In this episode of Chicago Med, we see new and developing relationships, see some relationships come to a conclusion and learn about trust, whether it be with colleagues, friends or in the healthcare and legal system. There was a beautiful balance between patient and personal stories this week in only the way One Chicago writers can do.
Dr. Halstead, Dr. Marcel, Dr. Lu and Lydia and Danielle
Justin Lu is a new resident that Goodwin introduces to Will. He worked in Search and Rescue for 10 years and then went back to medical school, so he is definitely a mature student. We get a mini-crossover as Blake Gallo comes to welcome Justin and wishes him luck on his first day. Will welcomes him to the team. They take an ambulance that is coming in as he is ready to jump in.
Lydia Shaw, a 15 year old patient, comes in and she is confused, jaundiced and has swollen legs and she has been exhausted and nauseated for weeks. They complete some tests and Lydia is in liver failure due to an autoimmune condition that is affecting her bile ducts. They tell her mother that Lydia will need a liver transplant but her mother, Danielle, is not able to donate because she is a recovering alcoholic and her liver is to damaged and fibrotic.
Dr. Lu and Dr. Halstead suggest to Dr. Marcel that perhaps they try to facilitate a multi-organ transplant, where Lydia’s mom will donate another organ to someone whose family member could not donate that organ and their family member could donate a portion of liver to Lydia. Dr. Marcel thinks he knows of a good patient and he and Dr. Lu go to run the lab works to make sure they are a match. They determine that they are a match and they speak with the other family, and share with them that it is a bigger surgery and harder recovery, but they agree to do it.
Danielle agrees to donate a kidney to the man’s wife and he will donate part of his liver to her daughter. They meet and thank each other and Dr. Halstead and Dr. Marcel excuses themselves to give them time to speak. Dr. Lu and Dr. Halstead discuss that they hope this becomes more common because it would really open up the pool of potential donors. This was a great example of doctors working together with a focus on what is best for the patients, which is such a contrast in this episode to what happened to Dr. Choi and Archer’s patient.
It was great to see Will and Crockett getting along and working collaboratively on an out of the box idea, but not in a “cowboy, let’s break the rules” sort of way like we have seen from both of these doctors before. Perhaps this will become a new friendship and allow for even better outcomes for patients in the future.
Dr. Asher, Dr. Cuevas and Gloria (with special appearance by Hailey Upton)
A young woman is in the waiting room, and she is asking if she cannot just speak to a doctor but the triage desk says she has to register. Dr. Asher and Dr. Cuevas are at the vending machine and hear her question and go to speak to her. She asks how she can find out if something happened to her and tells them her name is Gloria and she was at a party at a warehouse and blacked out after one drink and woke up there in a room she did not recognize without underwear. Dr. Cuevas and Dr. Asher tell her they will help her figure it out and can examine her anonymously and they examine her and tell her there is no cost. They realize from the lab work that she was drugged with GHB and there is evidence she was assaulted. They try to encourage her to contact some support services. Dr. Asher wants to press her to open an investigation but Dr. Cuevas tells Hannah that perhaps she is reluctant because she is undocumented.
Hailey Upton (cue mini crossover #2) brings in another girl with the same story as Gloria’s and they realize it may be a pattern. Dr. Cuevas and Dr. Asher talk about the risk of Gloria carrying that trauma for the rest of her life, and Hannah shares with Nellie that her roommate from college was also assaulted and took her own life after not processing what happened. She says she knows the magnitude of what they are asking, but she has seen what trying to sweep the trauma under the rug can do. They go in to talk to Gloria again and Dr. Cuevas shares with her that she is also not documented and she knows the fear she has, but they share that if at any time she would like to open an investigation, they have someone she can trust. She agrees to speak to the police and they then introduce her to Hailey Upton, who says they can talk wherever she is comfortable.
Afterwards, Nellie and Hannah discuss that hopefully Gloria and her kit can help to catch the assailant before anyone else gets hurt. Nellie asks Hannah not to share about her being undocumented and Hannah says that she understands and that the information is safe with her, and she is very brave and admires all that she has accomplished. This was a great pairing to see, as we have so few female physicians in the department, and Dr. Cuevas certainly responds differently when she is not under the watchful eye of Dr. Charles and caring for someone psychiatric. The sharing of her past with Hannah was also a nice addition to the storyline, and for Hannah, her past is often seen first for those who know about her past, and she knows all too well what it feels like to want to keep your private life and past private.
