Chicago Med – No Good Deed Goes Unpunished…in Chicago - Review

With the fallout of the Vascom scandal at Chicago Med, not only are the team navigating a political landscape, but the patient care still needs to happen. And this episode did not disappoint in outlining how our friends at Gaffney are manuevering through both sides of the situation for viewers.

Dr. Halstead and Dr. Hammer

Early in the episode, we see Stevie being interviewed by the FBI about the use of the Vascom, and they are questioning her as to why she chose to use it with specific patients, and asking if Will had promoted the device to her. It is clear she is rattled by the line of questioning, and she tells Will they plan to interview her again, and thanks a lot. Clearly she is upset by the situation, but it is unclear if it is because of the inconvenience of the interviews, or because she is upset Will did not fill her in on what he was doing.

Maggie assigns them to a patient together and they go in. Mr. Sunan, is from Haiti and does not speak English and his son Emmanuel is translating for them. They speak Haitian Creole. Emmanuel says his father has been off with dizziness and confusion, and he is finding him clumsy lately. Will and Stevie order some tests to ensure he did not faint and that it is not a cardiac issue.

Will comes and tells Stevie that the cardiac tests came back all normal, and he has a distal radius fracture that ortho is coming down to set it and Stevie is reviewing the CT. The hippocampus is diminished in size and they are thinking he may have early Alzheimer’s and they ask for a Neuro consult.

When they go back in to deliver the diagnosis, Emmanuel says he is asking about a prescription for him and his fiancé, Fabian, for their wedding night, and Will says they can talk about that later. Stevie tells Emmanuel that both they and Neuro feel that the issue is early onset Alzheimer’s, and he asks how long until his dad is not longer himself and Will says there is no way to know for sure and if could be a few years or more or less.

Stevie says that Neuro has a medication they want to start today and they will monitor him and come up with the ongoing treatment plan. Emmanuel asks if there is no cure, and Stevie says unfortunately not and the best they can do is slow it down but there is no cure. His father's fiancé is on the way in and they are awaiting her arrival.

Stevie is thanking Will for another morning meeting with the Feds tomorrow when a nurse approaches them. She says she speaks French so it is not a one to one translation, but it seems Emmanuel did not tell his father the truth about his diagnosis. Stevie goes to speak with him and he says that he did not tell him and will not tell him. He says he will not take from his father everything he has to live for. Will defends the sons opinion, saying he knows his father best, and Stevie gets upset, saying that Will seems to think he is able to be in charge of what people should and should not know. It is interesting in this situation that Stevie is advocating so strongly for the patient to know the truth because it was not that long before that she was prepared to lie to her own mother about the tracking mechanism in the antibiotics that she wanted to have made to track her mother's medication compliance, and how she was prepared to give them to her without telling her.

Stevie tries to convince Emmanuel to at least tell his fiancé Fabian, so that she knows what the future holds. She then approaches the fiancé and asks if Emmanuel told her about the diagnosis and she says yes and that it is a shock. She says she wants to respect their space but asks how she feels about him not sharing the diagnosis and she says she feels that it is the right choice, and she supports his decision. She knows it won’t be easy but she is prepared, and in their culture there is nothing more important than family and that it is to bad that he will never know what his son did because he would be proud of his son for what he is doing.

Will talks to Stevie later and says that the Vascom situation sucked and he was trying to protect patients and he is sorry he did not fill her in and she tells him it is okay and he was doing what he thought was right and she gets that now. They agree they are cool but then Stevie asks if he slept with Jessa to get the info he needed and he says absolutely not and she says good. The look that Will gives her as she walks away surely has viewers wondering what the future will hold for these two friends, and whether there is romance in the air for them.


Goodwin and Dr. Charles and Maggie and Dr. Randall Shentu

At the start of the episode, Sharon is being bombarded by the press about the Vascom case, and Daniel has to step in to help her get into the building. She says all this hoopla is the last thing she was thinking about when she called the FBI, and she is worried about the hospital, and all the files that are being seized and staff being interviewed. We also see her testing her blood sugar and it is continuing to remain very high. Certainly all of this stress is not helping her ongoing health issues, and it is definitely concerning that perhaps she may end up very ill at some point this season.

