S02.E10: Heart Matters

[WendyCR72]

Dr. Rhodes and Dr. Charles' heart transplant patient gets into a car crash, revealing issues that could complicate her surgery. A past arrest causes trouble for Maggie when the arresting officer is brought to Chicago Med with a serious injury. Elsewhere, Dr. Manning and Dr. Halstead must defend their actions when explaining a patient's cause of death. Meanwhile, Dr. Halstead attempts to treat an uncooperative horse jockey.

[spunky]

This is the second time that April's fiance has attempted to make her stop working. Dude you met her on her job. Now he's trying to use the baby as an excuse, she better pay attention to these sly tactics. Yes Trudy, your request was personal, you made it seem as though Maggie was in her feelings about officer what's her name. If doctor Choi said she is a professional, then believe that, he works with her, you don't. Jeff needs to do like Elsa and just let it go. Natalie should not be in a relationship with anyone, acting like a petulant child. 

[Sandman]

So what was up with Dr. Livingston Dell getting all pissy with Natalie for fraternizing with a med student, while putting the squeeze on Rhodes? Is he warm for Connor's form -- and also kind of a hypocrite?

And is it just me, or does Eddie Jemison look like the lovechild of Mark Linn-Baker and kd lang?

[statsgirl]

Dr. Fire is sad but trust me, guy, you dodged a bullet.  What a great person Manning is, to break up with him right after he defended her.  Maybe when Halstead dumps Dr. Nina for her, Jeff can hook up with Nina and be redeemed too.  If I were admitted to Chicago Med, I'd take Latham and Abrams over manning any day.

The dying cop was good story and done really well for Maggie and Sharon.

Dr. Charles redeemed himself somewhat today.  I liked the heart transplant story, it was understandable that she took a drink, there were consequences, and she got the heart in the end.

I wasn't too interested in the jockey story but it was well done and something that should be known.

Connor and Maggie still need more to do though.

[Brookside]

Is this a living nightmare or just the most unconvincing and irritating voiceover ever?

Edited January 13, 2017 by Brookside

[izabella]

36 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Dr. Fire is sad but trust me, guy, you dodged a bullet. 

He has no idea how lucky he is!  I'm glad, too, because I like Dr. Fire, but couldn't watch him with Manning.  I like Halsted much better without Manning, too. 

So mom will be recovering from a heart transplant while daughter recovers from brain surgery at the same time?  What could possibly go wrong?

[Marathonrunner]

Didn't Dr. Manning have a baby last season? It doesn't seem as though there's been any mention of a child (especially after her working long hours, going out for drinks with colleagues, etc. - who is taking care of the child?)

[Tiger]

I dont remember Maggie being arrested last season on Med or PD.  Well, at least she finally got something to do.  

I think the newly returned Chief guy is supposed to be an interation of ER's Ramano, but the writing and acting are compltely missing the mark.  

Run FireDoc, run!

What was up with Halstead's strange accent in the scenes with the bulemic jockey? Is that Gehlfuss' natural accent?  

[Fireball]

Can Manning just disappear please? I had no sympathy for her during the review. Her dumping Jeff after he tried to defend her was really low. I get that Jeff was completely out of place doing what he did, but like Will basically said his heart was in the right place. Part of me feels like Natalie dumped Jeff because she was humiliated and she realized Will wouldn’t have done that!

Jeff believe me you are better off without her.  I guess we will be spared the Natalie/Jeff/Will love triangle, so at least there’s that! But I bet we’ll still get a love triangle with Natalie/Will/Nina. I really do not want Natalie and Will together. Will is so much more likeable far far away from Natalie. Actually I think everyone is more likeable away from her.

I wonder what the writers will do with Jeff now? He really was only brought on to be a love interest for Natalie.

So Maggie finally got a story this season yeah! And yes Trudy asking to have Maggie removed was personal! If the request had been from the husband that would have been one thing but having it come from Trudy was wrong. I wish the writers would give Maggie more story lines.

Speaking of more screen time Connor needs more! We get to see him a couple of seconds each episode. Also Choi didn’t really have much to do this episode; he’s another one who needs more story lines.