Dr. Choi, Dr. Charles, Dr. Archer and Buddy
Dr. Archer is still taking pain medications and goes into a room and does a scan of his abdomen. Later he asks Hannah to look at it and see if she thinks there is signs of renal artery stenosis and she indicates that there could be an issue but she cannot definitively say what the issue is. It is so refreshing to see Dr. Archer continuing to go to Dr. Asher and the dynamic of their relationship is certainly developing as the weeks go on, and it is wonderful to see his respect for Hannah as a professional continue to grow.
A man comes into the hospital and is concerned about a homeless man who lives behind his building. Dr. Choi and Dr. Charles go to check him out and he is unresponsive and seems to have a big wound. The man says his name is Buddy and he has lived behind the building for a number of years and he disappeared for a few nights a few weeks ago and has not been moving around as well since he got back. They bring him to the hospital and track down his hospital records because he is still wearing the last hospital bracelet and he was seen at a hospital out of town and had a procedure done there.
Dr. Charles interviews Buddy when he wakes up and he says a nice lady took him to the other hospital and bought him dinner. Dr. Archer gets the records and he was admitted for a procedure, but there is no evidence that he has the health issue the procedure is for, so they look further into it, and it looks like he was brought in by someone who is a “recruiter” and that this may be a case of Medicaid fraud by having people brought in for procedures they don’t need. Dr. Charles identifies the physician who did the procedure on Buddy, and he notices he is moving around a lot and has lost privileges at all the hospitals he was working in due to suspicions that his practice was not ethical, but they were never able to produce any proof.
However, when they do work him up, Buddy has cancer which has now spread everywhere, and if they had actually worked him up properly when he was last in hospital, instead of doing a procedure he did not need, he may have been able to be treated in time. Ethan is going through his items from behind the building that were brought in by the man who brought him in, and they find a picture of him as a boy at the building where he was camping out. Dean and Ethan wonder if he grew up there and that is why he went back there. They are waiting for him to go to hospice, and Ethan says the system failed Buddy and that it fails other people like him every day who never make it through their doors.
We have seen such a change in Ethan and the way that he cares for patients. While he is still fulsome, he seems to understand and respect choice and autonomy now more, but also wants to see the best done for those who need help. Perhaps we can hope to also see further changes in Dr. Archer as the season progresses.
Maggie and Grant
Maggie gets an invitation in her locker and it is to Ethan and April’s wedding. She congratulates Ethan and says she is so happy for them. Grant comes by to see Maggie and asks her to come look at something outside, and says she is the only person who will understand. Grant has restored his old car from high school and he asks Maggie to go for a ride. While they are stopped at a light, Grant tries to kiss her but she tells him no. Grant goes to drive ahead and they get in an accident.
Grant is injured and Will treats him. Maggie is not injured, but Sharon insists on checking her out and she says it is not what it looks like. Will sends Grant to angio and lets Maggie know. She discusses with Sharon that she does not want Ben to know about the accident (he is away right now). Will lets Grant know that he will need follow up next week but no surgery. Grant apologizes for crossing the line with her. They agree as well there is too much history between them to be friends.
Sharon asks Maggie if that is really the best way to handle things when she says that she is not planning to tell Ben about the accident at all. Maggie says she is afraid it would make things worse with her and Ben. Sharon tells her to give it a bit of time before she decides.
Sharon Goodwin, Peter Kalmick and Dr. Marcel
Sharon and Peter are trying to get MRI technology for the ORs and they are going to ask Jack Dayton to donate the needed funds. They ask Dr. Marcel to attend the dinner with all of them but he declines. However, after the day he has treating Lydia and helping facilitate the needed multi-organ transplant, he agrees to go to the dinner. They discuss with Jack Dayton what their request is, but Jack says it is time to reach bigger and that he will do something even better to help patients at Chicago Med. It seems that the theme of Jack Dayton as the Chicago Med Guardian Angel is going to continue for a while longer…but knowing in One Chicago that everything comes with a price, it will be interesting to see if this situation follows that pattern in the coming episodes. Needless to say, support for Chicago Med is long overdue and we can only hope Jack’s plans will significantly improve the care possible.
