A 68-year-old male presents to the emergency department (ED) with one week of worsening shortness of breath. He has no known cardiac history and has rarely seen a physician. He reports shortness of breath with exertion, mild non-productive cough, and subjective fever. He is not having chest pain. He is a long-time smoker but denies other drugs. Vitals are as follows: heart rate (HR) of 102, blood pressure (BP) of 105/70, afebrile, 89% on room air (RA), respiratory rate of 20. On exam the patient exhibits labored breathing, crackles in bilateral lower lung fields and +1 pitting edema in bilateral lower extremities…
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