Scheduling Your Next Emergency

Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling wowed fans in the 2004 World Series by playing even as blood soaked through one sock. But maybe TV screens should have carried a warning: Don't try this at home.

Researchers recently combed through Boston emergency room data from October 2004, when the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years. As Boston fans sat on the edges of their seats, new cases at the ER slowed to a trickle. Like Schilling, ailing fans may have tried to stick it out until the last pitch, suggests John Brownstein, a researcher at the Children's Hospital of Boston, which treats both children and adults.

Gunshot wounds aside, patients often have some control over when they visit the ER, the study hints. But that doesn't mean that ER trips are unnecessary, Brownstein stresses.

Past studies indicate forces even more complex than Red Sox fanaticism. For instance, ER visits are generally highest on Mondays—perhaps because many people like their jobs a lot less than Curt Schilling likes his.