"Here we go again," Ron Smith said with a sigh. "This is the third time we've been to the emergency room in five weeks."
He nodded toward his 15-year-old daughter. "Lorna's got a stomachache. She's throwing up. The last time she came here, it was a problem with her appendix."
Lorna lay on the stretcher, looking away from her father. She slid me a blasé look.
"The pain you're having now," I asked, "when did it start?"
"Two days ago. I thought it was from something I ate at a diner."
