A character in Chicago Med
Played by Oliver Platt
Chicago Med · 227 quotes
Most-quoted character in Chicago Med: in 83 of its 227 quotes
Most scenes with: Dr. Sarah Reese (41), Dr. Ethan Choi (13), Sharon Goodwin (9)
Dr. Daniel CharlesSpoke to your patient, Mr. Wallace.
Let me guess, not a suicide risk.
Dr. Daniel CharlesGarden variety sociopath. He's an opportunist. Knows all the buzzwords. Not a sincere bone in his body.
Good enough for me. [to an attending nurse] Let's start discharge paperwork on Treatment 4.
[the nurse nods and leaves]
Chalk one up for the good guys.
[having learned Danny, the boy she was trying to rescue from sex traffickers, died] It's my fault.
Dr. Daniel CharlesNo, that's not true.
Of course it is. I told him we could remove the chip. I encouraged him to run away.
Dr. Daniel CharlesYou empowered him to make decisions. It's what good doctors do.
But they were the wrong decisions.
Dr. Daniel CharlesIt was the wrong outcome.
Dr. Sarah Reese: And now he's dead. I mean, who knows? If... if I had told him to wait, maybe the police would have come and broken up the ring and he'd be free. I was careless with his life.
Dr. Daniel CharlesDr. Reese, you're anything but careless. Sometimes the best advice, you know, it's just not enough. Dangerous thing about psychiatry, it can sometimes give those of us who practice it the illusion of control. But the human brain, it's... it is the most complex, mysterious object in the universe. That means that what we do, it... it just doesn't come with any guarantees.
I don't think that makes me feel any better.
Dr. Daniel CharlesI know. Never does.
Dr. Daniel CharlesSo, after reading the material I gave you, you told me that you suspected...
That I'm on the autism spectrum. That I have Asperger's.
Dr. Daniel CharlesRight. So, how'd you feel if I told you that I thought that your diagnosis could very well be correct?
Relieved, actually. My whole life, I've never understood why people treated me the way they did. I felt there had to be something wrong with me.
Dr. Daniel CharlesNot wrong. I mean, it's jut different wiring. That's all.
Is there anything we can do to change that wiring?
Dr. Daniel CharlesWell, our wiring is pretty much our wiring, but there's a whole bevy of strategies out there. I mean, medications, social skills training, to help you recognize body language. There's also a new therapy called TMS, but I'd probably recommend you going the traditional routes first.
TMS?
Dr. Daniel CharlesTranscranial Magnetic Stimulation. It's so far FDA approved only for depression, but there is anecdotal evidence that it can benefit people with spectrum disorders. I only mention it because we have a machine here at the hospital.
I spoke to my mom today. Told her I was a psych resident.
Dr. Daniel CharlesOh, just now you're telling her?
Well, yeah. I knew how she'd react. And I was right. She... laughed. She said I was the last person she could ever imagine being a psychiatrist.
Dr. Daniel CharlesWow. Real vote of confidence there.
My mom keeps saying I'm doing this for attention, but... god, who likes seeing doctors?
Dr. Daniel CharlesYour leg okay?
All of a sudden, my knee hurts.
Dr. Daniel CharlesHm.
This place freaks me out even worse than school.
Dr. Daniel CharlesWhat freaks you out about school?
Everything. There's so much drama. It makes me crazy anxious. Sometimes I hide, sometimes I get into fights.
Dr. Daniel CharlesThat's what happened today?
[Ariel glances at something, and Daniel notices she's looking at her mother]
I looked up schizophrenia online. It says it can start in late adolescence.
Dr. Daniel CharlesMm, not usually as early as fourteen, but... I mean, are you hearing or seeing things that other people aren't?
No. But... sometimes, it's like... my feelings aren't my own. Like they're someone else's.
Dr. Daniel CharlesHm.
Do you think I'm crazy?
Dr. Daniel CharlesUh, not really my favorite word, but no. No, I don't.
What were you doing to my daughter?
Dr. Daniel CharlesI was trying to confirm a diagnosis. Um... I... I want neurology to run some tests, but based on this and Ariel's history, I think that she has a condition called mirror touch synesthesia.
What?
Dr. Daniel CharlesIt's a condition that... that causes her to experience the physical sensations and emotions of the people that she's interacting with as her own. My left knee hurts, Ariel feels it in her right. I slap my right cheek, she feels like her left is being slapped. She's mirroring me.
Her stomach; she's responding to your ulcer, not imitating you. She's literally feeling your pain.
Whoever heard of such a thing?
Dr. Daniel CharlesIt's a pretty recent discovery, the existence of these mirror neurons.
Is there a cure?
Dr. Daniel CharlesNot yet, but there are... coping strategies we can teach her to help her manage her condition.
[her cell phone buzzes]' Uh... I'm sorry, I... I have to get this. [answers the call as she leaves] Yeah?
I cannot believe this woman.
Dr. Daniel CharlesHow's that old saying go? You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it gaze at its own reflection.
[after "meeting" a patient's alternate personality] Obviously, she is profoundly disturbed, which we should have known when she first said "tulpa". Why are we treating her like she is sane when she isn't?
Dr. Daniel CharlesWouldn't that be a little too easy, though? I mean, sure, we could, you know, slap a label on her, put her in some diagnostic box, pour some medicine on top; but sometimes it's a little more complicated than that.
She had an argument with her made-up friend while her subconscious crashed the car. It seems pretty simple to me.
Dr. Daniel CharlesGrace is definitely a fractured personality. But it's all the more reason that we have a responsibility to dig deeper and figure out why.
Right. I'm sorry, Dr. Charles, but I like boxes. None of this makes any sense. It is all so subjective. I hate it. I mean, where's the science?
