S05.E08: All the World's a Stage...

[secnarf]

Quote

Max discovers a revenue-generating department at the hospital that has serious legal implications. Iggy discovers a janitor with otherworldly talents. Reynolds treats a truly inspirational patient and makes plans for his father. Wilder’s young patient teaches her not to jump to conclusions in diagnosing.

Original air date: Nov 15 2022

[bros402]

oh god is this going to be a Halloween episode because of the janitor with otherworldly talents?

A truly inspirational patient sounds nauseating.

this should be a fun episode.

[LexieLily]

I can't take any of this seriously because Reynolds' dad has still never been diagnosed with anything officially. 

[Cloud9Shopper]

There is nothing going on in this show that merits a two-hour fall finale. 

[KaveDweller]

Do hospitals really have "bequeath" departments that work on getting patients to add donations to them in the will? That is super sketchy, even if the will was signed before she was diagnosed with dementia. Also, why didn't the guy mention the part about veterans at the beginning? 

Of course Lauren's mother died. That woman needs drama in her life. 

And of course Iggy doesn't like a janitor who seems to be helping patients more than he can.

Awe, Wilder turned Max down for a date. Maybe because he's her boss and she's smart enough to know that's a bad idea?

[txhorns79]

The bequest people are totally preying on patients.  They establish a relationship with these people presumably with the intention of getting something in return for the hospital.  What I would have asked the guy was whether his continued relationship with any particular patient is contingent on the patient agreeing to donate something to the hospital?  If a patient declines to donate something to the hospital, does he end the relationship, continue it without conditions or continue it with the idea that he will continue trying to talk the patient into donating?  And it was interesting that the guy was questioning where the patient's family was when Max confronted him, only to turn around later and say he knew all about the woman's son and his time in service.     

Hey Bloom, before you get all high and mighty over the mom's parenting choices, your hospital allowed an impaired teenager to wander outside in her hospital gown and get into an accident.  Just saying.  I probably would have told Reynolds to think through what he was agreeing to in terms of his father's care before agreeing to be his caretaker.  And kudos to Wilder for admitting she was wrong about a patient, and declining Max's request for a date. 

Quote

Do hospitals really have "bequeath" departments that work on getting patients to add donations to them in the will?

Yes.  I don't know if it is quite like it was shown on New Amsterdam, but many hospitals do have departments dedicated to soliciting donations and donor relations.

[LexieLily]

8 minutes ago, KaveDweller said:

Do hospitals really have "bequeath" departments that work on getting patients to add donations to them in the will? That is super sketchy, even if the will was signed before she was diagnosed with dementia. Also, why didn't the guy mention the part about veterans at the beginning? 

Couldn't the woman's son have contested the will? If she was diagnosed in 2021 with late-onset dementia, isn't there a case to be made that she wasn't of sound mind to sign over the house to New Amsterdam in 2020?

[Madding crowd]

Why wouldn’t Max already know about the bequeath department and why would he or the hospital board not have say in how it was run? It looked like a large office. Obviously the guy found this patient thru her records somehow even if she wasn’t officially diagnosed. I find it hard to believe that guy cares about the hospital enough to spend his evenings taking the woman to plays etc.

And why didn’t he bring up the whole veterans story at the first meeting? The whole storyline seemed odd. 
How old was the pageant lady supposed to be? She didn’t look too old to get on the transplant list. I get it she wouldn’t be high up but not at all? My husband worked with a guy who got a heart transplant at 60 and lived 12 more years. 

[KaveDweller]

11 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

Why wouldn’t Max already know about the bequeath department and why would he or the hospital board not have say in how it was run?

Because Max is a terrible Medical Director?

[amarante]

Hospitals definitely have departments which seek out donors. I don't know if they specifically target bequests as opposed to donations but I know I have received literature from various charities informing me of my ability to remember them in my will.

I am not sure a modest house in the suburbs is going to merit that kind of intensive time and effort. I am in Los Angeles and m hospital is Cedars Sinai which attracts HUGE donors with buildings named after them or at least rooms and wings. When I had a stress test done there, the waiting room wall contains a list of the biggest donors with Barbra Streisand topping the list. 

[bros402]

episode 8?