Goodwin checks in on Will and he says the FBI said she made sure they knew he was working on her behalf. She then goes to see Peter and is upset that she was excluded from a budget meeting and feels they are putting her in purgatory. He says that she is likely going to be a target of the board and not head on so to be ready and be careful.

Dr. Randall Shentu then shows up at Sharon’s office, and she finds out that he works for a consulting company, and the board brought him on to help with developing a reputation of transparency and helping to smoothly navigate this unfortunate situation. He commends her leadership for exposing Dr. Cooper’s abuse of the Vascom. He says right now, Med is in trouble and if it gets worse, the patients will suffer and he doesn’t want that. She says she will take him at his word. He also comments about Vanessa announcing that Maggie is her mother, and says he could only imagine her surprise.

Maggie flags Sharon down in the hall to say she was contacted by HR about Vanessa. Sharon says it is Dr. Shentu, the new compliance officer. Sharon thinks they will likely call in Vanessa too. When she goes to HR, they discuss the appearances from Maggie going to the health fair and meeting Vanessa, and the fact that she was the only student hired. Maggie is clear in advocating for the fact that Vanessa earned her position at Med fairly. After her meeting, she goes to talk to Vanessa and apologizes for any trouble, and Vanessa says she does not need to, that she is grateful Maggie is in her life, and that she doesn’t care if HR contacts her.

By the end of the day, Sharon is upset and speaks to Daniel about how she felt what she was doing was the right decision for the hospital and Daniel says he absolutely believes that she did the right thing for the hospital. He says he is going to take her out for an expensive dinner. The friendship between Daniel and Sharon has to be one of the best parts of the Chicago Med community, and seeing these "besties" support each other is always a breath of fresh air and a welcome addition to any episode.

They are choosing dinner at the restaurant and Dr. Cooper approaches and Daniel tries to diffuse the situation and says to him that there is a time and place. Sharon says she is not interested in anything he has to say, but he says to come at him any time any place. It will be interesting to see if Dr. Cooper is brought to justice, and what the ultimate outcome will be for Sharon when it comes to the board, which includes Cooper's father-in-law.

Dr. Archer and Dr. Scott

As Archer enters the ED, he stops Will to congratulate him in a very condescending and snide way on his article in the paper and brings a copy for Will in case he wants to put it in his scrapbook or display it. Will tells Dean that he did not do if for the accolades and Archer says he is behind Will for putting himself out there and he is truly proud of him and has his back. Based on our past experiences with Archer, it is not a surprise that Will does not seem to think he can take Archer at his word, and while viewers may have been hopeful after his experience with mental health virtual reality that we may see some change or growth with Dr. Archer, this evolution will likely be slow and take time.

Dr. Archer calls for help from Dr. Scott for an MVA. They examine the patient and are questioning a broken femur and Dr. Archer also scans his belly and does not like what he sees. The chest x-ray is okay so they take him to the OR for trauma surgery.

They are in the recovery room after his first round of surgery when the patient, Keith, starts to crash again. He is awake and Archer speaks with him and is blunt about the severity of his injuries and the man says that is ok but he wants to know if his family is coming and Dr. Scott says yes. Dr. Archer says to Dylan that he needs to call them back and tell them to hurry.

Archer is about to put Keith under again for more surgery, when he says he is going to get what he deserves. He reveals to Archer that he got in a fight a number of years ago and the other man died, and no one knew it was him so he didn’t tell, so he murdered a man and now it is time to pay – a life for a life.

Archer and Scott talk to the family when they arrive and explain that Keith has no brain function and has had a massive stroke due to the trauma, and will not make a recovery. Archer tells them Keith said that he wanted his organs donated and the family agrees. Scott offers to let them have some time with Keith and Dylan asks is that what he was saying and Dr. Archer says his exact words were a life for a life.

Archer goes to tell Marcel about his patient and that they have agreed to donation and that the kidney will be his.

Dr. Blake and Dr. Marcel

Blake and Marcel are reviewing the case of Lawrence Gibbons who has end-stage renal disease and he is not tolerating hemodialysis. He only has one kidney as he donated one to his father before knowing he had polycystic kidney disease. He has a son named Luke, but they have never tested him as he is autistic, and there are ethical concerns with him being able to consent. Because time is running out, Dr. Blake suggests testing Luke and considering him to be a donor. Lawrence has always refused in the past, but seeing as this may be his last hope, he agrees to having Luke tested.