The heart transplant story was a nice continuation. I’m not sure how having both the mother and daughter recovering from surgery at the same time is going to work. But at least Dr. Charles somewhat redeemed himself. I have to say the whole animosity between Rhodes and Dr. Charles seemed to be a waste of time. If you’re going to have two characters be mad at each other don’t have them make up within like an episode.

I didn’t care about the jockey story line. Finding out that he throws up to make weight was not a surprise. He also looked to tall to be a jockey.

So Reese is now doing a neurology rotation? I’m so confused. I thought she was going to be a psychiatrist and was doing a rotation with Dr. Charles? Is she all done with the psychiatry rotation? The time frame is wonky… However, I like that Reese is away from Dr. Charles and interacting with other characters.  Also her boyfriend is really the sweetest. Instead of complaining that she isn’t paying attention he gives her coffee beans to help keep her awake.  

April and the boyfriend this isn’t going to end well (he wanted her to quit her job before and he wanted to terminate the pregnancy). I like them together and honestly I don’t think him wanting to talk about terminating the pregnancy if the baby was looking at no quality of life was wrong. I also do not think he’s a horrible monster for expressing his concerns about April continuing to work. However, I reserve the right to change my opinion if the BF keeps pressuring April to stop working. I’m sure the writers will break them up as a couple just so Maggie will be shown to have always been right that April shouldn’t have gotten involved with Mr. Athlete.

Dr. Livingston he’s obviously supposed to be ER's Ramano, but he just feels so random! Where did he come from? What was up with him squeezing Rhodes shoulder? Am I supposed to take that gesture as an indication that Dr. Livingston is gay?

Oh and the best part of the episode no Noah or Robyn!!!!

Edited January 13, 2017 by Fireball
then & them are different & psychiatrist & psychologist are different

[Fireball]

3 hours ago, Marathonrunner said:

Didn't Dr. Manning have a baby last season? It doesn't seem as though there's been any mention of a child (especially after her working long hours, going out for drinks with colleagues, etc. - who is taking care of the child?)

I've thought for awhile that the writers regret writing Natalie as having a child and have conveniently forgotten all about Owen. The first 4 episodes ended with Natalie not going home. Ep. 1 Natalie goes out for drinks with Jeff and goes home with Jeff. Ep. 2 Natalie goes to Jeff's home for sex. Ep. 3 starts with Natalie & Jeff going to work together (implying they spent the night together). The episode ends with Natalie playing her violin at the hospital after shift. Ep. 4 Natalie goes to some kids house to check out the kids basement lab. Ep. 8 Natalie goes to Will's house party.

[MakeMeLaugh]

2 hours ago, Fireball said:

I've thought for awhile that the writers regret writing Natalie as having a child and have conveniently forgotten all about Owen. ...

And maybe regret that her specialty is pediatrics. Her dead patient was a college student, right? I don't know the actress from anything other than this show, but her underwhelmingness is increasing. She is just so unbelievable imo. Too bad the review board didn't boot her.

Just my opinions:

I found it pretty unbelievable that the charge nurse, Maggie, would also take care of coordinating organ donations. Seriously, the ER nurses take care of that? Not a separate department? At any rate, I think it was selfish of the character not to recuse herself right away. Give me a break, only she can make the surviving spouse's pain better?

And the quilt, out of nowhere--come on, is there a little quilter at work in the basement to create these on demand at a breakneck speed, or is there a stock readymade waiting for the handprint square to be inserted? And all the police lining the halls--the officer was killed in a freak accident, right, not in the line of duty (which I would assume might call for more representation)? They all took the day off, went home, got into their dress uniforms, and came to Chicago Med? What will they do for the funeral? Show takes itself way too seriously sometimes. 

I too think Jeff is better off. He is too good for Manning. 

I want to see Reese hypercaffeinated next episodes with chewing those espresso beans. Nice trick, Splendorkable!

[Fireball]

14 minutes ago, MakeMeLaugh said:

And maybe regret that her specialty is pediatrics. Her dead patient was a college student, right? I don't know the actress from anything other than this show, but her underwhelmingness is increasing. She is just so unbelievable imo. Too bad the review board didn't boot her.

Just my opinions:

I found it pretty unbelievable that the charge nurse, Maggie, would also take care of coordinating organ donations. Seriously, the ER nurses take care of that? Not a separate department? At any rate, I think it was selfish of the character not to recuse herself right away. Give me a break, only she can make the surviving spouse's pain better?

