S01.E15: Croaklahoma

[preeya]

Max bonds with the patients undergoing chemo with him, but a conversation leads him to struggle with his reality. Meanwhile, Reynolds has difficulty handling a personal matter regarding a patient's family and Iggy struggles with a realization regarding his daughter.

[preeya]

The chemo patients making jokes about their cancer was funny.

I know cancer is a serious issue, but it was a lighthearted effort at some joviality.

And now I know the reason for the weird episode title.

[ams1001]

The pope is in town to speak and they just show up the day of and tell the hospital to clear several floors? Uh huh.

Dr. Kapoor's an idiot, isn't he? (PS, get IT to reset your damn password. My work's system locks you out after three wrong tries.)

Edited March 6, 2019 by ams1001

[Dowel Jones]

Show of hands.  How many people were thrown for a moment by the cancer patient's blonde and pink wig?  I sure was.  Didn't we just cover this a week ago?  Oops, time warp (for me).

An email system that allows a 5 character password?  No vulnerability there. And how many unread emails has Kapoor collected in his stay at New Amsterdam?

I also liked those musical title parodies.  The writers must have had a good time thinking them up. 

Max, shut up during LaMaxe (misspelling intended) training.  That was cringeworthy.

I was rather hoping that the Cardinal would offer up the $9K/mo. medicine out of the RCC coffers so the two believers wouldn't have to sacrifice themselves on that altar to save their son.  To be honest, when the boy said "You'll go to hell, and I'll go to heaven, and never see you again", my first thought was Kid, you got the rest of your life to rack up the points to go to hell (tips hat to certain other show).

[bros402]

5 hours ago, preeya said:

The chemo patients making jokes about their cancer was funny.

I know cancer is a serious issue, but it was a lighthearted effort at some joviality.

And now I know the reason for the weird episode title.

Cancer jokes are super fun. I liked Max unsuccessfully pulling the cancer card.

21 minutes ago, Dowel Jones said:

Show of hands.  How many people were thrown for a moment by the cancer patient's blonde and pink wig?  I sure was.  Didn't we just cover this a week ago?  Oops, time warp (for me).

An email system that allows a 5 character password?  No vulnerability there. And how many unread emails has Kapoor collected in his stay at New Amsterdam?

I also liked those musical title parodies.  The writers must have had a good time thinking them up. 

Max, shut up during LaMaxe (misspelling intended) training.  That was cringeworthy.

I was rather hoping that the Cardinal would offer up the $9K/mo. medicine out of the RCC coffers so the two believers wouldn't have to sacrifice themselves on that altar to save their son.  To be honest, when the boy said "You'll go to hell, and I'll go to heaven, and never see you again", my first thought was Kid, you got the rest of your life to rack up the points to go to hell (tips hat to certain other show).

I remembered the young adult with cancer because she is a young adult with cancer 😛

And yeah, that email system is messed up - maybe it is reallly old and only accessible on the New Amsterdam Intranet?

With the Cardinal, easier to go "hey there's a legal marriage, and then there's a marriage within the church, you're all good dudes."

I wonder how many points that kid lost for running away and wasting all of those resources

[Dowel Jones]

54 minutes ago, bros402 said:

I remembered the young adult with cancer because she is a young adult with cancer 😛

I was actually thinking of Maggie from last week's episode of A Million Little Things.

[Trillian]

Dear writers:  if you’re going to write about Catholics, learn something about Catholicism.  Since “married Catholic couple” (can’t remember their names) are supposed to be devout, they would know the following*.

Catholic marriage is for life, not forever.  Divorce is not a mortal sin.  They would not barred from taking Communion.  Only remarriage while the original spouse is still alive is a bar to Communion because the Church does not recognize the civil divorce and considers the subsequent marriage adultery.  The Church does not recognize civil marriage (for Catholics) either.  This couple should have been most suited to the idea of a paper civil divorce exactly because their Catholic marriage is the only one that counts in their religion and no civil divorce can touch that in any way. The Cardinal (whom they should have known to address as Your Eminence and not Hey You), was theologically correct if stupid and awkward to say it was cool.  The kid with his Katherine of Aragon routine (“there is no divorce!”) deserved a smack on the head and a five minute catechism lecture and all would be well. 

New Amsterdam sure is a full service hospital, isn’t it?  In addition to spiritual guidance, they must have a Los Vegas ward where you can get a quickie divorce by just signing some papers.  I hope they also gave competent legal advice on whether the couple would face any investigation into their situation and whether they were at risk of being caught for insurance fraud.

