'Black Wednesday' bars and hospitals busy

The day before Thanksgiving -- Black Wednesday -- is usually the busiest day of the year for bars, but many U.S. hospitals are also busy, officials say. Thomas Esposito, chief of the Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Burns in the Department of Surgery at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, said alcohol impairs everything -- from judgment, to reflexes, to balance – and who wants to celebrate Thanksgiving in the emergency room?" The day before Thanksgiving, nicknamed Black Wednesday, is a time when college kids are home and reunite with friends over beers or alcoholic beverages in bars and restaurants. It is also when many get a jump on the work-free holiday by knocking back a few. "At Loyola, we will see car injuries, broken bones, cuts, sprains and other results of 'stupid human tricks' that all involve alcohol," Esposito said in a statement. "Black Wednesday is a come-on for turkeys -- and the only turkey I want to see at Thanksgiving is the bird roasted in the oven by my wife."