And the quilt, out of nowhere--come on, is there a little quilter at work in the basement to create these on demand at a breakneck speed, or is there a stock readymade waiting for the handprint square to be inserted? And all the police lining the halls--the officer was killed in a freak accident, right, not in the line of duty (which I would assume might call for more representation)? They all took the day off, went home, got into their dress uniforms, and came to Chicago Med? What will they do for the funeral? Show takes itself way too seriously sometimes. 

I too think Jeff is better off. He is too good for Manning. 

I want to see Reese hypercaffeinated next episodes with chewing those espresso beans. Nice trick, Splendorkable!

I totally forgot that Manning's specialty was pediatrics! I do not understand why this character gets so much screen time.

I also was wondering about the quilt. The only thing I came up with is they have a couple on hand that they just add the handprint to. Oh I also found the police lining the halls a bit much, lovely visual scene, but it was over the top.  And as you said Maggie probably should have recused herself, however, since I completely forgot why Maggie getting arrested was such a big deal, all I could think about in the scene was that Trudy was over stepping. It didn't seem like the husband cared what nurse he got. But maybe I'm reading the scene wrong.

Reece hyper-caffeinated would be awesome! haha of course for drama purposes Reece will have to kill or almost kill a patient while over-caffeinated.

[DearEvette]

I didn't see the episode where Maggie got arrested so I don't know what went down, but was it so bad it would have been insensitive for her to have any contact with the dead cop and husband just by virtue of doing her job?  I maybe could understand if there was some question about Maggie not being able to put aside a grudge if the woman came in sick.  But the woman was dead already.

The whole morbidity review with Natalie was soooo bad.  Poorly acted.  Soap opera theatrics.  Completely laughable.  From her telling Dr. Fire, "You humiliated me in there."  Uh, no he didn't.  If anybody looked bad it was him.  To the trying-to-hard-to-be-a-badass Dr. announcing through a micophone "Don't date Residents."  Dude!  Even Grey's Anatomy which is overtly a soap opera doesn't come off that cringey.

I liked the reprise of the Alcoholic/heart recipient storyline.  And Dr. Charles felt like his season one self.

I wish the show would tone down some of the Natalie stuff and let other characters get some shine.  It feels lopsided this season.  Choi is getting more airtime than he did last season, but Connor has all but disappeared and even Halstead seems to be sidelining.  I love some of the focus to move from her a bit and spread a bit more evenly.  If I liked her better or if she were more sympathetic it wouldn't be so noticeable, but the writing for her just seems to pile on the worst plucky-yet-sensitive heroine tropes.

[statsgirl]

I was completely on Maggie's side when she got arrested last season so the big drama of Oh noes! She can't look after the patient! fell flat for me. Which made me dislike Trudy intensely.

I really don't get the show's love for Natalie. I didn't mind her at first but as I've got to know her, she's become more and more annoying.

8 hours ago, Marathonrunner said:

Didn't Dr. Manning have a baby last season? It doesn't seem as though there's been any mention of a child (especially after her working long hours, going out for drinks with colleagues, etc. - who is taking care of the child?)

There was a mention of her mother-in-law taking care of the baby but her free time is ridiculous.  She goes out after work more than I do and I don't have a baby at home.

(If anyone is interested in a realistic but very funny look at motherhood, I recommend Catherine Reitman's Working Moms. Nails it.)

4 hours ago, Fireball said:

So Reese is now doing a neurological rotation? I’m so confused. I thought she was going to be a psychologist and was doing a rotation with Dr. Charles? Is she all done with the psychologist rotation? The time frame is wonky… However, I like that Reese is away from Dr. Charles and interacting with other characters.  Also her boyfriend is really the sweetest. Instead of complaining that she isn’t paying attention he gives her coffee beans to help keep her awake. 

Her internship is in psychiatry headed towards being a psychiatrist (not a psychologist which is a PhD, not MD) but she's doing a rotation in neurology.   I like Dr. Abrams, and I like Dr. Latham as well.  And Choi and Rhodes.  I'm finding that I prefer the competent doctors, even if they have abrasive personalities as Abrams and Latham do, rather than the emo ones like Manning and even Halstead who base their decisions on their feelings rather than what's medically advisable.