* Lest I give offence, I want to make it clear that I am merely describing - not advocating for or supporting - Catholic marriage law. 

[txhorns79]

13 hours ago, ams1001 said:

The pope is in town to speak and they just show up the day of and tell the hospital to clear several floors? Uh huh. 

A thousand times this.  Even for a show that is regularly absurd in how it approaches the practice of medicine, this stood out.  These kind of events are planned weeks, if not months, in advance.  You don't just show up the day of and ask the hospital to clear multiple floors. 

[Biggie B]

Gah! Each of the story lines in this episode featured someone who was just COMPLETELY tone deaf to their current situation. 

Max - just because you're freaking out about your own mortality doesn't mean you can spew out horrifying statistics in a birthing class (way to put people at ease!) or be critical of those using humor to defuse their own situations (chemo group). Not that Max's feelings weren't legit - but for god's sake, there's a time and a place to vent. Read the room, you jerk.

Kapoor - really? REALLY? The hospital is crawling with Federal agents and various other security personnel, and you can't figure out that making mention of poisonous plants is NOT a good idea?? Are you that incapable of understanding what those security people are there to do, why they're doing it, and that no matter how innocent your intentions, it's sometimes best to just KEEP YOUR TRAP SHUT? As for the email password - the writers should be taken outside and flogged. Good lord - no system is going to let the user try over and over and over; it'll lock the user out after a finite number of wrong attempts. And furthermore, where was the "Forgot password?" link on the screen? How about calling the IT department, as another poster suggested? Y'know, maybe one of those people from a prior episode who is on the payroll but has nothing to do? 

Iggy - you pop into Kapoor's office and see that the federal agent guy is detaining him - maybe you excuse yourself and leave. Can't you tell something isn't going well?? I'll give him a pass on the sleepover at the Museum with his daughter. I know tons of people who've done that, and it is indeed REALLY cool, and I'd have done it with my kid if I'd had the chance. But at least he realized the error of his ways the second his daughter said it was scary. He didn't try to negate her fear, he acknowledged it and backed right off. 

Helen - I get that she was trying to help the elderly man, but she immediately pegged the social worker/guardian as the bad guy (admittedly, him showing up with the police and claiming that the woman had kidnapped his client didn't paint him as terribly sympathetic). The guardian guy actually seemed quite concerned and while he shouldn't have waited until the hearing to list the issues the elderly man was having, Helen too could have asked him from the get-go, "Why were you even appointed his guardian? What's been going on that he even needs a guardian?" Again - READ THE ROOM. You know there are two sides to every story, with the truth lying somewhere in the middle. If the patient says it's raining outside and the guardian says it's sunny, it's Helen's job to go look out the window and figure it out. Don't just blindly accept one side or the other.

I am shocked that the rehab facility allowed a brand new patient to have a visitor so soon - almost before even beginning treatment. 

Everyone was just so wrapped up in themselves that they couldn't even stop for a SECOND to take in their surroundings and get some context. Instead, they each just blurted out whatever was on the tip of their tongues. Where is their filtering mechanism? 

As for the Catholic couple - I just didn't care about them or their kid. Yes, it is totally disgusting that the post-transplant medication was out of financial reach - but the characters were so weird to me that I couldn't get into them. The kid also had a very weird accent. The whole story line was just inane to me. Wouldn't anyone even suggest that the parents at least try to meet with a patient advocate or a social worker? So if they divorce - and the mother is given sole custody, so that it's only her non-income that enables her to qualify for Medicaid, does the father get any rights to the kid? Does he get to make any healthcare decisions for his son? There's a nice legal mess for some attorneys to sink their teeth into. 

Really, I wasn't rooting for anyone here, other than the chemo patients. I'm surprised how well they tolerated Max's sour demeanor. 

Edited March 6, 2019 by Biggie B

[KaveDweller]

15 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

I was actually thinking of Maggie from last week's episode of A Million Little Things.

I thought of her too. Pink wigs must be in this year.

2 hours ago, Biggie B said:

As for the Catholic couple - I just didn't care about them or their kid. Yes, it is totally disgusting that the post-transplant medication was out of financial reach - but the characters were so weird to me that I couldn't get into them. The kid also had a very weird accent. The whole story line was just inane to me. Wouldn't anyone even suggest that the parents at least try to meet with a patient advocate or a social worker? So if they divorce - and the mother is given sole custody, so that it's only her non-income that enables her to qualify for Medicaid, does the father get any rights to the kid? Does he get to make any healthcare decisions for his son? There's a nice legal mess for some attorneys to sink their teeth into. 

