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The Greater Good

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Episode 207 "The Greater Good"
 Original Air Date: 11/06/03
 Written by: R. Scott Gemmill
 Directed by: Richard Thorpe
Guest Stars:

  • Bob Newhart - Ben Hollander

  • Oliver Davis - Alex

  • Michael Angarano - Zack

  • Melany Bell - Zack's Mom

  • Allison Smith - Denny

  • Jason Cerbone - Angry Patient

  • Carlos Lacamara - Ron Kennedy

  • Gathering Marbet - Patricia Collins

  • Sarah Shahi - Tara King

  • Kathleen Archer - Cabbie

  • Joey Diaz - Grocery Store Clerk

  • Michael Roddy - Kevin

  • Tony Rivard - Ernie


Staff:

  • Abraham Benrubi - Jerry

  • Troy Evans - Frank Martin

  • Deezer D. - Malik

  • Lily Mariye - Lily

  • Rossif Sutherland - Lester

  • Glenn Howerton - Dr. Nick Cooper

  • Kathy McGraw - Dr. Briane Vargas

  • Brian Lester - Paramedic Dumar

  • Emily Wagner - Paramedic Pickman

  • Michelle Bonilla - Paramedic Harms

  • Jordana Capra - OB Attending

  • Eric Gerleman - Harvest Surgeon

  • Nadia Shazana - Jacy

Doctor Lewis is visiting Ben Hollander at home.  She reads books while he works, but he tells her that she doesn’t have to keep coming over.  Sam helps a mother who is dropped off at the ER because she thinks she is having a miscarriage.  Jerry is toting dogs he found at his apartment.  A drug rep comes to the ER looking to promote a high-priced drug.  Pratt, Chen, Malik, and Cooper watch a car chase on the TV, hoping for the driver to get outside of their catchment so that County will not have to take the accident, if it happens.  The driver crashes and they are all extremely disappointed.

Abby and Corday argue about how the ER is taking advantage of Abby’s surgical rotation before she is called back down for a consult.  Kovac and the ER prepare for the MVA as he burns through rounds at a rapid pace.  Romano is impressed with his speedy work but wants Kovac to order more unnecessary tests to boost hospital revenue.  Pratt does an Ultrasound on the lady who believes she is having a miscarriage.  The Ultrasound is okay.  Cooper takes the carjacker from the MVA as Pratt tends to the victim. 

The drug rep’s promotional food and items enthrall the med students, but are not swaying the residents and attendings.  An angry man comes to triage complaining of being overcharged by Doctor Carter.  When he gets violent, he is tackled and injured by security.  Kovac treats a teenager named Zack with a sprained arm.  He needs stitches for lacerations but refuses to be medicated to numb the pain.  Pratt’s MVA patient is unconscious and the carjacker has internal injuries and is going to the OR.  Romano confronts Abby about focusing on being a surgeon and not a nurse during her assessment of the carjacker.  Zack turns out to be a runaway foster child.  His social worker hassles Kovac to put Zack on Haldol before he is forced to leave by Kovac.  Romano sends the carjacker up to surgery and the victim is brain dead. 

Zack says that he has been so overmedicated that can think straight.  The angry man who was complaining about a bill has been given a bed in the ER and complains to Kovac about being overpaid.  Kovac redoes his bill and lowers the charge from $3000 to $300.  Romano overhears and tells Kovac not to let the patients with health insurance off easy when one walks through the door.  Lewis tells Sam to let Ben Hollander in when he arrives.  Frank warns Pratt to take better notice to Chen.  He warns him that Pratt needs to keep a shorter leash on her.  Lewis takes one of Jerry’s dogs.  Kovac and Pratt argue about how to treat one of Neela’s patients.  Kovac cancels the tests Pratt tells Neela to order.  Romano continues to bully Abby on her surgical rotation.  Neela approaches Dr. Lewis about the conflicting information she is getting from Pratt and Kovac.  Lewis tells her to do what Kovac says because he is the attending and Pratt is only a resident.  Neela takes the car crash victim’s wife in to see her husband.  The possible-miscarriage is going to have to have her baby early but doesn’t want to have a “preme”.  She is worried about brain-damage.  She doesn’t want to be sent up to OB.  The ER argues about whether or not to force the mother to have the baby.  Kovac expresses his worries about Zack being overmedicated.  Ben Hollander is late for a checkup and Lewis is worried.  Neela informs Lewis that Mrs. Collins, the wife of the brain-dead MVA victim has refused to have her husband’s organs donated.  Denny, the miscarriage mother, is MIA when OB comes down.  A taxi driver rushes in saying that Denny is bleeding out in her cab.  The baby is coming now.  Pratt and Kovac do the delivery in the ER.  Pratt and Kovac continue to argue about whether to treat the baby.  Pratt treats the baby. 