[Fireball]

12 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Her internship is in psychiatry headed towards being a psychiatrist (not a psychologist which is a PhD, not MD) but she's doing a rotation in neurology.   I like Dr. Abrams, and I like Dr. Latham as well.  And Choi and Rhodes.  I'm finding that I prefer the competent doctors, even if they have abrasive personalities as Abrams and Latham do, rather than the emo ones like Manning and even Halstead who base their decisions on their feelings rather than what's medically advisable.

Oops.. Apparently I'm not paying enough attention.  psychiatry/psychologist same thing right... Obviously not and I really should have known Reese was in psychiatry. The rotation in neurology seemed out of no were to me, but then the introduction of Dr. Abrams seemed out of no where too. But I agree; I'd take Drs. Abrams and Latham over Dr. Manning any day.

[Aliconehead]

Psychiatrist go to med school, are medical doctors and prescribe medicine. Physcologist have a PhD is phycology. They tend to do more talk therapy since they can not prescribe medicine. Both deal with mental health in different ways but can be similar.  

Edited January 15, 2017 by Aliconehead

[DearEvette]

3 hours ago, statsgirl said:

Her internship is in psychiatry headed towards being a psychiatrist (not a psychologist which is a PhD, not MD) but she's doing a rotation in neurology.   I like Dr. Abrams, and I like Dr. Latham as well.  And Choi and Rhodes.  I'm finding that I prefer the competent doctors, even if they have abrasive personalities as Abrams and Latham do, rather than the emo ones like Manning and even Halstead who base their decisions on their feelings rather than what's medically advisable.

I agree with this.  Although I do think the actor who plays Abrams is missing the mark.  The actor doesn't seem, imo, to have the ability to do natural asshole, so his brand of it feels try-hard.  But I love Latham.  I think the actor is hitting all the notes just right.

I think the biggest issue I have with Manning (among so many others) is that she is forever crying.  You can be a compassionate doctor without bursting out in tears all the time. 

[Lady Calypso]

I also agree that Dr. Fire dodged a bullet. Maybe he can be happy without Manning, although I do wonder about his longevity on the show. He hasn't really had any storylines outside of Manning's. And now she's broken up with him for a stupid reason. They can tell me all they want that it was a long time coming, that it started when he didn't tell her about the reasons for him not being friends with her dead husband, that it really is all about her dead husband, but we all know it's to jump start Manning/Will, as soon as they obviously get rid of Nina. Poor Nina. 

Eh, the Manning lecture subplot was pretty laughable. Dr. Hardass was pretty annoying, but Manning is on the same level. Dr. Hardass was out of line for calling out Manning/Dr. Fire's relationship as well. Not the time or place, and highly inappropriate.

Also, if there ARE some hints of Connor/Manning happening, even as a one night stand, RUN CONNOR RUN.

I don't watch P.D so my opinion of Trudy only lies within her appearances on this show and one episode of Chicago Fire that I watched. But man, she overreacted on Maggie. It's not like the officer had a chance of living, anyway. What was Maggie gonna do? Unplug the machine on the patient? Seriously? Agreed with the fact that the husband telling Maggie would have been a different story. He seemed genuinely surprised when April came in instead of Maggie. To me, it didn't seem like he cared if Maggie took charge. 

I guess I don't understand how Sarah's internship works, but sure, she can do a neuro rotation.

I'm honestly seeing where April's fiance is coming from. He's definitely worried and he did clarify that he didn't want her to give up his job, but I just don't think he understands the entire process and he can only think of the baby and April being in danger. I appreciate how concerned he is; he's just clueless, especially when it comes to medical stuff while April knows a lot more and can make a different type of decision. 

I started off this season not liking Dr. Latham and now I like him as much as I liked Dr. Downey. 

Also, I agree that the weird Chicago Police scene was...weird. She died in a freak accident off the job. It's weird that it warrants all of the police department, at least of her station, to be at the hospital in full uniform. I just can't buy it. 

[MizArk]

My daughter is a child psychiatrist. During her 3-year general psych residency and 2 year child psych fellowship, she rotated through quite a few departments -- neurology, med wards, inpatient, outpatient, state hospital, etc. Son is now a family practice resident, and starts a new rotation at the beginning of each month (he likes clinics and wards, dislikes OB and surgery -- mostly because he doesn't like surgeons, ha)
 

On topic -- this wasn't my favorite episode, except watching Dr. Fire be freeee! (now run, dude, run!)