It seemed like a pretty messed up situation. And while it is awful the kid was without medication that would save his life, it also seems like just getting divorced and continuing to live together shouldn't work. Wouldn't the courts make him pay alimony before she could apply for medicare? It doesn't make sense.

And when they said the kid would need the medication his whole life and they could never remarry, I wondered why they couldn't remarry when he turns 18? Then he'd be an adult and apply for his own medicaid.

[ams1001]

17 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

An email system that allows a 5 character password?  No vulnerability there. And how many unread emails has Kapoor collected in his stay at New Amsterdam?

My work requires a minimum of seven characters, and it has to have at least one capital letter and at least one number or other non-letter character. What with HIPAA and all that I have a hard time believing any major hospital doesn't have some serious security on their computer systems.

17 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

I was rather hoping that the Cardinal would offer up the $9K/mo. medicine out of the RCC coffers so the two believers wouldn't have to sacrifice themselves on that altar to save their son.  To be honest, when the boy said "You'll go to hell, and I'll go to heaven, and never see you again", my first thought was Kid, you got the rest of your life to rack up the points to go to hell (tips hat to certain other show).

Yeah, I was thinking, "if the pope really wanted to help he could sell a few trinkets from the Vatican and set the kid up for a few years, at least." 

3 hours ago, Biggie B said:

Helen too could have asked him from the get-go, "Why were you even appointed his guardian? What's been going on that he even needs a guardian?"

You'd think that'd be the first thing she'd ask. A patient who seems to be competent and know what he wants turns out to have a legally-appointed healthcare guardian; isn't your first question going to be "Why? What am I missing?"

3 hours ago, Biggie B said:

As for the Catholic couple - I just didn't care about them or their kid. Yes, it is totally disgusting that the post-transplant medication was out of financial reach - but the characters were so weird to me that I couldn't get into them. The kid also had a very weird accent. The whole story line was just inane to me. Wouldn't anyone even suggest that the parents at least try to meet with a patient advocate or a social worker? So if they divorce - and the mother is given sole custody, so that it's only her non-income that enables her to qualify for Medicaid, does the father get any rights to the kid? Does he get to make any healthcare decisions for his son? There's a nice legal mess for some attorneys to sink their teeth into. 

If they continued to live together you'd think someone would figure out pretty quick that their divorce might not be completely legit...

Edited March 7, 2019 by ams1001

[starri]

I have to admit this, I REALLY liked the chemo scenes.

I'm trying to figure out what the hospitals are in this particular parallel universe's NYC.  The 'Dam is Bellevue.   "Mount Zion," mentioned in passing in this episode, is obviously Mount Sinai.  They've mentioned "University" before, which I assumed was Columbia, but now they've introduced "Baptist" and Columbia's original name was Presbyterian.  And we also have Methodist and Lutheran, but those are both in Brooklyn.

No, I'm not sure why I care so much.

[txhorns79]

Quote

If they continued to live together you'd think someone would figure out pretty quick that their divorce might not be completely legit...

If they are legally divorced, they are legally divorced.  The law doesn't care what their living arrangement is after a divorce.

1 hour ago, ams1001 said:

I was rather hoping that the Cardinal would offer up the $9K/mo. medicine out of the RCC coffers so the two believers wouldn't have to sacrifice themselves on that altar to save their son.  To be honest, when the boy said "You'll go to hell, and I'll go to heaven, and never see you again", my first thought was Kid, you got the rest of your life to rack up the points to go to hell (tips hat to certain other show).

I was thinking the couple might rethink their devout Catholicism at that point. 

Quote

Helen - I get that she was trying to help the elderly man, but she immediately pegged the social worker/guardian as the bad guy (admittedly, him showing up with the police and claiming that the woman had kidnapped his client didn't paint him as terribly sympathetic). The guardian guy actually seemed quite concerned and while he shouldn't have waited until the hearing to list the issues the elderly man was having, Helen too could have asked him from the get-go, "Why were you even appointed his guardian? What's been going on that he even needs a guardian?" Again - READ THE ROOM. You know there are two sides to every story, with the truth lying somewhere in the middle. If the patient says it's raining outside and the guardian says it's sunny, it's Helen's job to go look out the window and figure it out. Don't just blindly accept one side or the other.