Blake says that Luke wants to help and needs his father and Marcel says he understands but based on his developmental ability, he does not feel it is right to pursue him as an option. Blake says they will take it to the ethics committee as Marcel feels it is not morally right. However, the ethics committee approves looking at Luke as a donor and Blake asks Marcel to do the lab tests. Crockett tries to take a blood sample from Luke but is not able to get Luke to co-operate with the blood draw, and Crockett abandons the attempt as Archer comes to ask if he needs help. He asks Marcel what is plan B and he says he doesn’t have one yet.

Crockett suggests Peritoneal Dialysis to Lawrence until a kidney becomes available and this buys him time so that he can keep working the transplant list. It is uncomfortable, but they go ahead so that he did not have to use Luke. Blake says they could have dealt with Luke's fear, but Marcel tells Blake that he will not have them sedate Luke because his feelings are inconvenient for them. Blake says he better hope it does not cost him his life. Sometimes it is hard to tell what Dr. Blake's true intention is as she seems at times more concerned about the organs than the patients and families. It is good that Marcel is now part of that team, as he definitely is very committed to patients and working to find the best outcome for everyone.

After Archer find them a kidney, they are scrubbing for surgery and Crockett tells Blake he should have run PD by her and he understands if she wants to drop him from the team and she says she isn’t dropping him but is ready to strangle him. She says that maybe it is because he wears his heart on his sleeve, or maybe because he pisses her off, but that she likes working with him. He says he likes working with her too, and she says lets go save Lawrences life. It seems that there is still something unspoken and unresolved between them since the kiss under the mistletoe though, and one can only wonder if this will develop into something, or become a complicated romantic situation that will end badly.

Blake and Archer talk after the transplant and she thanks him for saving them from an impossible choice and he says they were lucky.

And speaking of complicated romantic situations, Marcel runs into Avery and she says that she is working with some of the Vascom patients and families, and she offers to have him over for dinner but he declines and they say they will see each other around. It will be intersting to see what happens if Avery finds out about Marcel and her mother, and how that will affect how these characters move forward this season.

Vanessa and Dr. Charles

Vanessa is assessing a young girl, Claudia Ray, 13 and she says she couldn’t concentrate and was really thirsty and went to the fountain but fainted, striking her head on the fountain. She only remembers being on the ground and the school counsellor being with her. The counsellor shares with Vanessa that she looked in Claudia's bag and gives Vanessa pills she found which are diuretics and sometimes used to lose water weight.

Vanessa asks Dr. Charles for his help and advice. She does not want to call DCFS, but Claudia said she was taking diet pills her mom gave her. She wants to get moms side of the story before she calls and does something she can’t undo and Dr. Charles agrees and says they can talk to mom together when she arrives.

Claudia’s mom arrives and said she was on shift and is not allowed to answer her cell phone, and she did not know it was the hospital calling. Vanessa shares with her that Claudia said her mother gave her the pills. Claudia's mother says that she was heavy her whole life. She realized she was passing on her bad habits to Claudia, but she says that healthy eating takes time and planning and is expensive, and Dr. Charles says it must be frustrating feeling as if those healthy options are not available to her.

He asks about the pills and she says she found them on the internet and was trying to find a solution to get them to spring, so they could walk again. She said that having been an overweight teenager herself, she was trying to spare Claudia that pain. She says she is failing and Vanessa says no, they see a mother doing everything she can to help and protect her daughter.

Dr. Charles offers to help link them to a program at the hospital with nutrition and exercise, online and in person, and Vanessa says she will put together the info for her. Dr. Charles says holding off on DCFS was the right call and good work. We definitely need to see more of this partnership, as similar to the Scott/Charles duo, these two make a really great team.

So we close our time at Gaffney with some people growing closer, some unspoken romantic tensions and some ongoing workplace legal tension that will likely not be soon resolved. I for one cannot wait to see what the Wolf team has in store for all of us Chi-hards next week...How about you?

What did you think of this episode of Chicago Med? Share your thoughts in the comments below.