WE HAVE LESS THAN HALF OF THE SEASON LEFT!

after the fall finale happens, I am so going to have us all decide what the lowest points of this show were as a little community - what are you guys going to move on to after this lovely hatewatch?

ok who are these random montage people, I am guessing the guy is going to collapse and have a heart attack

oh it's a montage of him caring for the old lady

who is this guy, is this show trying to this is us us and trying to make us care for random people after a two minute montage

who decided to make iggy grunting the first thing after that quiet intro? that was a very bad decision

uhhh is having bloom in the front of the meeting like that in a auditorium place really the way to do it? it seems a bit church-ish, especially with that building

oh thank god they aren't having max do insulting ASL and just having little text bubbles on the screen

but they wouldn't be readable if I was watching it on a TV

uhhhh iggy your patient acting like this is very very bad, someone who acts like all of their stuff is resolved and a weight is lifted off of their shoulders usually means they are committed to suicide/have a plan and are going to act on it

okay, this beauty pageant entering the ER is hilarious, since I just watched Drop Dead Gorgeous (starring Kirsten Dunst) last night with a group of people who are watching a thing from Kirsten Dunst's filmography every 2-3 weeks until we run out of Kirsten Dunst things... and Drop Dead Gorgeous is about a beauty pageant with some twists and turns to it

why is an oncologist handling a trauma in the ER

uhhh why wouldn't you also get Iggy down there for the paranoid contestant, Bloom?

ok that public domain "crowd gasp/shock" noise when the pageant director fell made me laugh - HOW WOULD EVERYONE MAKE THAT NOISE

oh so max's plot is going to be to... not have the hospital fundraise?

that is an awfully corporate looking door for the "bequest department"

would a hospital even have a whole department dedicated to that, or would it just be part of their donations department - since I understand donations department - I get emails and letters from my cancer center a couple times a year asking me to donate and a number to call if I want to put them in my will, but yeaaah

yeaaah Max is gonna can this entire department especially if they all see them getting a house donated as a "score"

max shouldn't you have known that you had a department that was an industry leader in getting donations

or did you just never read anything on that

reynolds you should be telling pageant MC to not move in the machine

...bloom did you just say she overdosed on marijuana

BLOOM

NO BLOOM IT DOES NTO HAPPEN

doesn't it take a *ridiculous* amount of marijuana to OD? like a bucket full? Especially if her mother is providing it for her and would know how much she has been taking?

yeah iggy you need to get that janitor fired for affecting your patients

max, you should connect son of dead woman with military guy on the board - he'd probably be a better contact

and yup, there you go, he's getting a lawyer

oh, so janitor is having seizures - probably temporal seizures, he's not talking to the dead

aaand yup, there we go

really reynolds, you give up after like 30 seconds of trying to stitch up the heart?

yeah max the hospital needs to return that woman's house and probably give some money to the son since she had dementia

Bloom, how much THC is in the weed depends on the strain. If NY is like NJ, the state tests and lists how much THC and CBD are in each strain so it won't be 95% 

and you don't have vivid hallucinations like that on marijuana

my god the writers of this show hate marijuana

why is an oncologist operating on a patient with a stomach bleed

AWESOME DEAF DOCTOR YOU DO NOT KNOW IF SHE HAS LYMPHOMA, YOU CAN HAVE ENLARGED LYMPH NODES FROM MANY THINGS

and how did surgical nurse not know what an enlarged lymph node looks like, especially if she frequently works in oncology surgeries

wait how old is this woman that she is not on the list for a heart because of her age????

iggy, janitor's head sure doesn't look like he just had an EEG. did you only do a CT or MRI?

iggy shouldn't you have janitor see a neurologist... since you are not a neurologist

uhh max should you really have the guy who wants to sue the hospital in the board meeting?

also can you just shut down the department with the stroke of a pen

max you think you would have checked this stuff before getting the guy's hopes up

but of course you had to go on your max crusade

where are any of the contestant's parents outside of weed mom?

"a single drop could make anyone psychotic" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT

oh my god this plot is like an 80s PSA

WHY ARE YOU BREAKING THE NEWS TO HER LIKE THIS AND HOW DID YOU GET THE HODGKINS DIAGNOSIS INSTANTLY? DID YOU TASTE THE LYMPH NODE AND GO "MMMM, HODGKINS-Y!" OR SOMETHING? HOW DO YOU KNOW THE SUBTYPE?

of course reynolds walked in at the exact time his dad was told by the judge "if you have any family i can release you into their custody"

why are they introducing this plot in the last 5 episodes

uhh bequest dude why didn't you just say that straight out... but your department is still sketchy as hell for preying on lonely people

wait the holistic medicine department still exists?

IGGY GET BACK TOGETHER WITH YOUR AMAZING HUSBAND

those walls must be thin if you can hear him yelling from teh street

yesss shoot max down - AWESOME DEAF DOCTOR IS SMART

Ok, so the worst doctor of this episode is easy - it's Bloom by a mile. I don't even have to think about it - it's Dr. Lauren "This is your brain on brain on drugs" Bloom. This is the quickest I have ever made a Worst Doctor decision, I think.