I don't think there are always two sides to every story with the truth being somewhere in the middle.  Besides, what two sides are there to a guardianship?  If the guy has the appropriate paperwork, then the guardianship is binding and that is the person whom Helen has to listen to for health care decisions.  It's not Helen's job to decide if the reasons for the guardianship meet her standards.  If anything, the fact the elderly man tried to trick her into performing surgery on him shows exactly why he needed a guardian, ridiculous speeches about true wuv notwithstanding.   

Edited March 7, 2019 by txhorns79

[bros402]

7 hours ago, starri said:

I have to admit this, I REALLY liked the chemo scenes.

I'm trying to figure out what the hospitals are in this particular parallel universe's NYC.  The 'Dam is Bellevue.   "Mount Zion," mentioned in passing in this episode, is obviously Mount Sinai.  They've mentioned "University" before, which I assumed was Columbia, but now they've introduced "Baptist" and Columbia's original name was Presbyterian.  And we also have Methodist and Lutheran, but those are both in Brooklyn.

No, I'm not sure why I care so much.

Mount Zion isn't Mt. Sinai - the healthcare proxy guy said he was going to transfer the old dude's care back to Mt. Sinai, doctor was like "but he went to Baptist" - unless I misheard Zion as Sinai.

This parallel universe is pretty entertaining - do you think they have MSK in this universe? Or maybe they'll just call it Memorial Hospital.

[starri]

2 hours ago, bros402 said:

Mount Zion isn't Mt. Sinai - the healthcare proxy guy said he was going to transfer the old dude's care back to Mt. Sinai, doctor was like "but he went to Baptist" - unless I misheard Zion as Sinai.

No, the closed captioning said Zion.  That's what pushed me down the rabbit hole in the first place.

[alexvillage]

The episode was very silly and disappointing. Nothing could be saved, in my opinion. Meh.

[Jillybean]

13 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I thought of her too. Pink wigs must be in this year.

Samantha Jones pioneered that look back in 2004.

[doodlebug]

On ‎3‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 6:51 AM, Trillian said:

Dear writers:  if you’re going to write about Catholics, learn something about Catholicism.  Since “married Catholic couple” (can’t remember their names) are supposed to be devout, they would know the following*.

Catholic marriage is for life, not forever.  Divorce is not a mortal sin.  They would not barred from taking Communion.  Only remarriage while the original spouse is still alive is a bar to Communion because the Church does not recognize the civil divorce and considers the subsequent marriage adultery.  The Church does not recognize civil marriage (for Catholics) either.  This couple should have been most suited to the idea of a paper civil divorce exactly because their Catholic marriage is the only one that counts in their religion and no civil divorce can touch that in any way. The Cardinal (whom they should have known to address as Your Eminence and not Hey You), was theologically correct if stupid and awkward to say it was cool.  The kid with his Katherine of Aragon routine (“there is no divorce!”) deserved a smack on the head and a five minute catechism lecture and all would be well. 

New Amsterdam sure is a full service hospital, isn’t it?  In addition to spiritual guidance, they must have a Los Vegas ward where you can get a quickie divorce by just signing some papers.  I hope they also gave competent legal advice on whether the couple would face any investigation into their situation and whether they were at risk of being caught for insurance fraud.

* Lest I give offence, I want to make it clear that I am merely describing - not advocating for or supporting - Catholic marriage law. 

Not only should the Catholic couple have known this; surely the Cardinal, the guy who works with the POPE, should've been able to set them straight rather than acting like they were getting some sort of special pass.  I can understand a child not getting the nuance of Church teachings on marriage and divorce; but the adults should've been able to set him straight.  For that matter, if they're such wonderful Catholics and apparently send their son to a parochial school, shouldn't they perhaps have contacted their parish priest and discussed the situation with him rather than running around acting like the sky was falling because they had no idea what they were talking about?

As for a child not being able to get anti-rejection drugs due to the cost, he has had a heart transplant; this is a disability.  Disabled children who have required treatment above and beyond the limits of their parents' medical insurance (usually a million bucks which a kid with a heart transplant has met easily); is eligible for Medicaid whether or not his parents are married, divorces or have a dozen sister-wives.  There are laws covering this stuff and any decent hospital would have people who would hook the parents up with the appropriate program right away.

