S07.E17: If You Love Someone, Set Them Free

[DanaK]

Quote

04/06/2022 (08:00PM - 09:00PM) (Wednesday) : Rival gangs bring their war to Med. Will and Charles work with a teenage brain cancer patient who's refusing treatment. Tensions run high in the OR when a patient's transplanted uterus fails, forcing Crockett and Blake to decide whether to try another transplant using a uterus from the patient's sister. 
 

 

[mommalib]

I'm liking this new development between Dr. Scott and the undercover cop. They have chemistry but I know that the whole are you a Cop or Doctor thing is going to come up again down the line. 

They added an extra layer to Blake tonight with the surrogate story, I think I might like her.  

[DanaK]

I was not expecting the boyfriend of the girl with cancer to be secretly giving her chemo pills. That’s why he was so hyped about her taking the tea. And I understood her decision not to treat the cancer given the side effects and that she’ll likely die anyway

[Driad]

Are there support groups for doctors who used to be police officers?  Besides Dr. Dylan Scott here, there is Dr. Park on "The Good Doctor," and probably others.  They could meet virtually because of the distance.

[Frisky Wig]

1 hour ago, DanaK said:

I was not expecting the boyfriend of the girl with cancer to be secretly giving her chemo pills. That’s why he was so hyped about her taking the tea. And I understood her decision not to treat the cancer given the side effects and that she’ll likely die anyway

They’re siblings. 
 

I’m pretty sure that in order to donate an organ, you have to go through a bunch of testing, maybe some psychological therapy or at least education to know the risks and how your life will change after surgery (like how loss of a uterus will throw a woman into menopause and what all of that means). I guess they fast-tracked all of that for Dr Ashers patients sister? The magic of TV! 

[LittleIggy]

39 minutes ago, Frisky Wig said:

They’re siblings. 
 

No, the boy was the cancer patient’s boyfriend. 
Where else would someone generally get a uterus except from a cadaver? How many women decide to hand over a womb. Here! I’m through with it.

[BooksRule]

No Dr. Latham sighting, but at least he was mentioned.

 

[jabRI]

Despite the police presence, was kind of a boring episode to me?  Heroin recovery doctor didn't add much

[Frisky Wig]

8 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

No, the boy was the cancer patient’s boyfriend. 

Oh, ok. Missed that detail. Thanks!

[mrsbagnet]

17 hours ago, Frisky Wig said:

I’m pretty sure that in order to donate an organ, you have to go through a bunch of testing, maybe some psychological therapy or at least education to know the risks and how your life will change after surgery (like how loss of a uterus will throw a woman into menopause and what all of that means). I guess they fast-tracked all of that for Dr Ashers patients sister? The magic of TV! 

I didn't even know uterus transplants were a thing. This storyline really bugged me. It would have been more plausible to get the woman counseling so she can accept the fact that she can't give birth to children. The fact that they allowed the sister to make a last minute decision to remove a major organ with no counseling was outrageous. I'm sure she loves her sister, but she has just put her body into major turmoil unnecessarily. That's A LOT, and it could have life long effects. The transplant might not even work! Also, would it have been possible to have her up and out of bed just after a hysterectomy?

[Gloriosa]

19 hours ago, Frisky Wig said:

I’m pretty sure that in order to donate an organ, you have to go through a bunch of testing, maybe some psychological therapy or at least education to know the risks and how your life will change after surgery (like how loss of a uterus will throw a woman into menopause and what all of that means). I guess they fast-tracked all of that for Dr Ashers patients sister? The magic of TV! 

All the medical shows on TV should have a "Same Day Surgery" sign outside their ERs.

[preeya]

43 minutes ago, Gloriosa said:

All the medical shows on TV should have a "Same Day Surgery" sign outside their ERs.

"Same day surgery with immediate discharge, no recovery necessary"

One question: why was Dr. "it's my ER" Archer, doing transplant surgery? Isn't that a specialty?

Edited April 8, 2022 by preeya

[izabella]

19 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Where else would someone generally get a uterus except from a cadaver? How many women decide to hand over a womb. Here! I’m through with it.

I'm questioning how a uterus from a cadaver would work.  Organs are usually taken while the person is being kept alive by machines, so they are functional and functioning up until the time they are removed.  But a cadaver sounds like someone is has been dead for a while, so no blood has been keeping the organs alive.  Maybe I misunderstood that, but I feel like there has to be a difference between "someone donated an organ" and "I got it from a cadaver."

Edited April 8, 2022 by izabella

[Driad]

Some women enjoy being pregnant, but others are miserable the whole time. For all the patient and the transplant doctor know, they could both be in the latter category.

[jabRI]

from an actual medical site:

How long does the living donor process take?

How long does the process take? The donation process depends on how many tests are required of the donor and how quickly he or she is able to complete them. The average donor work up may take six months or more for completion and may depend on test results, which may indicate additional evaluation is required.

 

No way, even as a sister, you could do a transplant within hours, much less minutes.  They should stop this ridiculous writing, its an embarrasment, assumes none of us know anything about the real world.

