Secret Radiology Lounge Discovered

April 10, 2002

DENVER, CO--Dr. Daniel Ratliff says he was just looking for a radiologist on Tuesday to help read a spine MRI.

What he found was not one, but eleven radiologists "hanging out" in a secret room behind the MRI reading board.

Radiology lounge entrance

"I was pretty sure there wasn't going to be anyone available to read the film, since it was after three [PM]," says Ratliff, a surgery intern at the University Of Colorado Medical Center. "Usually they're gone by then, and sure enough, they were."

Still, he says, he heard odd noises... clapping? cheering? The closer he came to the MRI alternator, the louder they became.

"So I started flicking the white light switches back and forth, and I must have hit on some secret combination, because all of a sudden the whole thing spun around just like the bookshelf in the Batcave."

Ratliff says he found himself in a large carpeted room with "four plush couches and a giant screen T.V.," along with eleven radiologists watching a basketball game.

"They were just hanging out. I'm not sure who was more surprised - me or them," he says.

As news of the discovery spreads, similarly hidden lounges are being located behind radiology alterator boards all across the country. To many physicians, they help explain where the radiologists are between 11 PM and 1 PM, or after 3 PM, on weekdays, and anytime after 10 AM on weekends.

Pressed for comment, Dr. Madeline Rayburn, chairperson of the American Roentgenological Association, downplayed the significance of the lounges.

"Look, radiology is a stressful profession," she said. "You're sitting all day looking at films. It's dark. Did I mention you're sitting all day?"

"The fact of the matter is, no radiologist likes to be bothered when we're trying to relax. You woudn't either. So give us a break, willya?!"

With that, she flicked several light switches on the alternator she was sitting at, and quickly spun from view.

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