I see Max got around to getting a Mediport for his chemo.  Score one for realism.  However, presuming that the young woman was coughing all morning while getting chemo, what were the nurses doing?   The staff at those places are very well trained and go through a checklist with every patient before starting the infusion.  Had she told them she was coughing, she would've had a thorough evaluation prior to anyone giving her a drug to suppress her immune system.  Not to mention the fact that her G tube was seriously infected.  This is a very painful situation and she would've noticed it long before Max the Magnificent found it.  And, once again, she would've said something to the staff before her chemo was started.  Every single cancer patient receiving chemotherapy gets a ton of verbal and written information about the signs and symptoms of infections and are told again and again to report even the smallest issue immediately.  Either New Amsterdam is not meeting the standard of care or the girl had a death wish.

Max making the Lamaze class all about him and his issues was so typical of him.  I don't like his wife, but I wouldn't have blamed her if she'd smacked him upside the head.  Shut up, jerk!

[doodlebug]

On ‎3‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 11:52 AM, txhorns79 said:

A thousand times this.  Even for a show that is regularly absurd in how it approaches the practice of medicine, this stood out.  These kind of events are planned weeks, if not months, in advance.  You don't just show up the day of and ask the hospital to clear multiple floors. 

I've never been around when the Pope visited, but I worked at a hospital where the first lady was going to be making a public appearance.  It was only announced maybe a week in advance, and, still, the Secret Service was there checking the place out several days in advance and every single employee and staff physician was issued a list of dos and don'ts as to what elevators, parking spaces and hallways would be blocked and for how long.  This was back in the day before everyone was required to wear an ID badge at all times and we were also notified that we needed to have a photo ID with us at all times on the date in question and would have to present it at several points upon entering the hospital.  Those of us who were invited to attend the speech had to submit our name, DOB and SSN 48 hours in advance for the background check.  And, this was in the days prior to 911, I am sure it's stricter now.

I, too, do not understand how the doc in rehab was allowed a random visitor shortly after admission.  Those programs are quite restrictive and are very careful about who visits and when.  No way her ex-boyfriend is allowed a private visit within days of her admission to the place.  That's how people end up relapsing while in rehab.  Most facilities require at least a couple weeks inside before any visitors are allowed and those people are carefully screened and, many times, they are only allowed to visit in the presence of staff.

Edited March 7, 2019 by doodlebug

[Dowel Jones]

1 hour ago, doodlebug said:

I've never been around when the Pope visited, but I worked at a hospital where the first lady was going to be making a public appearance.

Off topic, but...

I worked for many years as a wildland firefighter and on some extremely large or catastrophic fires, such as the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, a sitting President will make an appearance as a show of support.  It's generally the worst thing that can happen to the operation of the fire. Outside of the photo ops, everyone hated it.  Aircraft were shut down, movement around the camp was restricted, meal times were disrupted...blecch.

[ams1001]

6 hours ago, doodlebug said:

I've never been around when the Pope visited

I was in NYC a day or two before the pope was coming a few years ago, and there were piles of those portable barriers waiting to be set up near Penn Station. Glad I wasn't there the day of, and I wasn't going to be anywhere near where he actually was. (I was amused by the guy selling plush pope dolls I passed on my way to the office, though.)

[txhorns79]

7 hours ago, doodlebug said:

I, too, do not understand how the doc in rehab was allowed a random visitor shortly after admission.  Those programs are quite restrictive and are very careful about who visits and when.  No way her ex-boyfriend is allowed a private visit within days of her admission to the place.  That's how people end up relapsing while in rehab.  Most facilities require at least a couple weeks inside before any visitors are allowed and those people are carefully screened and, many times, they are only allowed to visit in the presence of staff.

Yes, when a friend of mine went into rehab, he could not have visitors for about two weeks, and even then, visitors were only allowed on a scheduled day at a scheduled time.  In advance of the visit, the staff provided us with a list of things we could bring, and made clear that all bags and items would be inspected.         

[bros402]

20 hours ago, starri said:

No, the closed captioning said Zion.  That's what pushed me down the rabbit hole in the first place.

Hm. This will be a fun thing to explore in future episodes. Now there's a reason to keep watching!

14 hours ago, doodlebug said:

As for a child not being able to get anti-rejection drugs due to the cost, he has had a heart transplant; this is a disability.  Disabled children who have required treatment above and beyond the limits of their parents' medical insurance (usually a million bucks which a kid with a heart transplant has met easily); is eligible for Medicaid whether or not his parents are married, divorces or have a dozen sister-wives.  There are laws covering this stuff and any decent hospital would have people who would hook the parents up with the appropriate program right away.

