The missing valium struck me as implausible. Weaver not only forgets she has it in her onw labcoat, but forgets to put her labcoat away, leaving it at the nurse’s station? It seemed like a rather contrived “dumb boss” situation. I don’t doubt that these things happen (heck, the Pit is full of anecdotes), but it still seemed forced.
The bratty kid is seriously getting on my nerves. A show like this definitely doesn’t need a spunky kid in the cast, always getting into trouble. In fact, after the earlier finger-stealing incident, I’d have thought the kid would be absolutely banned by hospital grounds, under threat of getting his mom fired. The fact that there are no lingering consequences for the kid’s actions (except obviously pushing his mom and Luka into bed) annoys me.
You know… since Carter thought he needed another stitch to finish up and was complementing him on lining up the edges of the wound, he must have really injured himself before deciding to stitch himself up. Maybe he annoyed one of his classmates and the kid knifed him
I love the idea of Romano as ghost. But only one person could see him, and everyone else would have to think they’re mental, eventually leading to an attempt to commit him or her. Who should the victim be?
BTW, Noah isn’t leaving, he signed a contract for the 2004-5 season:
" TVGuide Friday, August 15, 2003
THE DOCTOR IS IN: ER’s top doc Noah Wyle may be taking some time off this fall, but his commitment to NBC’s long-running hospital drama is hardly wavering. Wyle has extended his ER contract for another year, through the 2004-05 season. The new pact also calls for the actor to direct two episodes of the show. "
Very simple.
If you want to play it as a romantic comedy, he appears to Corday.
If you want to play it as drama, he keeps scaring the interns and first-year residents.
And the most satisfying way to play it would be to have him appear to Weaver, and keep their feud going through the fires of Hell until the end of time.
Cook County General isn’t a charity hospital, per se. It’s publicly funded and therefore unable to turn away indigent patients, but it doesn’t exist solely for the benefit of the poor, and they certainly don’t give away their services. We’re talking about one of the major hospitals in Chicago, so it so stands to reason they’d have one of those machines. We’re also talking about the girlfriend of one of the doctors, who is pretty much guaranteed the best of everything available.
I once had a patient who was hurt exactly like that kid–he had ankylosing spondlyitis and was found unresponsive. They intubated him and broke his neck at the C3 level, so the poor guy was paralyzed and on a respirator.
The cause of Weaver’s current batch of absent mindedness will be revealed soon.
Soon as in the next episode. But given what the preview and the ads are showing, I figured that saying so was a spoiler in its own right.
The way things played out in this episode were not the way that they were originally filmed, according to the spoiler mavens, Bratto was supposed to be caught in school with the suture kit which was a zero tolerance violation because of the scissors and needle inside. Presumably this was changed in order to show some interaction between Sam and Carter, leading up to what, I have absolutely no idea.
For Guinastasia:Weaver’s not going to get found out… not about that, at least! The alderman story has been “Bobbed” in a big way. Don’t hold your breath for resolution.
I’ve heard that people with ankylosing spondylitis eventually need to chose between spending the rest of their lives standing or sitting. Is this true?
It seems to me there is a lot of bad medicine at this hospital, a lot of screw ups. How the hell do they stay in business with all the malpractice suits? Dr. Green kills a pregnant woman, Malucci misses an aortic embolism, and now Pratt paralyzes a teenager.
There seems to be no repercussions to the doctors for screwing up. A lot of “Oh, I’m sorry, tough day,” or “You will always remember the first patient you kill,” but jeez, if I were bleeding to death don’t take me to County! (Unless Luka is wearing a muscle shirt. Then I may reconsider.)
Did anyone else find the dialogue hard to follow? I didn’t catch why Bratto needed stitches.
My thought is that Carter’s happyness will end when the new girlfriend decides to leave him. Did anyone else notice the looks she would give whenever anyone greeted Carter? She dosn’t want her baby to be born in America like Carter does. Big messy breakup on the horizon. You don’t actually think the writers would allow any on these character happyness when they delight so much in torturing them?
Could they please drop a heliocopter on Bratto.
Ivylass: I belive that County General is the only hospital in the country with the words “Abandon all hope, ye that enter” above the door.
Ah, yes, my bad. It is indeed Cook County Hospital. The rest of the post is accurate, though, really.
Ivylass, we’re talking about three cases out of thousands per doctor per year. Say they see 10 patients per shift (incredibly low estimate), five shifts a week, 50 weeks a year. That’s 2,500 patients a year per doctor, minimum. One bad call out of 2,500 isn’t exactly what I’d call a lot of bad medicine. Mark Green, for instance, had been there for, what, eight years? That’s 20,000 patients, one of whom died because he made a bad judgement call. Those odds don’t sound too shabby to me, to be honest.
Also, any time there is suspected negligence or wrong-doing, the case gets reviewed by a panel of other doctors. If they decide that the doctor really did screw up, he faces disciplinary action. If they decide the doctor’s actions were reasonable and justifiable under the circumstances, nothing happens. IIRC, that’s what happened with Mark and the pregnant woman. He was cleared of any wrongdoing by the medical review board, but the husband still filed civil suit for wrongful death.
Man, my sister has ankylosing spondylitis, and I hope it never gets as bad as in that show! Her doctors tell her to do lots of exercise and physiotherapy in order to stay flexible and fit - there is no reason for the kid in ER to have been forced to sit at home all his life, that just made things worse!
As for choosing to sit or stand - I haven’t ever read that about AS, but seeing my sister stuggle to get up is tough as it is (she also has a form of reactive arthritis in some of her joints), I hope it never gets that serious. Sadly, she is only 20 years old - that ER episode scared me! I hope she wasn’t watching it!
