Don't Call Noah Wyle Doc

Posted Thursday, April 25, 2002 at 1:00 PM Central

by Heather Koehler

He may play one every Thursday night but Noah Wyle is no doctor. Now if only everyone would realize that...

On a recent trip, Noah and his mother were on a plane when a man started experiencing chest pains. The crew paged for a doctor over the intercom and Noah says all heads turned towards him as he sunk in his chair.

For the sick man's sake (and Noah's), a registered nurse was a passenger. The nurse helped out her son Noah and ran to help the man. "Fortunately, my mom went up and got to the back of the plane," he said. "In the emergency landing we took the guy off the plane and I was spared from showing how little I actually know."

With a chuckle he adds, "I am an honorary fellow of the Oxford Medical Society. In fact, all freshmen who go into Oxford Medical Society dorms have to pass underneath my glossy photograph wishing them luck. For a man who didn't go to college, there's a lot of irony there. I have this deluded fantasy that the show goes two more seasons and I'll be granted an honorary degree from some medical school in Mexico and I can open an outpatient clinic in my garage."