I see Max got around to getting a Mediport for his chemo.  Score one for realism.  However, presuming that the young woman was coughing all morning while getting chemo, what were the nurses doing?   The staff at those places are very well trained and go through a checklist with every patient before starting the infusion.  Had she told them she was coughing, she would've had a thorough evaluation prior to anyone giving her a drug to suppress her immune system.  Not to mention the fact that her G tube was seriously infected.  This is a very painful situation and she would've noticed it long before Max the Magnificent found it.  And, once again, she would've said something to the staff before her chemo was started.  Every single cancer patient receiving chemotherapy gets a ton of verbal and written information about the signs and symptoms of infections and are told again and again to report even the smallest issue immediately.  Either New Amsterdam is not meeting the standard of care or the girl had a death wish.

The kid wouldn't qualify for SSI due to resource limit, parents probably hit it. However, in NY, they are sensible and the kid would qualify for medicaid - they're a family of 3, so it is probably something like if they earn under $2500 a month, medicaid is free, then every $500 a month from there, a bit more of a premium.

And yeah, Max getting a port is realistic!

The girl not worryng about it was just stupid - maybe they will explain it more in future episodes, maybe she didn't want to worry someone (a common reason YAs give in my experience)

Edited March 8, 2019 by bros402

[Whimsy]

On 3/6/2019 at 2:30 AM, Dowel Jones said:

An email system that allows a 5 character password?  No vulnerability there. And how many unread emails has Kapoor collected in his stay at New Amsterdam?

I work for a medical school with a hospital attached.  These doctors rely on their e-mails.  I call baloney on him never checking his e-mails. 

On 3/6/2019 at 4:19 PM, Biggie B said:

As for the Catholic couple - I just didn't care about them or their kid. Yes, it is totally disgusting that the post-transplant medication was out of financial reach - but the characters were so weird to me that I couldn't get into them. The kid also had a very weird accent. The whole story line was just inane to me. Wouldn't anyone even suggest that the parents at least try to meet with a patient advocate or a social worker? So if they divorce - and the mother is given sole custody, so that it's only her non-income that enables her to qualify for Medicaid, does the father get any rights to the kid? Does he get to make any healthcare decisions for his son? There's a nice legal mess for some attorneys to sink their teeth into. 

I thought it was a lisp.  

I couldn't tell if the kid wanted the divorce or not because his sign said "No divorce" with a circle and crossed out.  I get he's a kid, but the props person most likely isn't.  It should've been "Divorce" and the cross through it.  The way they did it means the exact opposite of what they were trying to convey. 

[kirkola]

10 hours ago, bros402 said:

Hm. This will be a fun thing to explore in future episodes. Now there's a reason to keep watching!

The kid wouldn't qualify for SSI due to resource limit, parents probably hit it. However, in NY, they are sensible and the kid would qualify for medicaid - they're a family of 3, so it is probably something like if they earn under $2500 a month, medicaid is free, then every $500 a month from there, a bit more of a premium.

And yeah, Max getting a port is realistic!

The girl not worryng about it was just stupid - maybe they will explain it more in future episodes, maybe she didn't want to worry someone (a common reason YAs give in my experience)

I do hope the rules are different in NYC.  In Florida, Medicaid won't insure a family of 3 making $45 a year.  So it felt very realistic to me. 

I did feel that the doctors did a bad job of explaining the whole divorce thing.  For what it's worth, I'm not Catholic.  But I do know that to be legally married in the eyes of the state (government), you just have to sign the marriage license.  And to be legally married in the eyes of the Church, you have to do the ceremony with a priest.  So Max and Dr. Floyd should have explained that it's just a divorce on paper (in the government sense), but that they will still be married in the eyes of God. 

[luvapickle]

Personally I think the bit about the password/email was hilarious. I think they were making fun of the fact that you need a password for everything. And they recommend you have it be different for everything. And they have it more complicated than it used be by needing different characters, lower/upper case, numbers all included. For me it drives me nuts because I used to be able to memorize them. I can't. I just can't anymore. And they say not to write them down. Well guess who has to now??? So I found it hilarious-especially since his was so simple.

[starri]

41 minutes ago, kirkola said:

I do hope the rules are different in NYC.  In Florida, Medicaid won't insure a family of 3 making $45 a year.  So it felt very realistic to me. 