Abby goes to talk to Mrs. Collins about donating her husband’s organs.  She begins to explain how the organs would be used.  Lewis continues to search for Ben as Alex arrives looking for Sam.  Alex asks to go to the morgue but Jerry will not tell him where it is.  Hollander shows up with flowers and a rare book for Dr. Lewis.  Weaver questions Kovac’s decisions on how he is treating Zack.  He explains his worries about overmedication and Weaver tells him to discharge him.  Denny doesn’t want Pratt to help her new baby.  The social worker is taking Zack back to the treatment center.  Kovac stops him only to find that Zack has been sedated with Haldol.  Tera King, the drug rep, returns to propose that Kovac use her drug in the Congo.  Kovac explodes about how her drug is worthless because it costs too much and that her company pays more on advertisement and free gifts then on drugs.  He tosses all of her promotional goods in the trash. 

Doctor Lewis tells Ben Hollander that she can’t accept his gift.  Cooper attempts to ask Chen out.  Alex finds Kovac across the street playing an arcade game.  Denny refuses to see her baby.  Corday explains how a surgeon’s life is hard to do.  She tells her to manage the time she spends with her patients.  Lewis takes Jerry’s dog home.  Sam asks Jerry where Alex is.  Frank tells her that Alex is across the street.  Kovac treats Alex to ice cream.  Sam is enraged because Alex is diabetic.  Denny is watching over her baby when Pratt comes in to tell her that the baby is doing better.  She says that she is going to stay with her baby because he shouldn’t die along.  Lewis gives the dog to Ben as a seeing-eye dog.  They take a walk and talk about their parents.  Ben explains that he has a daughter who he hasn’t talked to in years.  Kovac tells Neela to look at the prices for the tests and medicine she ordered for a patient.  The total comes to over $4000.  Kovac and Pratt argue again about how Kovac is stealing his patients.  Kovac suggests that Pratt go to Africa to learn that tests to cover his butt aren’t the way to practice medicine.  Pratt becomes enraged and vows to only present to other attendings.  Abby sews up Mr. Collins after he has donated his organs.  She thinks about the things she said to Mrs. Collins about what organs will be used for other patients. 

Reviewed by Taylor Shull on July 28, 2004

NBC Review

DOCTORS PRATT AND KOVAC ARGUE OVER FATE OF PREMATURE BABY; EMMY WINNER BOB NEWHART GUEST-STARS -- Drs. Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) and Kovac (Goran Visnjic) clash over a miscarriage-prone young woman (Allison Smith) who arrives to deliver a premature baby -- Pratt wants to make heroic efforts to save the tiny soul while Kovac is dead-set against spending vast amounts of money to keep the child alive, but forever sickly. Elsewhere, Dr. Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) enjoys her time with a sarcastic patient (Emmy-winning guest star Bob Newhart, "Newhart") who once threatened to take his own life over his impending blindness. A distracted Kovac also runs afoul of a psychiatrist who over-medicates an abused foster child (guest star Michael Angarano) who wants to go back to his drug-addled mother. Plus, a chatty, upbeat pharmaceutical rep (as Terra, guest star Sarah Shahi) makes the rounds offering goodies, a man gets violent over an exorbitant bill and Dr. Coop (guest star Glenn Howerton) makes a romantic play for Dr. Chen (Ming-Na). Laura Innes, Alex Kingston, Maura Tierney, Paul McCrane and Parminder Nagra also star.

TV Guide Review

November 6, 2003: The Greater Good: Susan goes above and beyond the call of duty to help Ben Hollander cope with his failing vision; Pratt's actions backfire for a mother in drastically premature labor; Abby uses her surgical rotation to teach a widow about organ donation; and Kovac battles a social worker over an overmedicated teen.