The Patient - Audio Cassette - Abridged Author:Michael Palmer, Lisa Harrow (Narrator) A star Olympic gymnast feels a small pain in her skull, and soon she's having a brain tumor zapped by a flashy new surgical robot. — Dr. Jessie Copeland, is a neurosurgeon with a combined undergraduate degree in biology and mechanical engineering. She's working under the egomaniacal chief surgeon Carl Gilbride at a top Boston hospital, Jessie get... more »s to try out ARTIE (Assisted Robotic Tissue Incision and Extraction) on cadavers, while Gilbride coaxes foundations to cough up millions for the revolutionary new procedure.
Attracted by the media attention generated by ARTIE's use (too early, Jessie thinks) on the gymnast, shadowy terrorist Claude Malloche, known as "the Mist," who also has a brain tumor, comes to the hospital for treatment. He winds up holding patients and staff hostage in case the operation fails. It's finally up to Jessie and a rogue CIA agent to keep everyone healthy.