[Fireball]

1 hour ago, Lady Calypso said:

I guess I don't understand how Sarah's internship works, but sure, she can do a neuro rotation.

I don't understand it either, but than I mixed up typing psychiatrist/psychologist.  However, when they first said Reese was doing a neuro rotation all I thought was so she changed her mind again? This is what her second time!?! Now I know Med students/residents do rotations in different fields, but really my first thought was she's changing her specialty again?

Edited January 14, 2017 by Fireball

[spunky]

11 hours ago, Fireball said:

Can Manning just disappear please? I had no sympathy for her during the review. Her dumping Jeff after he tried to defend her was really low. I get that Jeff was completely out of place doing what he did, but like Will basically said his heart was in the right place. Part of me feels like Natalie dumped Jeff because she was humiliated and she realized Will wouldn’t have done that!

Jeff believe me you are better off without her.  I guess we will be spared the Natalie/Jeff/Will love triangle, so at least there’s that! But I bet we’ll still get a love triangle with Natalie/Will/Nina. I really do not want Natalie and Will together. Will is so much more likeable far far away from Natalie. Actually I think everyone is more likeable away from her.

I wonder what the writers will do with Jeff now? He really was only brought on to be a love interest for Natalie.

So Maggie finally got a story this season yeah! And yes Trudy asking to have Maggie removed was personal! If the request had been from the husband that would have been one thing but having it come from Trudy was wrong. I wish the writers would give Maggie more story lines.

Speaking of more screen time Connor needs more! We get to see him a couple of seconds each episode. Also Choi didn’t really have much to do this episode; he’s another one who needs more story lines.

The heart transplant story was a nice continuation. I’m not sure how having both the mother and daughter recovering from surgery at the same time is going to work. But at least Dr. Charles somewhat redeemed himself. I have to say the whole animosity between Rhodes and Dr. Charles seemed to be a waste of time. If you’re going to have two characters be mad at each other don’t have them make up within like an episode.

I didn’t care about the jockey story line. Finding out that he throws up to make weight was not a surprise. He also looked to tall to be a jockey.

So Reese is now doing a neurology rotation? I’m so confused. I thought she was going to be a psychiatrist and was doing a rotation with Dr. Charles? Is she all done with the psychiatry rotation? The time frame is wonky… However, I like that Reese is away from Dr. Charles and interacting with other characters.  Also her boyfriend is really the sweetest. Instead of complaining that she isn’t paying attention he gives her coffee beans to help keep her awake.  

April and the boyfriend this isn’t going to end well (he wanted her to quit her job before and he wanted to terminate the pregnancy). I like them together and honestly I don’t think him wanting to talk about terminating the pregnancy if the baby was looking at no quality of life was wrong. I also do not think he’s a horrible monster for expressing his concerns about April continuing to work. However, I reserve the right to change my opinion if the BF keeps pressuring April to stop working. I’m sure the writers will break them up as a couple just so Maggie will be shown to have always been right that April shouldn’t have gotten involved with Mr. Athlete.

Dr. Livingston he’s obviously supposed to be ER's Ramano, but he just feels so random! Where did he come from? What was up with him squeezing Rhodes shoulder? Am I supposed to take that gesture as an indication that Dr. Livingston is gay?

Oh and the best part of the episode no Noah or Robyn!!!!

I so agree that Trust's request was personal. The husband didn't seem to have a problem with Maggie handling the transplant, so Trudy needed to stay out of it.

I'm waiting for the day that April and her boyfriend break up. I don't see why he thinks she shouldn't work. I could understand if this was the first time he mentioned it, but he did attempt it three minutes after proposing.

[statsgirl]

I can understand April's fiance's concerns.  She's not only pregnant, she's recovering from TB.  Of course it could turn into controlling but right now, I think it's refreshing to see a father more concerned with his baby mama than making her just an incubator for his child.

6 hours ago, Aliconehead said:

Psychiatrist go to med school, are medical doctors and prescribe medicine. Physcologist have a PhD is physiology. They tend to do more talk therapy since they can not prescribe medicine. Both deal with mental health in different ways but can be similar.  

