Jones Case Study

NATIONAL CENTER FOR CASE STUDY TEACHING IN SCIENCE

Keeping up with the Joneses:

A Case Study in Human Physiology

by

Phil Stephens

Biology Department

Villanova University, Villanova, PA

Part I—The Accident

Suzie Jones felt her heart pounding and the sweat dripping from her forehead as she ran the last mile through

her neighborhood. She had left home at noon and had run around the high school track for what seemed

like hours. She felt tired when she started, but found it pleasurable to drive her body to a point of exhaustion,

believing that she could run forever on that warm spring afternoon. As a child, she had hated exercising, but

now she found it helped clear her head and get her thoughts into perspective. Suzie felt light-headed as she

rounded the corner for home.

“Funny,” she thought. “Where’s Mom’s car?”

She saw a note taped to the garage door.

David’s had an accident, come to the hospital ASAP.

“This time next year I’ll be able to drive,” muttered Suzie as she started to run the mile to the hospital.

Suzie entered the Emergency Room and saw her mother sitting with her brother Dave’s baseball coach.

“What happened?” asked Suzie.

Mrs. Jones looked at the coach and he answered: “A freak accident. Dave rolled his ankle as he was rounding

first base. He hit the ground and we all thought that his leg was broken, but the x-rays proved us wrong. It’s

just a badly sprained ankle.”

Suzie nodded her head in response as she walked the short distance to the water fountain. Just then, Mrs.

Jones noticed one of the nurses and said to Suzie, “Isn’t that your friend’s sister at the nurse’s station? Why

don’t you ask her how your brother is and how much longer this will take?”

“Mom, I’ve been running for hours and I smell. I look a mess. If it hadn’t been for your note telling me to

come right away, I would have showered and changed before coming here.”

“Fine, Susan. We’ll just wait then,” replied Mrs. Jones, making her daughter feel guilty....