Abby, Lester, Neela and Sam are working on a practice
patient while Dr. Romano supervises and criticizes Abby
for her mistakes. "Congratulations, Abby, you managed to
kill the practice dummy," Romano remarks.
"Shame we have to work the holiday," Neela tells Abby
who's still upset about failing to save the practice
patient. Neela apologizes to Abby and tells her that her
patient was much more complicated than her own.
Luka tells Chuny he needs a room but she tells him that
there's no room and to find him a place in the hallway.
Luka and Abby prepare to give a patient, Mr. Garland,
some antibiotics. "I need to be with my family for
Thanksgiving", he says. Luka tells him that they can
come visit him at the hospital. Luka assures Abby that
Romano is that way with all medical students and that
she'll get the hang of it.
Frank is putting up decorations at the desk. "The damn
night shift is suppose to take care of this, I'm just in
charge of the potluck." Sam is talking to her son on the
phone.
Chuny and Sam begin to chat while grabbing coffee at the
admit desk. Neela walks up and grabs a cup. "That's
Lily's", Chuny tells her. "I thought it was potluck",
she replies.
"It's a coffee club, you have to pay every month," Abby
says. "Sorry, how much?" she asks. Sam tells her it's a
nurse's coffee club, and walks away.
Dr. Lewis walks up and starts handing out charts to
Abby, Dr. Cooper, and Lester. "Hey, Pratt - will you get
the incoming trauma?" she asks. "Yeah," he says, then he
asks Frank why they're watching a parade on TV and not
the game. Morris grabs a chart and Pratt tells him he
skipped a patient. Frank snaps a picture and catches
Pratt and Morris. "Found it in last year's box, I figure
there are a couple of shots left," Frank says. Pratt
walks away saying "Might be Weaver and Romano in a
compromising position." "I'll get double prints, then!"
"Six weeks and three days," Abby says while with a HIV
patient trying to have a baby. Lily interrupts and tells
Abby that three nurses have called in sick for the night
shift. "So call registry," she replies. "We really need
someone who knows the floor..." Abby explains she's on
all day as a medical student as Dr. Lewis enters. "I can
let you off at 5 so you can get a nap...Come on, take
one for the team," she pleads. Abby sulks, but agrees.
Morris is checking a patient for glaucoma. "So you're
not using the eye drops?" he asks. "My nephew gave me an
herbal medicine...", the patient replies as he shows
Morris his bag of marijuana. Pratt walks by quickly,
saying "Come on Morris, trauma's here." Dr. Cooper's
with a patient who cut his hand with an electric blade
while trying to carve a turkey.
Dr. Pratt and EMTs roll in a patient that was in a car
accident. They bring him into a room as Dr. Corday
enters. "Can you two handle this?" Morris asks. "I
should hope so," Corday replies. "I need to get back to
my glaucoma patient." Morris leaves and Corday asks
Pratt if he's squeamish. He says "No, just stupid."
Frank's digging into the food as Abby asks where all the
nurses are. Luka is on the phone trying to see if any of
the hospital units have room for Mr. Garland. Abby's
back with the HIV patient. "There's a little more
bleeding than I expected," she says. "The cervix is
open, and with an open cervix, you can't maintain a
pregnancy. I'm sorry." The patient becomes upset and
tells Abby she's been trying to get pregnant with her
husband, but then she passes out before she can finish
talking.
"For how long?" Abby asks with no response. "Lauren?"
Abby presses the emergency light. "Can I help you?"
Frank asks over the intercom. "This is Abby, who's at
admit?" "Just me and the food," Frank says. Abby tells
him her patient is bleeding out and Frank says he'll
find someone for her.
The car accident victim wakes up. "Where am I?" Mr.
Westbrook says. "You're at County General, you got
clipped by a tow truck", Sam says. The patient groans.
Corday tells him to try not to move. Mr. Westbrook takes
out his cell phone and tells Pratt he's calling his
lawyer. "I rather not be treated here." Pratt takes the
phone away from him as Dr. Romano walks in. "Hello Mr.
Westbrook, I'm Robert Romano, Chief of Emergency
Services, I just got off the phone with our CEO Peter
Fenwick." He tells Romano that he went to school with
Fenwick. "I think your employees need a lesson of
customer service. This one took my cell phone", he says
as he points to Pratt. "Well he's not long for this
hospital," Romano replies. He also tells him they'll run
a few more tests and then work a transfer to a different
hospital. He pulls Pratt aside. "That guy is Chicago's
biggest real estate developer," Romano says. "More like
the biggest prick." "When you get a VIP patient - " "You
treat them the same as everyone else," Pratt cuts him
off, as the argument becomes more heated. Romano tells
him it was a mistake allowing him to practice medicine.
"You're no longer on the case," he says. "Good, my name
won't be mentioned in the malpractice suit." Pratt
argues back. "And as far as I'm concerned, you no longer
work here. You just pissed me off for the last time,"
Romano says as he leaves.
Abby
is still with Lauren, as she wakes. "Hey Lauren, you
gave us a little scare. You passed out from blood loss."