Psychologist are able to prescribe in some states if they take some extra courses.  (Their degree isn't in physiology, that's a completely different area.)  Psychologist are also the ones who usually do testing,  neuropsychology (e.g. if you have a brain injury, they test cognitive abilities), school, and personality (e.g. intelligence and achievement tests, projective tests like the Rorschach) but it's true that a lot of what they do in terms of therapy and research is very similar to what a psychiatrist does.

A rotation is just an introduction but I'm glad Reese is doing a neuro rotation because knowing the physical functioning of the brain is an important part of being a psychiatrist.   Part of her job is going to be dealing with people who have had brain injuries like accidents, concussions and tumors as well as those where the brain lets you down like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder as well as executive function disorders like impulsivity and ADHD.

[WendyCR72]

49 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Part of her job is going to be dealing with people who have had brain injuries like accidents, concussions and tumors as well as those where the brain lets you down like schizophrenia

I'm sure Reese will see a lot of cases detailing schizophrenia; it seemed to be the brain affliction of choice in almost all of Dick Wolf's Law & Order shows at any time.

[Sandman]

18 hours ago, MakeMeLaugh said:

Give me a break, only she can make the surviving spouse's pain better?

That wasn't Maggie's motivation at all. I don't know why the show has charge nurses facilitating donation procedures, as was mentioned upthread, but I liked the fact that Maggie's professional responsibility was uppermost in her mind, if not in Trudy's. (Love ya, Sarge, but there's a line between doing right by your own and not respecting someone else's professionalism. And saying "It's not personal" doesn't erase that line.)

[MakeMeLaugh]

Sorry, of course everyone mmv, but I definitely got that impression--April was doing a perfectly fine job taking care of things, there was no reason for Maggie to take over from her (i.e., the husband very reluctantly gave Maggie the dead wife's cross only because April wasn't at the desk at the moment, not because he was happy with Maggie taking it). Then we see Maggie pleading with S'epatha to let her take the task back because she can bring something special to the task (and sort of an indirect slap at April's ability). Of course jerking his dead wife's final care back and forth between nurses will make him feel really comfortable.... My unpopular opinion: Some of Maggie's story lines I like (with her transgender sister), but some are more about her than the patients (painting the fingernails of the vegetative patient for years, for instance). 

Edited January 14, 2017 by MakeMeLaugh

[starri]

Regarding Sarah:  you're required to do a certain amount of rotations in different specialities during your intern year.  Before you finish residency, you have to pass your last round of licensing exams, which is the last time people in specialties like pediatrics, gynecology, and psychiatry will really have to use general medicine.  Then you have to study to get boarded by whichever governing body oversees your particular speciality, and you get the fancy letters after your name.  In her case, Sarah Reese, MD, FAPA.  In most psychiatry residencies, you actually spend more time doing things other than psychiatry during intern year.  Most of the programs I've been looking at only give you two months of it, the rest of the time you're doing medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, and the hated Night Float.

Abrams is a neurosurgeon but Sarah was doing a neurology rotation, and those aren't the same thing.  Also, neurology is terrible.  Also, they can't force you to work over 12 hours a shift and 80 per week.  I feel you girl.

I'm just going to leave this quote here.

Quote

H appears no different from the corpses already here. But H is different. She has made three sick people well. She has brought them extra time on Earth. To be able as a dead person to make a gift of this magnitude is phenomenal. Most people don't manage this sort of thing while they're alive. Cadavers like H are the dead's heroes. 

It is astounding to me and achingly sad that with 80,000 people on the waiting list for donated hearts and livers and kidneys, with sixteen a day dying there on that list, that more than half the people in the position H's family was in will say no, will choose to burn those organs or let them rot. We abide the surgeon's scalpel to save our own lives, our loved one's lives, but not to save a stranger's life. H has no heart but heartless is the last thing you'd call her.

[athelyna]

Quote

Also, they can't force you to work over 12 hours a shift and 80 per week.

I'm wondering if they will bring this point up again, because I can't see S. Epatha putting up with doctors forcing interns to overwork, and I feel like if Sarah said something to someone like Dr. Charles about it it would get passed up the chain and Abrams would get a talking to.

