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Dr. Ralph Cressman

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Retired surgeon Ralph Cressman recalled a hunting trip he took with Dr. Al Snell and Dr. Blake Wilbur. Having breakfast one morning in their cabin, they heard a knock on the door. Outside they found a man seeking the doctors’ help because he was unable to urinate. "So I said, ‘Well, I don’t have a catheter.’ And Blake, he says, ‘Well, I don’t have a catheter.’ And Al Snell says, ‘Well, I brought a bag and I’ve got a catheter.’ So I laid the guy down on a bench and catheterized him. As he got released he said, ‘Ah, it’s worth $1,000.’ But the guy never even gave me a quart of whiskey." Why Dr. Snell had bothered to bring a catheter on a hunting trip was never clear. "I think he just figured that this was something that you put in your medical bag in case you needed it," Dr. Cressman said.

Dr. Ralph Cressman
Dr. Ralph Cressman
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