[preeya]

1 hour ago, jabRI said:

No way, even as a sister, you could do a transplant within hours, much less minutes.  They should stop this ridiculous writing, its an embarrasment, assumes none of us know anything about the real world

You hit a nail, but its the other way around. TPTB don't know anything about the real world. They believe they put any bullshit in front of an audience and it'll be swallowed hook line and sinker.

Smarten up writers, there is something called GOOGLE and we the audience are very inquisitive.

[l star]

I’m willing to overlook the transplant shenanigans. There should have been testing and counseling, but there also should have been cops on known gang members doors. It doesn’t reveal any undercover operations if they are known to be from opposing gangs in the same hospital. But, drama. Like putting Archer and Asher (new doctor?) in a transplant surgery when they’re not transplant surgeons. Or an undercover officer hooking up with a former cop. Nothing stupid or unreasonable there! I can let it go. 

I felt bad for the boyfriend. That is an impossible choice and expecting kids to make it is hard. I liked her parents’ support. Even though it was obviously hard for the mother to agree, she stood by her daughter. I can’t with Halstead though. It’s not medical neglect just because you disagree. At least Charles kept his head. 

On 4/6/2022 at 8:06 PM, mommalib said:

They added an extra layer to Blake tonight with the surrogate story, I think I might like her.  

I like her. I like the actress so that’s not surprising, but still. I like her. I thought the story about the surrogate was moving, and her ex being older (a lot?) than her could be interesting considering now she’s the older one and more established in her career in her relationship with Crockett. I’m curious why she was being so weird about a date.

They’re also pushing believability with the ages of mother and daughter. An intern is what, 26? That would make her daughter 23 if we go with Sarah Rafferty’s age. No way that works with her legal career unless one of them is a prodigy. Maybe Pamela is supposed to be older than 49 but that would be weird considering she’s already nine years older than the actor playing Crockett. I realize I should let it go, but this is the stuff that bothers me. If they are going to go to the trouble of casting mother and daughter, figure this shit out. 

[LittleIggy]

I read a good article online yesterday by an ob/gyn about why she is opposed to uterine transplants. If I can find it again, I’ll link it.

[Frisky Wig]

9 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

I read a good article online yesterday by an ob/gyn about why she is opposed to uterine transplants. If I can find it again, I’ll link it.

I was intrigued so I searched and found this one from 3 years ago: https://utswmed.org/medblog/uterine-transplant-motherhood/ If you find the one you read, share the link. 😀 

[mrsbagnet]

5 hours ago, preeya said:

One question: why was Dr. "it's my ER" Archer, doing transplant surgery? Isn't that a specialty?

Didn't Archer and Asher do the hysterectomy on the donor sister? I don't know how it works in the real world, but for TV purposes, I assumed that it was a relatively standard hysterectomy that an OB/GYN surgeon and a general surgeon could handle. I imagine you'd have to treat the whole process more delicately and preserve the blood vessels, but Asher should be able to do that. For me, their presence was the least implausible thing in a plotline full of WTFery.

[amarante]

11 hours ago, preeya said:

You hit a nail, but its the other way around. TPTB don't know anything about the real world. They believe they put any bullshit in front of an audience and it'll be swallowed hook line and sinker.

Smarten up writers, there is something called GOOGLE and we the audience are very inquisitive.

Most of the time I just roll my eyes and realize it is a story line in a soap opera that happens to be set in a hospital so there are medical issues.

But sometimes the *issue* is so insane and offensive that I can't just roll my eyes and ignore. No medical provider would remove the uterus of a healthy woman who has decided in an emotionally fraught moment to do so. It would defy the most minimal of medical ethics and transplant protocol.

It is also offensive to woman who love their children despite not having been born in a conventional manner - i.e. through adoption or through surrogacy. 

I realize that uterine transplant is becoming a thing but I don't even understand why a woman would want to provide a less than optimal "womb" for her child just so that she can experience the sensation of "being pregnant". The last thing I would do if I wanted a biological child would be to carry it in a transplanted womb.

[LittleIggy]

The woman had already had four miscarriages. Why did they think a borrowed womb would do any better?

[LittleIggy]

15 hours ago, Frisky Wig said:

I was intrigued so I searched and found this one from 3 years ago: https://utswmed.org/medblog/uterine-transplant-motherhood/ If you find the one you read, share the link. 😀 

That’s the one I read! 

[RedbirdNelly]

I felt badly for the Ivy/no chemo case. Just sad. 

Just realized we no longer see any of Dr Charles' daughter. 

I liked Dr Scott taking out the attacker. 

The transplant case was a lot. I knew there was no way you just approve a donor in minutes. I haven't read the article but how successful have post-transplant pregnancies been? I would worry that a transplanted uterus would have issues during a pregnancy. 

 

[awaken]

On 4/7/2022 at 7:58 PM, preeya said:

"Same day surgery with immediate discharge, no recovery necessary

And, all of it done in an ER!  Decisions about chemotherapy and cancer treatment, transplants, discovery of rare genetic diseases. All done during an average ER visit.