"Dan said aspirin and massage were not helping, but the hated the idea of going to his doctor and possibly only be told he has a ripped muscle or a pinched nerve, plus pay $500 for tests.

But one of his friends told him he was having similar problems. Good news; persuade his buddy
to go get the tests so Dan could find out what was wrong for free! So his buddy went to his doctor, had the tests and was told it was nothing more than muscle pain and would go away on it's own. Relief!

Three days later he called his buddy to see how the muscles were feeling with aspirin and rest,
only to be told by his girl friend that he was dead!

Dan said he immediately checked himself into the hospital got every test imaginable. The bill was $5,000! However Dan was told that he only had muscle pain that would go away, and may have been carpal tunnel wrist related.

Dan was upset, but he didn't blame his poor friend that died. So he went to the funeral anyway.
After paying respects he spoke to his buddy's girfriend, and asked her "Did he suffer much?"
She said "No, He dies instantly when he was hit by that truck."

The lesson of course is don't ever make assumptions. Get all the facts you can and then make the best decision you can.

My first manager had a cardholder with cards on this desk. The only words on the card were:

Assume Nothing