All children are covered in New York State, even if they don't qualify for Medicaid and don't have access through their parents for whatever reason.

[kirkola]

As for the email thing... I work with people every day who have no idea what their password is, and some have no idea how to access their email at all.

From what it looked like, Dr. Kapoor's email was one of those very basic emails from like 20 years ago.  Back when Hotmail was all the rage and people thought having an AOL account meant they were on the Internet.  And it looked like it was long dormant.  I had no problems with him not knowing the password or that it was only 5 characters (based on the age of the email account).  I did have trouble with an email account that old and dormant should have been disabled long before that day.  I've lost a couple of email accounts like that.  I simply forgot them so they were destroyed by the web host.

[athousandclowns]

Agree with all that doodlebug said about coughing chemo girl. You have blood drawn each time before chemo to see if you can tolerate it and even a cough would raise a WBC.  It would be very wrong for her to expose other patients to her coughing.  I’ve only seen 3 different hospital chemo rooms and none were in a tight little circle like that. My experience is there is a nurse to every couple patients. 

[Court]

On 3/6/2019 at 6:56 PM, KaveDweller said:

I thought of her too. Pink wigs must be in this year.

It seemed like a pretty messed up situation. And while it is awful the kid was without medication that would save his life, it also seems like just getting divorced and continuing to live together shouldn't work. Wouldn't the courts make him pay alimony before she could apply for medicare? It doesn't make sense.

And when they said the kid would need the medication his whole life and they could never remarry, I wondered why they couldn't remarry when he turns 18? Then he'd be an adult and apply for his own medicaid.

It doesn't work. Or rather it shouldn't. You're supposed to report all income of anyone living in your house, no matter how you're related. 

The family should have qualified for Medicaid because of his medical needs. We didn't qualify by income when my daughter was born premature. But because of her needs, we qualified for WIC and Medicaid. 

[bros402]

12 hours ago, kirkola said:

I do hope the rules are different in NYC.  In Florida, Medicaid won't insure a family of 3 making $45 a year.  So it felt very realistic to me. 

I did feel that the doctors did a bad job of explaining the whole divorce thing.  For what it's worth, I'm not Catholic.  But I do know that to be legally married in the eyes of the state (government), you just have to sign the marriage license.  And to be legally married in the eyes of the Church, you have to do the ceremony with a priest.  So Max and Dr. Floyd should have explained that it's just a divorce on paper (in the government sense), but that they will still be married in the eyes of God. 

The northeast is pretty good about taking care of its people - in NJ, they would definitely qualify, I imagine it would be the same in NYC.

I'm not religious either and I knew that they would still be married in the eyes of the church!

 

6 hours ago, athousandclowns said:

Agree with all that doodlebug said about coughing chemo girl. You have blood drawn each time before chemo to see if you can tolerate it and even a cough would raise a WBC.  It would be very wrong for her to expose other patients to her coughing.  I’ve only seen 3 different hospital chemo rooms and none were in a tight little circle like that. My experience is there is a nurse to every couple patients. 

Yuup. I've never had IV Chemo and I know they draw blood before any IV chemo because counts can tank and people sometime have to skip a week or two of chemo, it is natural.

I've seen one infusion room - it had like 8 chairs and 5 nurses - I had to sit in the infusion bay because all of the exam rooms for my onc were filled and they needed more space in the waiting room. People just want to sit there, get their poison infused, and get out. Socializing is for the support groups

[LittleIggy]

Yeah, like the rest of you, I knew that civil divorce would not affect the marriage in the eyes of the RC church. The RC parents should have known that. 🙄

I liked when the Secret Service guy rattled off all the people he had observed in that corridor and the other guy silently corrected him on the number of couples. Also when that SS guy said “I’m not known for my sense of humor.” 😆

Edited March 10, 2019 by LittleIggy

[alexvillage]

I am not a catholic, I am an atheist but many years ago, when I was still questioning my beliefs and going through a very hard time, I sought a priest as a counselor. In my case it wasn't a divorce, but my partner and I were not married. The prick priest basically said he could not help me because I was living in sin. While I know priests can be douches and some can be a little more humane, he was clear that the church would not welcome me because it was his church and that's how he saw it. For the Cardinal in the show to simply say "it's cool", I call bullshit.

