Chest radiography in a 76-year-old woman showed right "white lung" (Figure 1), and thoracentesis confirmed a yellowish right pleural effusion. Due to hyp-oxemia, insertion of a chest tube was decided by a physician in training who missed a classic sign of pulmonary atelectasis on the chest radiograph: mediastinal shift towards the right side. The chest tube was placed in the 9th intercostal space, but no yellowish fluid was obtained. Instead, a small amount of dark blood was aspirated.
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