[Johnny Dollar]

Sorry Iggy, but doing two poorly executed power lifts while wearing a sweater vest and wingtips does not change your body so much that anyone would notice.

Hey Max. You’re the Medical Director of “The Largest Public Hospital in the Country” who we have seen spend hours on budgets and revenue raising initiatives. How do you not know that the hospital has a Bequests Department? And a very nicely staffed one at that. And two weeks ago, you bought a boat! Couldn’t you scrounge up enough money to give to the veteran?  And bequest department guy - maybe lead with the “mom wanted to donate the proceeds to our veterans program to honor her son’s service” next time.

Nice to see that when a truckload of beauty pageant contestants are wheeled into the ER with bones sticking out of legs that the head of the department is stitching up a boo boo.

After making puppy dog eyes at her for the last few weeks, how can Wilder not know where this was going with Max?

I like Dr Walsh and would love to see an episode about his life. In fact, I’d love to see an episode dedicated to Walsh, Casey and Interpreter Guy Who Looks Like Michael Phelps. 

[LexieLily]

7 hours ago, Johnny Dollar said:

I like Dr Walsh and would love to see an episode about his life. In fact, I’d love to see an episode dedicated to Walsh, Casey and Interpreter Guy Who Looks Like Michael Phelps. 

OH MY GOD THANK YOU!

[bros402]

17 hours ago, Johnny Dollar said:

Sorry Iggy, but doing two poorly executed power lifts while wearing a sweater vest and wingtips does not change your body so much that anyone would notice.

Hey Max. You’re the Medical Director of “The Largest Public Hospital in the Country” who we have seen spend hours on budgets and revenue raising initiatives. How do you not know that the hospital has a Bequests Department? And a very nicely staffed one at that. And two weeks ago, you bought a boat! Couldn’t you scrounge up enough money to give to the veteran?  And bequest department guy - maybe lead with the “mom wanted to donate the proceeds to our veterans program to honor her son’s service” next time.

Nice to see that when a truckload of beauty pageant contestants are wheeled into the ER with bones sticking out of legs that the head of the department is stitching up a boo boo.

After making puppy dog eyes at her for the last few weeks, how can Wilder not know where this was going with Max?

I like Dr Walsh and would love to see an episode about his life. In fact, I’d love to see an episode dedicated to Walsh, Casey and Interpreter Guy Who Looks Like Michael Phelps. 

They even had two episodes where Max had to look at the budget! The one where he had to look at the budget for some reason, and one last season, I think?

Obviously Bloom was dealing with the boo boos because she doesn't like the icky bones :P

I would love to see one of the final episodes of the series being about Walsh, Casey, and Interpreter - they are honestly some of the best characters in the show (probably because we haven't seen them much). We only have a few episodes left, though - so obviously they need to be spent on Bloom's Dead Mom and Reynolds Bipolar Dad. I can understand doing Bloom's mom, since at least we saw her before this, but we did not need Reynolds dad - all of the time focused on him could've been focused on the writers trying to do some decent stuff.

[circumvent]

As already said, public entities and charities do have a dedicated team to request donations and to be remembered in people's will but I doubt that they take the time to spend with people, play puzzles, hold their hands and watch TV together. That's a stretch. And yes, Max should have known about this but in NA, information only comes as they need for a ridiculous plot.

I wonder which "family values" organization pressured the show to put a barely disguised PSA against the use of drugs with partial information about THC and addiction*. I do think that teenagers and pot do not mix well, but they will try so doing it at home is at least in theory, safer. I sympathize with the mother, although I don't know the details of the law. I also know that cannabis is not for everyone. I never smoked it (have aversion to inhaling anything), had it blown on me (someone else was smoking it) and it was great. But I cannot do edibles because I get paranoid. And Lauren, stop oversharing your life with strangers.

Iggy: Good noes, you don't have epilepsy!

Also Iggy: I will put you on a seizure medication.

Imaging alone cannot diagnose epilepsy and seizure medications can have terrible side effects. A "very small dose" will likely do nothing other than enrich corporations. 

What is the deal with the transplant? Too old to get a heart? That woman didn't look so old that she can't even be put on a list. That's ridiculous. It is a list, it is not a final decision. Denying the chance is absolutely cruel. I mean, certified evil people got new hearts, including a Dick in Wyoming, and he was probably older than the character.

*there is no real scientific evidence that a drug on itself is addictive. It has to be put in the context of the user's life, events, the reasons why they are using them. I am not sure about the manufactured drugs (as in pharmaceutical pills and what they put in them) but cannabis, even cocaine and heroin are not addictive without context. Of course, a lot of people who become heavy users do that because of whatever happens to/with them.

Edited November 18, 2022 by circumvent

[Johnny Dollar]

Wasn’t the girl with the THC problem also a pageant contestant? Maybe the pressures from that lifestyle have something to do with her addiction. 

