The house staff called me just now from one of the hospitals I round at. They told me my patient, who was admitted less than 24 hours ago, was ready for discharge. Medically, he was stable. His pain was not controlled, but that could be handled as an outpatient. The interesting thing, though, is that the primary reason he came in was the pain, and although the disease process that we were worried about was excluded, and he was in no imminent danger, the pain was still there, was very real, and...