It's The Most Deadliest Time of the Year, or: Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas, or:Really, Really Silent Night

Researchers at Duke (led by a cardiologist actually named Dr. Trip Meine, according to Reuters) say you're more likely to die if admitted to a hospital during the winter holidays than at any other time of the year. According to Dr. Trip, " ...heart attack patients admitted during this holiday period were less likely to receive angioplasty to open clogged arteries (12.5 percent versus 15.3 percent for those admitted the rest of the year), and had an increased mortality rate (22.5 percent versus 20.5 percent)." The implication seems to be that medical personnel are somewhat less attentive during the holidays, a hypothesis already proven conclusively in the hospital scenes of both "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Pt. II." Two questions that the study apparently fails to answer: What did Dr. Meine do as a pre-med to earn the nickname "Trip," and is this really the best possible background for a guy who's going to crack your chest open?