Dr. Daniel CharlesDr. Reese, every medical discipline, psychiatry included, is as much art as it is science.
Well, I don't see the science or the art. You know, everybody was so surprised when I went into this; me, the lab geek. Well, they were right. I don't belong here.
This was a total disaster.
Dr. Daniel CharlesI'm not so sure that's true. I mean, from Grace's perspective, this could be as close to a win as we can get.
She just chose her tulpa over her husband; her tulpa that almost killed her.
Dr. Daniel CharlesI just saw her tulpa talk her off a ledge.
I have no idea what to think.
Dr. Daniel CharlesLike it or not, the line between psychological illness and a coping mechanism is a blurry one. I mean, just 'cause we don't give them names and voices doesn't mean we don't all have different sides. I mean, our personalities change based on... how much sleep we get, how hungry we are. Hell, intestinal bacteria could be the determining factor in our emotions. Look... I know you think of yourself as an analytical thinker and a scientist, and that you're wondering if you have a place in psychiatry right now. But I also see this other Sarah in there, and she's filled with intuition and compassion, humanity. And when you put 'em both together, like during Grace's panic attack today, then I see a sensational psychiatrist.
Dr. Daniel CharlesMr. Kellogg, I am so grateful that you're still alive, and that I get to treat you.
I just want my meds.
Dr. Daniel CharlesYeah. It really doesn't work that way. You see, your behavior indicates a pretty profound personality disorder. Off the cuff, among other things, I'd say you're probably a malignant narcissist with over sadistic impulses.
You've got no right to talk to me...
Dr. Daniel CharlesShut your mouth.
Dr. Charles.
Maybe I should just go.
Dr. Daniel CharlesNo, no, no. I'm so sorry, but I gotta put you on a seventy-two hour psychiatric hold; for your own good.
What? Seventy-two hours?
Dr. Daniel CharlesYou wanted my attention, and now you have it.
Yes, and the suit was how Edward dealt with his wife's death. See, I'm concerned that if he leaves, he's just gonna go get another one, and that will lead him right back here. Some knucklehead will see him in that costume and pick a fight. "Let's see how tough you are, Super-guy."
Dr. Daniel CharlesHm. It's possible, but... is he having any suicidal thoughts?
No.
Dr. Daniel CharlesAnd he's certainly not a danger to others. He literally presented saving a woman's life. I mean, he just doesn't meet the criteria for a psychiatric hold.
It's my fault.
Dr. Daniel CharlesWhy'd you say that?
I gave her false hope. I told her I believed she was stable when she clearly isn't.
Dr. Daniel CharlesWell, I'm not sure I agree. I mean, just made her case a little tougher, but I'm still gonna file the appeal.
Why would you do that when she just tried to kill herself?
Dr. Daniel CharlesLosing hope is a not a sign of mental illness. It's a sign of being human. I mean, the poor girl; she has a violent, unstable mother, and her fate is in the hands of this psychiatrist who doesn't believe a word she says. I mean, given these odds, I can absolutely understand why she'd fall into despair.
You ever seen this before? A resident ending it like this?
Dr. Daniel CharlesUnfortunately, I have. Yeah. Several times. You know that 400 doctors take their own lives every year, right? Most of any profession. I don't have a lot of evidence to back this up, but I got a strong hunch it's got something to do with taking people who have a powerful desire to help and throwing them into a game where the odds are just stacked against them. I mean, this I do know: situations like this, it's never just one thing. It's always a complex set of circumstances, and, um, you know, trying to figure it out, trying to assign blame... it's, uh... it's pretty pointless.
Dr. Daniel CharlesHelping people is just about the hardest job there is.
You've been doing it what? 25, 30 several years? What what's the secret?
Dr. Daniel CharlesWell, I'm still looking for that, but if I had to guess, I'd say it had something to do with, you know, just keep showing up, keep doing your job, put one foot in front of the other, 'cause when you start to get all tangled up in here, you know, that's when, I mean, it can just paralyze you.
Yeah. Still, it's gonna be a while before I can sleep again. [walks away sadly]
Dr. Daniel CharlesDr. Halstead? [Dr. Halstead turns to look at him] I think we're lucky to have you here.
When I took this job, Daniel, I wanted to create an environment where we would never lose someone. Everyone would look out for each other. I thought I did. But then today, I found out there was a very troubled young man in our midst, and not a single person knew him. I failed.
Dr. Daniel CharlesSharon, come on.
No, no. You... you got wonder about all the ones who don't jump off the ledge; what's going through their heads, how this job is affecting them. I worry about these people, Daniel. I worry about them.
Dr. Daniel CharlesI know you do. I know you do.
I wish I could protect them.
They won't need me in the ED tomorrow, so I'll be back on your service.
Dr. Daniel CharlesThank you. Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow.
[Reese hesitates, then enters his office and sits down next to him]
Everybody comes to you, don't they? With all their pain? And you just have to absorb it. How are you doing today?
Dr. Daniel CharlesIt was awful. It's just awful.
Dr. Sarah ReeseRachel DiPillo · 59 quotes
Dr. Will HalsteadNick Gehlfuss · 50 quotes
Dr. Connor RhodesColin Donnell · 45 quotes
Sharon GoodwinS. Epatha Merkerson · 44 quotes
Dr. Natalie ManningTorrey DeVitto · 42 quotes
Dr. Ethan ChoiBrian Tee · 41 quotes
Maggie LockwoodMarlyne Barrett · 19 quotes
April SextonYaya DaCosta · 18 quotes
Jay HalsteadJesse Lee Soffer · 9 quotes
Dr. Isidore LathamAto Essandoh · 7 quotes
Dr. Ava BekkerNorma Kuhling · 4 quotes
Dr. Robin CharlesMekia Cox · 4 quotes
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Chicago Med pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.