A man was shot in the leg. He bled freely.

He ran. He fought with the policeman. He was forcibly overcome.

When you first saw him, he was gasping for breath in shock.

Yeah, a possible blood clot to the lung.

A possibility. There are a half dozen more.

Is there anything else I should have done?

It still depends upon what was the matter with him.

And when they go out that fast— — no, I was right.

I know I was right. I've got to prove it. I want an autopsy.

And you're entitled to it.

Unfortunately, this is one state which does not insist on an autopsy...

In all cases of traumatic death.

We can't do a thing without permission of the family.

It's the family I've got to convince.

The brother? — no.

He called me a murderer. Said I murdered his brother in cold blood.

Every time anybody dies in a county hospital, somebody yells murder.

But it's not the same when they yell it at me. — it's got to be. You're a doctor.

They're not yelling at the doctor. They're yelling at the nigger.

I've got to have that autopsy.