The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.
He did the age ole trick of faking sick but turned up to a whole new level. If he was just some random dude trying to convince an emergency room of medical professionals that he was sick, he probably would’ve had a much harder time. But since he too works in the field, he was able to feed them exactly what they wanted. Thus, producing him with the doctors note he needed for a paid sick day off (aka going to make that extra cash).