Speaking of Dr. Charles, my favorite moment this week was him patiently explaining signs of remorse to Dr. Latham.  There was just something nice and subtle about him calmly explaining about seeing tears and jaw clenching, and when Dr. Latham still doesn't quite get it offering to share literature, something that Latham does understand.  It was nice to see calm, rational Dr. Charles from season 1 again.

Also, Sarah's boyfriend is the best.

I'm choosing to ignore the Manning and Dr. Fire stupidity, and the constant nurse switching stupidity.  In the real world aren't organ transplants handled by a completely separate team from the people who were part of the donor's initial treatment precisely to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest?  As far as I understand, the entirety of Maggie's involvement should have been to call the organ donation people to come down and take over care.  And would they have really left the brain dead patient in the ER instead of moving her to a room somewhere else where the family could have some privacy to say goodbye and not have to see all the doctors who were unable to save their loved ones life?

[Aliconehead]

On 1/13/2017 at 9:56 PM, statsgirl said:

(Their degree isn't in physiology, that's a completely different area.)

Sorry that was a typo, what I get for typing on my iPhone

[spunky]

On 1/13/2017 at 2:53 PM, DearEvette said:

I didn't see the episode where Maggie got arrested so I don't know what went down, but was it so bad it would have been insensitive for her to have any contact with the dead cop and husband just by virtue of doing her job?  I maybe could understand if there was some question about Maggie not being able to put aside a grudge if the woman came in sick.  But the woman was dead already.

The whole morbidity review with Natalie was soooo bad.  Poorly acted.  Soap opera theatrics.  Completely laughable.  From her telling Dr. Fire, "You humiliated me in there."  Uh, no he didn't.  If anybody looked bad it was him.  To the trying-to-hard-to-be-a-badass Dr. announcing through a micophone "Don't date Residents."  Dude!  Even Grey's Anatomy which is overtly a soap opera doesn't come off that cringey.

I liked the reprise of the Alcoholic/heart recipient storyline.  And Dr. Charles felt like his season one self.

I wish the show would tone down some of the Natalie stuff and let other characters get some shine.  It feels lopsided this season.  Choi is getting more airtime than he did last season, but Connor has all but disappeared and even Halstead seems to be sidelining.  I love some of the focus to move from her a bit and spread a bit more evenly.  If I liked her better or if she were more sympathetic it wouldn't be so noticeable, but the writing for her just seems to pile on the worst plucky-yet-sensitive heroine tropes.

Basically Maggie was arrested for doing her job. The patient did not consent to being tested for alcohol or drugs, the now dead cop caught an attitude, because Maggie refused to do a blood test against the patient's will. Now dead cop told Maggie she will arrest her for interfering with a police investigation, Maggie went with out a fight. Therefore Trudy needed to mind her own business. If anything the husband seemed to be remorseful.

[statsgirl]

On 2017-01-14 at 4:27 PM, starri said:

 Also, they can't force you to work over 12 hours a shift and 80 per week.  I feel you girl.

Legally now they can't (I think )t.  But there are ways of basically making you volunteer to do extra work so that you get that fellowship or that grant. IIRC. Vincent Lam's Bloodletting and Other Cures opens with an intern falling asleep in his car. 

Ironically, for all that MDs have been studying the hazards of exhaustion on the job (e.g. with pilots), many of them have yet to realize that overworked doctors make mistakes, sometimes bad ones.

On 2017-01-14 at 1:44 AM, WendyCR72 said:

I'm sure Reese will see a lot of cases detailing schizophrenia; it seemed to be the brain affliction of choice in almost all of Dick Wolf's Law & Order shows at any time.

Yeah, on TV it's the thing to be scared of.  They almost never show that it's harder on the patient than anyone else.

On 2017-01-14 at 11:11 AM, MakeMeLaugh said:

Sorry, of course everyone mmv, but I definitely got that impression--April was doing a perfectly fine job taking care of things, there was no reason for Maggie to take over from her (i.e., the husband very reluctantly gave Maggie the dead wife's cross only because April wasn't at the desk at the moment, not because he was happy with Maggie taking it).

I got the feeling that April was doing fine but 1. Maggie is a control freak and 2. she wanted to be the one to take care of the cop because it would be closure for her (Maggie) more than because no one else could do it.