[Granny58]

it's ridiculous to think that Iggy would know that the janitor had been doing a fine job for several weeks or that he had the authority to fire him.  

[bros402]

20 hours ago, circumvent said:

As already said, public entities and charities do have a dedicated team to request donations and to be remembered in people's will but I doubt that they take the time to spend with people, play puzzles, hold their hands and watch TV together. That's a stretch. And yes, Max should have known about this but in NA, information only comes as they need for a ridiculous plot.

I wonder which "family values" organization pressured the show to put a barely disguised PSA against the use of drugs with partial information about THC and addiction*. I do think that teenagers and pot do not mix well, but they will try so doing it at home is at least in theory, safer. I sympathize with the mother, although I don't know the details of the law. I also know that cannabis is not for everyone. I never smoked it (have aversion to inhaling anything), had it blown on me (someone else was smoking it) and it was great. But I cannot do edibles because I get paranoid. And Lauren, stop oversharing your life with strangers.

Iggy: Good noes, you don't have epilepsy!

Also Iggy: I will put you on a seizure medication.

Imaging alone cannot diagnose epilepsy and seizure medications can have terrible side effects. A "very small dose" will likely do nothing other than enrich corporations. 

What is the deal with the transplant? Too old to get a heart? That woman didn't look so old that she can't even be put on a list. That's ridiculous. It is a list, it is not a final decision. Denying the chance is absolutely cruel. I mean, certified evil people got new hearts, including a Dick in Wyoming, and he was probably older than the character.

*there is no real scientific evidence that a drug on itself is addictive. It has to be put in the context of the user's life, events, the reasons why they are using them. I am not sure about the manufactured drugs (as in pharmaceutical pills and what they put in them) but cannabis, even cocaine and heroin are not addictive without context. Of course, a lot of people who become heavy users do that because of whatever happens to/with them.

yuuuuuuup. All Iggy did was look at some imaging. I bet that guy had epilepsy, but it went unnoticed because Iggy didn't want to refer him to neurology to get an EEG. In real life, that guy would just have a seizure while driving and crash his car because he thinks he doesn't have epilepsy because a psychiatrist told him so.

I like how we touched on the exact same stuff, because oh my god was this episode ridiculous

[christie]

I thought that Floyd stayed in New York because he wanted to look after his mum. Now he's gonna look after his dad? I guess they forgot the mum storyline.

[bros402]

18 hours ago, christie said:

I thought that Floyd stayed in New York because he wanted to look after his mum. Now he's gonna look after his dad? I guess they forgot the mum storyline.

shhh, forget about things that happened more than a few episodes ago - the show is nonsensical. Maybe his sister started taking care of his mom once he took on Dad Duty (I almost typed Doody here)

[LexieLily]

On 11/27/2022 at 5:01 AM, christie said:

I thought that Floyd stayed in New York because he wanted to look after his mum. Now he's gonna look after his dad? I guess they forgot the mum storyline.

I still don't quite get how Type 1 diabetes rendered his mother both incompetent enough that Floyd had to end his engagement to stay in NYC and take care of her, but at the same time she had a live-in boyfriend episodes later and seems perfectly fine.

[SnarkySheep]

On 11/16/2022 at 8:17 AM, Madding crowd said:

Why wouldn’t Max already know about the bequeath department and why would he or the hospital board not have say in how it was run? It looked like a large office. Obviously the guy found this patient thru her records somehow even if she wasn’t officially diagnosed. I find it hard to believe that guy cares about the hospital enough to spend his evenings taking the woman to plays etc.

Not to mention, the show has been on for five years...and didn't Max make a huge deal out of introducing himself to everyone in the very beginning? This episode would imply there are departments that he has literally never stepped foot in, nor ever spoken to anyone in them...not a great look for the guy in charge.

 

On 11/18/2022 at 4:16 AM, circumvent said:

What is the deal with the transplant? Too old to get a heart? That woman didn't look so old that she can't even be put on a list. That's ridiculous. It is a list, it is not a final decision

I actually Googled the topic when it was mentioned, because I also found it hard to believe. Basically, it's not a hard set limit, but overall they deny people over 65, because apparently their bodies don't heal as well from such a major procedure, and/or also people with other serious medical conditions which will further impede the success rate. (That is apparently around 70%, with slightly more men doing better than women, for whatever reasons.)

Edited February 24, 2023 by SnarkySheep

[possibilities]

The less I say about this episode, the better.

 

[bros402]

9 hours ago, possibilities said:

The less I say about this episode, the better.

 

hahahahahahaha

yeah

I think it took me like 2 hours to get through my worst doctor post