Thoughts on Robin #164 and Batman Confidential #6

August 1st, 2007

Filed under: Comics, Medicine

Robin #164 “Making the Band”
Adam Beecher, writer
Freddie E. Williams II, penciler

Robin (Tim Drake) wants to join the high school tennis team, but Batman is opposed.

Batman: To join an sports team, you’ll have to take a physical.
Robin: It’s not like I won’t pass.
Batman: It’s not that. You’ve had broken bones, Tim. Lots of them. All of that will show up. Excuses won’t cover them. It’ll raise too many red flags.

Batman is right that most states require a Preparticipation Physical Exam prior to joining a school sports team, but other than that, his reasoning is strained. The preparticipation physical is good head-to-toe physical exam, but nothing excessive. Unless something turns up on the exam, doctors do not order labs*, x-rays and other studies. If Robin’s broken bones were set correctly and healed normally, there’s no way they’d show up on exam.

There has been some talk about expanding the sports physical to include a closer look at the heart (including an EKG or echocardiogram), but there is not much good evidence in support of this. At no point have general screening x-rays (the only thing that would show Robin’s old fractures) ever been considered as part of the physical. The cost/benefit ratio would be horrible, and we let’s not forget that x-rays involve radiation exposure and — though it’s only a small amount — they should be avoided unless truly necessary.

(Plus — Tim would have needed a physical to start high school, or when transferring to his new school. By Batman’s logic, any broken bones should have showed up then as well)

As I said, it’s a nit-pick, but since it’s that time of year where I’m performing dozens of preparticipation physicals per week, it seemed timely.

*In Illinois, it’s “suggested” that we screen for diabetes in children with a body mass index above the 85th percentile. On one hand, given the recognition that obesity is becoming a childhood disease, this makes sense. But on the other hand, the research doesn’t support this. I could only find one small study supporting screening for diabetes, and that was in a selected population more prone to diabetes. I don’t want my patients to be diabetic, but nor do I want unnecessary blood tests performed on them.

Switching topics to Batman Confidential #6. This line towards the end of the book caught my eye.

Batman has just confronted Lex Luthor in his lair and defeated all his military-style robots:

Batman: You underestimated yourself. I used your own virus against you — with a few minor adjustments. You programmed my machines to kill. I programmed yours to kill themselves.

Since Batman’s talking about WayneTech products as “my machines”, hasn’t he just admitted to Luthor that he is Bruce Wayne?

9 Responses to “ Thoughts on Robin #164 and Batman Confidential #6 ”

  1. Petri
    August 2nd, 2007 at 9:41 am

    Maybe Robin has had many compound fractures, lacs, and other visible scars. Maybe Batman should just let him use the Physician Persuasion Ray Gun, though from his previous track record it may only work on PA’s.

  2. Dr Archeville
    August 2nd, 2007 at 11:29 am

    Maybe Luthor’ll think Batman is just some guy on WayneTech’s payroll? Like how folks used to think Iron Man was some guy on Stark’s payroll?

  3. David Oakes
    August 2nd, 2007 at 11:36 am

    I always felt that Bruce and Lex had a gentleman’s agreement. Luthor doesn’t tell everyone the obvious, and Batman doesn’t take out Superman with one punch.

  4. John Bishop
    August 2nd, 2007 at 2:45 pm

    No, Petri, he needs to use the Special Mummy Ray Gun. It’s about time we test it out to see what it actually does, since we already know it’s not much good against mummies.

  5. Thatguy
    August 2nd, 2007 at 10:02 pm

    Couldn’t Batman fake the physical? It’s not like they’re performed by only one doctor in the entire city. All the school really sees is the paper work.

  6. caleb
    August 3rd, 2007 at 2:29 pm

    Man, Batman never let’s Robin do anything fun. Except ride around in the Batmobile, -plane and -boat with him, fighting crime and playing with projectiles and explosives and meeting superheroes. I guess Tim will never get the thrill of competeing in a high school sport, and will have to settle for playing tennis with friends on Wayne Manor’s private tennis courts…or at one of Wayne’s country clubs…or with Wonder Girl at Titans HQ.

  7. Sean Duggan
    August 3rd, 2007 at 3:30 pm

    Did rules change since they stopped requiring Physical Education in schools? I didn’t have to take a physical to attend high school. If you did sports, you had to take one, but there was no physical exam requirement just for enrolling.

  8. Scott Longwell
    August 5th, 2007 at 8:49 am

    “Tim would have needed a physical to start high school, or when transferring to his new school.”

    I too am curious when I was in High School in California we didn’t need to get a physical to enter High School.

    [And, at least at my school, they we’re very strict about enforcing the physical for sports.]

    Scott: You mention doing lots of pre-sport physicals. I’m curious how often you find something relevant and what sort of things do you find?

    Are you mainly looking for a congenital heart defect or a communicable disease or something else?

    Thanks!

  9. Nick F.
    August 5th, 2007 at 11:15 am

    I thought Lex has known about Bruce since the time he was prez….

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