Edited January 15, 2017 by statsgirl

[Sandman]

On 2017-01-14 at 11:11 AM, MakeMeLaugh said:

Then we see Maggie pleading with S'epatha to let her take the task back because she can bring something special to the task (and sort of an indirect slap at April's ability).

I think this is where we differ; I can see Maggie putting more emphasis on what she needed to do in order to feel she had done her duty by this patient (or to feel closure, perhaps), but I don't think she was under-valuing April's ability to do her job. Maggie is kind of a control freak; I agree with statsgirl there. I never saw the husband as being particularly offended, or even resistant to Maggie's doing the job. The poor guy just seemed overwhelmed, and the flipping back and forth probably wasn't the best approach.

[starri]

2 hours ago, statsgirl said:

Legally now they can't (I think )t.  But there are ways of basically making you volunteer to do extra work so that you get that fellowship or that grant. IIRC. Vincent Lam's Bloodletting and Other Cures opens with an intern falling asleep in his car. 

I'm not sure if it's a legal thing in all states.  Some states it is against the law.  In New York, it's called the Libby Zion Law, named after a the daughter of a pretty powerful lawyer who also wrote for the New York Times who died when two overworked residents gave a her a medication that reacted with her antidepressants and caused a nasty reaction called serotonin syndrome.  In 2003, the body that governs all residencies everywhere adopted rules that are basically in line with what New York did, since New York was first.

Cap of 80 hours, no more than 24 hours straight, and there has to be an attending present at all times.  Naturally, the old school doctors try and tell us we don't learn as much because we're not suffering.  Fun.

[statsgirl]

Medical students and residents have a union in Canada so I think that keeps a cap on long hours for some.  But if they "volunteer" to stay longer, it's probably accepted

27 minutes ago, starri said:

 Naturally, the old school doctors try and tell us we don't learn as much because we're not suffering.  Fun.

The line I heard is that you don't learn as much if you don't follow the patient through from the start to the end of his hospital stay.  Logically, that's ridiculous because some patients stay for weeks or months and you can't be on call the whole time.  At some point you have to hand over the patient to another health professional.   It makes more sense to learn to write a good report for the next person than to spend non-stop hours at the bedside.

[Bobcatkitten]

I was annoyed with Maggie because she made it all about her - her wanting to do the donor details when it wasn't necessary. It was handled. The husband didn't look particularly comfortable with her and there was no need to switch from April - who was doing a great job - back to Maggie except that Maggie wanted to. Again about her - not the dead woman, husband, friends, family.

[Netfoot]

The real question is, WTF would the cop, her husband, or any of her colleagues have a problem with her being attended by Maggie?  Did they think she would be unable to fulfill her duties?  Deliberately mess up the procedure?  What exactly was their objection?

[starri]

6 hours ago, statsgirl said:

Medical students and residents have a union in Canada so I think that keeps a cap on long hours for some.  But if they "volunteer" to stay longer, it's probably accepted

In New York at least, hospitals have gotten fined for ignoring the work rules.  And ACGME rules state that you cannot work more than sixteen hours in a shift.  You hit that, they're supposed to send you home.

Does that always happen in practice?  I doubt it.

[statsgirl]

Yeah, like many jobs and internships, what the rules say and what they expect of you on the job are quite different.

I heard an interesting take on the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist yesterday.   The prof (former chief psychologist at a big city hospital) said that a psychiatrist at the hospital usually has a checklist he/she has to go through so there are a lot of direct questions while a psychologist reflects back the answers and pulls different information.  It's a different experience for the patient.

[spunky]

On 1/16/2017 at 5:50 PM, Netfoot said:

The real question is, WTF would the cop, her husband, or any of her colleagues have a problem with her being attended by Maggie?  Did they think she would be unable to fulfill her duties?  Deliberately mess up the procedure?  What exactly was their objection?

Trudy made it seem like Maggie would just mess up because she can not be professional, even after Dr. Choi said that she is a professional and do her job. It was not Trudy's place to ask for a switch. If the husband asked, that would have been a different story. She was not at the 21st district, therefore she needed to keep her mouth shut.

[Chas411]

Yeah considering the husband barely reacted to Maggie I didn't really see where the issue lay. 

Clarke is so wasted on Natalie. He was so much better on Fire. Here he's such a doormat.