Something Labby said has been bothering me.
Wouldn't there be another large hospital closer to Smallville than Metropolis? Course, this is where my inability to figure out distances between the two could come into play. I may be imagining that Metropolis is much further away from Smallville in LNC than it truly is.
The consensus in the Where is Metropolis? thread seemed to be that Metropolis is somewhere on the east coast of the U.S. If it was in Delaware, as some speculated, it would be at least 1150 miles from any town in Kansas. If it was located about the same place as New York City, it would be at least 1200 miles. There would definitely be large hospitals that are closer to Smallville.
I am assuming Clark did not say anything about his aunt visiting Metropolis. So two explanations (besides the visiting aunt scenario) occur to me:
1. Metropolis is not actually on the ocean, it is on the Great Lakes, about where Chicago is located. Then it might be reasonable to take someone to Chicago for specialized treatment. That would also account for the frequency with which his parents are able to visit him. I just checked flights from Kansas City or Wichita to NYC and with connections the trip is about 6 or 7 hours. But the time to fly to Chicago would be much less.
However, the Chicago location is probably inconsistent with canon; I'm not enough of an expert to know.
2. We are never told where Martha is from, and many fanfic writers have given her an origin "back east." If Martha's family lives on the east coast, Opal could live in a semi-rural area 60 to 70 miles from the city of Metropolis. If Clark was not particularly close to her and she did not know his secret, he probably would not see her often. But it would be reasonable for her to travel to Metropolis for hospitalization, and his mother would probably keep him informed if this happened.
