Chicago Med · Season 1
[in the hope of walking again, their patient has been getting stem cell injections in Mexico]
Good luck? Ethan, are you kidding?
Nat, I've met combat vets who have been paralyzed. The feelings of inferiority can be overwhelming. If you told them a bottle of snake oil might help them walk again, they'd drink it every time.
So you agree with what Nick's doing?
I understand it, Nat.
It's my fault.
Why'd you say that?
I gave her false hope. I told her I believed she was stable when she clearly isn't.
Well, 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?
Losing 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.
[performing an ultrasound on a patient] No kidney stones. Let's look at the bladder. [noticing something unusual] How long did you say she was in a vegetative state for?
Five years.
We need to call the police. This woman is pregnant.
Is this our victim?
Yeah. It's awful. You ever seen anything like this?
I wish I could say I hadn't.
Okay, let's lift. One, two, three.
So helpless.
We're looking into all of the employees at Teresa's facility. We're checking visitor logs, security footage. We'll find out who had access to her and to her floor.
But the rape kit's only supposed to reveal DNA for the past five days. How is this gonna help?
I hate to say this, but the likelihood in a case like this is that the offender's been assaulting her regularly, maybe even daily.
In your daughter's condition, I have to tell you, taking this pregnancy to term would be extremely difficult.
Why? Her brain has been injured, but her body's healthy.
No. At five years in a persistent vegetative state, it's not. This is a high risk situation for pulmonary embolism, sepsis, colonic obstruction, respiratory failure.
But those are just risks, right? It could all work out.
They are extremely high risks.
If you have your daughter go through with this pregnancy, there is a chance that she will not survive.
She's hardly living as it is. If she dies giving birth, maybe that's a merciful outcome. Sometimes, I've wished for that.
There is another issue to consider. Given the abuse your daughter has undergone, do you believe that she would want to keep this pregnancy? In any case, you are Teresa's guardians, and therefore speak on her behalf. Your wishes will be honored.
I wasn't trying to commit suicide. I was trying to see you.
Do you believe it's okay to hurt yourself?
How else could I get to you? It's not like I can ask for a phone call.
Nancy, you... you could seriously hurt or even killed yourself.
You have to help me get out of there. They locked me up after I got in a fight with my mom, but she's bipolar; has been for years.
Hey, I'm sorry, but I'm... I'm not your psychiatrist.
My mom came at me with a hammer while I was sleeping. I was trying to defend myself. That doesn't make me crazy.
No. If that were the situation, it would be reasonable to defend yourself.
See? You're the only one who said that. All the other doctors think I'm psychotic, but my mom's the one who's crazy.
You and Dr. Wheeler were friends?
No, I hardly knew him. He came to me - twice - asking about pills, about therapy. And that wasn't really what he was asking for. He was asking for help. I don't know why he came to me, but he did, and now he's dead. What kind of terrible psychiatrist am I gonna be?
You can't jump in and save everyone, Reese. It's just not possible.
It's not that I didn't jump in to save him. I didn't even see that he was drowning.
You ever seen this before? A resident ending it like this?
Unfortunately, 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.
Helping people is just about the hardest job there is.
You've been doing it what? 25, 30 several years? What what's the secret?
Well, 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. 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.
Sharon, 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.
I 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.
Thank 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?
It was awful. It's just awful.
[orienting a new nurse] Seven treatment rooms on the east side, four trauma bays on the west. Bays three and four combine to treat gunshot wounds, a place affectionately known as Baghdad. 4,000 shootings in Chicago. Some days we get... [patient screaming] a dozen. Drug dispensers are in the north and south end of the E.D., extra gurneys, isolation suites in the ambulance bay. Uh... Band-Aid, wound dressings, gauze, and extra weaponry are in the supply closet next to the elevator, which brings us right here to the command center.
Deer in the headlights.
Mm-hm.
Nursling?
Monique Lawson. She's got her Pediatric Advanced Life Support certification, and is doing her E.D. check-off skills training with yours truly.
[to Monique] Be careful. She bites.
When Jason Wheeler jumped, do you think he was scared? Was... I mean, was... was he at peace? Right before he stepped off, was there a moment of regret? I just... I just can't stop thinking about him.
Yeah.
But see, I... I don't want to, and then I feel guilty because I don't.
The thing about suicide, it's never really a lone act. It tends to leave a lot of victims in its wake. I'd be lying if I said I'd been sleeping too well recently. But, um... but you and I... we got work to do.
I hardly slept last night. I just couldn't stop thinking. I mean, so many people coming in, horrible injuries.
And this isn't even a busy day.
I just hope I'm up to it.
Quick, nurses' credo?
Uh... cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always.
Uh-uh. Don't kill your patient.
Because that's the doctor's job.
[approaching] I heard that.
What is all this about malware and decryption keys?
It's a ransom note. We've been hacked.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Chicago Med pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