[doodlebug]

8 hours ago, alexvillage said:

I am not a catholic, I am an atheist but many years ago, when I was still questioning my beliefs and going through a very hard time, I sought a priest as a counselor. In my case it wasn't a divorce, but my partner and I were not married. The prick priest basically said he could not help me because I was living in sin. While I know priests can be douches and some can be a little more humane, he was clear that the church would not welcome me because it was his church and that's how he saw it. For the Cardinal in the show to simply say "it's cool", I call bullshit.

I'm sorry for your experience, but there are a lot of different opinions even amongst the  clergy.  And, while the Catholic Church doesn't approve of couples living together without marriage; the kind of marriage the Church wants is a religious ceremony, not a civil one.  So, on the show, the Cardinal was correct, there is no rule that says Catholic couples cannot be divorced civilly and still married in the eyes of the Church.  

I also personally know several priests who don't discriminate against providing counseling to people who are not living exemplary Catholic lifestyles.  Interesting that an atheist would seek out a Catholic priest for advice.

[Kareny]

On 3/6/2019 at 7:41 PM, starri said:

I have to admit this, I REALLY liked the chemo scenes.

I'm trying to figure out what the hospitals are in this particular parallel universe's NYC.  The 'Dam is Bellevue.   "Mount Zion," mentioned in passing in this episode, is obviously Mount Sinai.  They've mentioned "University" before, which I assumed was Columbia, but now they've introduced "Baptist" and Columbia's original name was Presbyterian.  And we also have Methodist and Lutheran, but those are both in Brooklyn.

No, I'm not sure why I care so much.

Ooh! I'll play.

I think "University" was NYU - I can't remember the context, but they implied it was a private hospital associated with their public one, which would match for NYU/Bellevue.

Based on that, I think "Baptist" is Presby, and Mount Zion is Sinai.

[starri]

2 minutes ago, Kareny said:

I think "University" was NYU - I can't remember the context, but they implied it was a private hospital associated with their public one, which would match for NYU/Bellevue.

Yeah, I guess Langone would be a fair match.  

I don't know, the show has seemed to act like Manhattan is the whole of NYC, although I guess they did introduce Sheepshead Bay as some exotic, far-flung locale.

[bros402]

3 hours ago, starri said:

Yeah, I guess Langone would be a fair match.  

I don't know, the show has seemed to act like Manhattan is the whole of NYC, although I guess they did introduce Sheepshead Bay as some exotic, far-flung locale.

Oooh yeah NYU makes a lot of sense.

Every piece of media acts like NYC = Manhattan

The ones that remember Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx always forget about Staten Island.

[alexvillage]

12 hours ago, doodlebug said:

I'm sorry for your experience, but there are a lot of different opinions even amongst the  clergy.  And, while the Catholic Church doesn't approve of couples living together without marriage; the kind of marriage the Church wants is a religious ceremony, not a civil one.  So, on the show, the Cardinal was correct, there is no rule that says Catholic couples cannot be divorced civilly and still married in the eyes of the Church.  

I also personally know several priests who don't discriminate against providing counseling to people who are not living exemplary Catholic lifestyles.  Interesting that an atheist would seek out a Catholic priest for advice.

As I said, at the time I had not yet realized that I am a non believer. I was raised Catholic, and questioning - as I stated in my original post - was my first step in realizing I don't really believe in any of that.

I also said that priests are different. Some are quite nice and friendly and can be helpful. But there is also the ranking of which Catholic gets heard, as we can see by how many rich Catholics do get divorce and have their marriages annulled by the church, even though a poor couple would not get this treatment. Then they get married again, like "good Catholics". Looking at the Kennedy's. Money speaks. And to me religion - as in the organizational structure of religions -  is a con work.

[possibilities]

Lucky the Pope was staying there with his entourage. Clearly the hospital doesn't have any clergy of their own on staff, nor a relationship with any of the local Priests thy could contact. Also, amazingly, they don't know how Medicaid fraud works-- that's one thing hospitals always know!

I thought you couldn't get a transplant unless you had a plausible system in place to pay for the post-op medications. Is that not true?

[bros402]

9 hours ago, possibilities said:

Lucky the Pope was staying there with his entourage. Clearly the hospital doesn't have any clergy of their own on staff, nor a relationship with any of the local Priests thy could contact. Also, amazingly, they don't know how Medicaid fraud works-- that's one thing hospitals always know!

I thought you couldn't get a transplant unless you had a plausible system in place to pay for the post-op medications. Is that not true?

Yup - it is one of the refusal codes that UNOS offers "Potential recipient is temporarily ineligible for transplant due to insurance or financial related reasons"