Talking to myself at Dover General Medical Center in Morris County, NJ. c.1975
When I opened my new office for the practice of cardiology, I was hoping for some publicity in order to get known in the community. Then I got a call from the Daily Advance, a small town newspaper in Dover, New Jersey. They wanted to send a reporter to interview me about something.
She was an attractive young woman who sat down in my consultation room with a pad and pen in hand. Then she said, “There is a new medical research study which says that sex is good for the heart. What do you think?”
I immediately realized that this was a mine field that I had to carefully navigate. So I said, “Well, uh, um, hmmm.”
But finally, I said,”You know, sex can be a good source of exercise, and we know that exercise is good for the heart.”
“OK…,” she said.
“And so, you know, um, it all depends on how you do it….I mean that the amount of exercise determines how good it is for your heart. Um, I don’t mean your heart, I mean hearts in general. So you have to get the heart rate up in order to get that aerobic benefit.”
“So,” she said, “I guess then that you agree that sex is good for the heart and you would recommend that for your patients.”
“Well,” said I, “Heart patients have to be careful to not get too excited…er, I mean they should be gradual and not so vigorous…uh..are there more questions?”
She said, “I was just wondering if someone could die during sex.”
At that point my mind was getting ahead of itself. It occurred to me that it might be worth dying for, but I said to myself, “Self….don’t be a wise guy.” I was recalling a medical report that suggested that the risk of sudden death during sex was greatest if a man were doing it with someone who wasn’t his wife. But I wasn’t going to share that with her. Then she stood up, and the interview was over.
The next day, on the front page of the Advance, was the article about me, and the headline was, “Sex—You Knew It Was Good for Something.” Thankfully, she managed to get my remarks straight.
The Hit Crew with some medical advice: