S01.E05: Heart Burned

[ESS]

Rebel goes to great lengths to help save Helen’s life after being denied her surgery and continues to push Cruz to negotiate the recall and study of the heart valve. Meanwhile, Cassidy and Lana try to help Luke when his personal life jeopardizes his career and reputation. Elsewhere, Cruz gets close to someone new.

[Bastet]

This was my favorite episode yet (other than the grossness of Rebel and Grady back together ... for now).

"Your clients are sick in America, which means they need money."  I love getting into the specifics of Helen's uncovered expenses - even with insurance, you can wind up on a payment plan you can't even live long enough to fulfill, and a hospital that says "no more" right when you need more the most.  (Quite the stretch to make me believe Cruz wants to pay for the surgery, but can't - he has $150,000 to spare, and definitely $150,000 to get a defective valve to study.)

And I love Helen voting not to settle, and Maddie begging everyone to vote yes because she cannot survive losing her baby if she also loses her mom.

Everyone's reaction to watching the Luke (see, I finally did commit his name to memory) video was hilarious, but Cassidy's was pure art.  Love her motivation for helping him, too.

Rebel playing Benji was fantastic, as was the pleased look on Cruz's face when she did it.

[ESS]

What an emotional episode!

Ugh Rebel & Grady back together 🙄 I felt bad for Ziggy when she walked in on them.. I see Lana and her ex husband, Rick are together, I pretty much knew that because they did actually get along in pervious episode and I like them together they are cute.

Luke's storyline didn't interest me although it was pretty funny the way everyone got that porn video and their reactions to it. 

Rebel playing Benji I wasn't surprised Rebel could play anyone.

It was so sweet the way Ziggy helped out Helen to get her surgery with her college fund, but Grady isn't gonna be happy when he finds out her college fund is gone. I loved it when Rebel and Ziggy helped out Maddie in the delivery room. Poor Rebel was missing her best friend, Sharon seemed like she was a great person and friend to Rebel. I really hope we'll get to see some flashbacks of her soon. 

So glad Helen got her surgery and is gonna be okay.

Angela ugh using Cruz when Rebel finds out Angela's going down! I can't believe she bugged Cruz's phone and stole the heart valve, but then again she is a snake so it's not really surprising.

Rebel has every right to be concerned about Angela & Cruz and her instincts are dead on about Angela, Rebel's a great judge of character. 

Maddie's baby is so cute!! ♥️

I continue to love the mother/daughter relationship of Ziggy & Rebel. 

Can't wait for next week's episode. 

Edited May 14, 2021 by kariyaki
Removed spoiler tags

[Aliconehead]

The fallout of Angela could be interesting. Did Benji know? He has not come across as unethical so I don’t thinks so.  But he is ruthless so it’s possible.  I have a feeling Benji will find out first, try to cover it up, Cassidy finds out which will damage their relationship and she will go back to work for Cruz. Maybe it will lead to Benji and Cruz joining forces to create a new firm that helps people but actually makes money. Cassidy will then forgive her dad.  

Or maybe I just imagine fanfiction storylines in my mind because tv is so predicable. 

[ESS]

55 minutes ago, Aliconehead said:

The fallout of Angela could be interesting. Did Benji know? He has not come across as unethical so I don’t thinks so.  But he is ruthless so it’s possible.  I have a feeling Benji will find out first, try to cover it up, Cassidy finds out which will damage their relationship and she will go back to work for Cruz. Maybe it will lead to Benji and Cruz joining forces to create a new firm that helps people but actually makes money. Cassidy will then forgive her dad.  

Or maybe I just imagine fanfiction storylines in my mind because tv is so predicable. 

I believe the fallout from Angela will be interesting for sure I agree, but the other theories I don't know. I don't think Benji knows in fact I don't think anyone does yet, but they will and I especially can't wait to see what Rebel will do once she finds out and it's not gonna be good I know that.

[eel21788]

13 hours ago, Bastet said:

"Your clients are sick in America, which means they need money."  I love getting into the specifics of Helen's uncovered expenses - even with insurance, you can wind up on a payment plan you can't even live long enough to fulfill, and a hospital that says "no more" right when you need more the most.  (Quite the stretch to make me believe Cruz wants to pay for the surgery, but can't - he has $150,000 to spare, and definitely $150,000 to get a defective valve to study.)

She was already $150,000+ in debt to the hospital, but did they tell us how much the valve replacement was going to cost? My dad's second open heart surgery was to replace a defective valve from the first surgery. His third open heart surgery was to re-replace that aortic valve which wore out due to time and do the first replacement of the mitral valve. It was only a $25,000 surgery (in 1990). 

I would think the hospital would have been willing to let her pay cash up-front for the current surgery, so she would live long enough to repay the $150K debt. Maybe that is too logical to expect from a hospital's finance department, especially when it's fictional and drama is needed.

Edited May 14, 2021 by eel21788

[chitowngirl]

Can they exhume Sharon’s body and study that valve?

[Brian Cronin]

7 hours ago, eel21788 said:

She was already $150,000+ in debt to the hospital, but did they tell us how much the valve replacement was going to cost? My dad's second open heart surgery was to replace a defective valve from the first surgery. His third open heart surgery was to re-replace that aortic valve which wore out due to time and do the first replacement of the mitral valve. It was only a $25,000 surgery (in 1990). 

I would think the hospital would have been willing to let her pay cash up-front for the current surgery, so she would live long enough to repay the $150K debt. Maybe that is too logical to expect from a hospital's finance department, especially when it's fictional and drama is needed.

The valve replacement surgery wasn't going to cost a whole lot, because the surgeon was doing it pro bono. It was all about the outstanding balance.

[KaveDweller]

1 hour ago, Brian Cronin said:

The valve replacement surgery wasn't going to cost a whole lot, because the surgeon was doing it pro bono. It was all about the outstanding balance.

The administration lady mentioned all the other costs besides the surgeons' time though. Besides the surgeon there is equipment, the anesthesiologist, whatever the cost of the new valve replacement, etc. But I think they were willing to let her run up a new debt once she paid the balance. I don't think I'd be able to do that person's job, our medical system is pretty messed up.

I finally figured out where I recognized Luke from. He was Gunnar on Nashville, and played a very different character. I liked seeing him get more to do. His ex sure was crazy.

[Brian Cronin]

9 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

The administration lady mentioned all the other costs besides the surgeons' time though. Besides the surgeon there is equipment, the anesthesiologist, whatever the cost of the new valve replacement, etc. But I think they were willing to let her run up a new debt once she paid the balance. I don't think I'd be able to do that person's job, our medical system is pretty messed up.

I finally figured out where I recognized Luke from. He was Gunnar on Nashville, and played a very different character. I liked seeing him get more to do. His ex sure was crazy.

Yeah, I thought it was cute that they let him sing in this episode. It's so weird that they waited until the fifth episode to say, "Oh, hey, maybe we should give Luke a personality!"

[eel21788]

On 5/14/2021 at 8:19 PM, Brian Cronin said:

The valve replacement surgery wasn't going to cost a whole lot, because the surgeon was doing it pro bono. It was all about the outstanding balance.

Doctors are sometimes willing to waive their fees, but hospitals usually won't.

I took care of one patient whose family pretty much demanded a free heart cath with balloon procedure the next morning. The doctor's office spent the entire day on the phone trying to get businesses and non-profits to put up money to pay off the balance of what would be owed to the hospital. It is pretty rare for a doctor's office to solicit donations to cover the cost of a procedure; however, the hospital insisted that there needed to be funds committed before it allowed scheduling the procedure so the hospital wouldn't have to absorb the cost itself.

I don't know why Annie's team couldn't have done something similar for Helen.

[CrystalBlue]

27 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

Doctors are sometimes willing to waive their fees, but hospitals usually won't.

I took care of one patient whose family pretty much demanded a free heart cath with balloon procedure the next morning. The doctor's office spent the entire day on the phone trying to get businesses and non-profits to put up money to pay off the balance of what would be owed to the hospital. It is pretty rare for a doctor's office to solicit donations to cover the cost of a procedure; however, the hospital insisted that there needed to be funds committed before it allowed scheduling the procedure so the hospital wouldn't have to absorb the cost itself.

I don't know why Annie's team couldn't have done something similar for Helen.

Go Fund Me is pretty popular.

[Bastet]

38 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

I don't know why Annie's team couldn't have done something similar for Helen.

The ongoing litigation would have made some organizations and businesses not to want to get involved in any way, especially with such a short time to decide.

[eel21788]

17 hours ago, Bastet said:

The ongoing litigation would have made some organizations and businesses not to want to get involved in any way, especially with such a short time to decide.

I don't think it would have been necessary to go any farther than, "My friend needs surgery that won't be covered by insurance. How much are you willing to donate?"

There is no reason to go deeper into the sordid details.