Dr. Kovac and Sam also work on the patient. Lauren asks
what can stop the bleeding. Abby tells her she can have
a DNC and be back to normal. "Abby.." Luka says quietly
as he steps outside to talk to her privately. He tells
her that in this patient's case, it's more complicated
than a DNC. "You should be careful what you say", he
tells her nicely.
Pratt checks the score of the game as Dr. Romano and
others wheel Mr. Westbrook away. Dr. Romano jokes around
with the patient and tells him he'll be seeing a good
doctor at the next hospital. Romano turns to Pratt and
says "What part of 'you're off the case' did you NOT
understand?" Pratt tells him he's just looking out for
the best interest of the patient. "Keep it up, Pratt."
"What, another letter in my file?" Pratt says. "No, you
and I are meeting with Weaver and Anspaugh at the end of
your shift." "On Thanksgiving?" Pratt says. Romano says
yes and walks away. "I guess it save you from spending
it alone," he says under his breath.
"Lewis, get coverage for Pratt's shift starting
tomorrow," Romano says as he observes Cooper with a
patient. Abby walks up just as Frank yells "Smile!" and
snaps another photo. Sam's on the phone with Alex again
as Morris prescribes eye drops for his glaucoma patient.
"What about the other stuff..." the patient asks. "You
don't need it," Morris replies. Gallant enters as Luka
goes to the triage area to start treating and streeting
patients. Sam pulls him aside before he walks out to
triage and tells him there are a few problems with
patient's in the hallway." They go to Mr. Garland and
Luka apologizes for the delay. "It's okay, I like to
people-watch", Mr. Garland says. Luka tells Sam what
kind of medicine to treat him with.
"Can you help us with triage?" Luka asks her. "No," she
says, "you just gave me an hour of work to do." Luka
says it's ridiculous that they can't treat triage
patients and have to do the work of the entire hospital.
"I need hard restraints for Mr. Garland," Luka tells
her, as she becomes surprised and says "Mr. Garland?
He's a pussycat.." "The kind the lock," he says and
walks away.
Abby's with Lauren, who is still upset. Dr. Coburn hands
her a clipboard and tells her that she needs a consent
to do exploratory surgery or hysterectomy if necessary.
"Hysterectomy?" she asks. "Only as a last resort," Dr.
Coburn replies. "No one said anything about a
hysterectomy," she becomes shaken. "I want to have a
baby." "It may be the only option if we can't control
bleeding", Dr. Coburn assures her. Abby asks Dr. Coburn
if she can speak with her outside. Coburn tells Abby
that she usually doesn't have to explain her operative
approach to a nurse, but Abby tells her she's on her med
student rotation. Their argument over treatment for
Lauren becomes hot as Dr. Romano enters to examine a
nearby patient. He butts in and tells Abby she's wrong.
Lewis and Morris examine a patient as Chuck interrupts
and gives her flowers. She's not overly excited to see
him. He asks if she wants to go to dinner but she says
no and that she's tired. He thinks she's blowing him
off. Frank says a GSW to the face is en route. Lewis and
Morris walk away. Chuck enters the exam room Mr.
Westbrook is in. "Five minutes ETA for the private
chopper", Chuck says. A man in a coat replies "I'm Dr.
Hewitt from Northwestern, I'll be flying with you."
Westbrook thanks Romano for the treatment. Hewitt turns
to Romano and asks if he's going to the helipad. Not
surprisingly, Romano says he can't because the ER is
swamped with patients. He shakes his hand and tells them
to have a good flight.
Abby sends Lauren up for surgery. Neela, Frank and Dr.
Romano are at the admit desk. "Shouldn't you be on the
roof?" Frank asks Romano. "No", he replies. Frank tells
him that 'Mr. Moneybags' forgot his watch. Romano tells
Neela to take it up to the helipad. "I don't blame you
for not going up. The last thing you need to do is lose
another limb up there", Frank says as Romano rolls his
eyes. He says he'll take her up. Morris' glaucoma
patient comes to the desk. He tells Neela that Morris
stole his medicine. In fact, Morris is sitting outside
in the ambulance bay, smoking it.
Luka and Sam bring Mr. Garland up to the ICU. A nurse
says there's no room for him, but Luka argues the ER has
no more room for him either. Luka locks Mr. Garland to a
nearby pole. Sam thinks its really stupid that he's in
restraints.
Neela and Romano stand in the elevator, on it's way to
the helipad. Romano is nervous. He wipes the sweat off
his forehead while Neela adjusts her safety glasses. The
doors swing open as the helicopter blades rapidly
rotate. The flight nurses, including Chuck and Dr.
Hewitt surround Mr. Westbrook on the gurney.
Neela steps out while Romano's eyes are fixed on the
chopper blades. "Are you coming..?" Neela asks. Romano
has a flashback of the incident where he lost his arm.
"Dr. Romano??" Neela asks again. "Here. Take it," he
says. She takes it from him and walks out to the
chopper. "Patient forgot his watch," Neela tells them.
Dr. Hewitt tells her thank you as he readies to board
the flight. Chuck tells another flight nurse that she
has to get off the flight because it is an insurance
requirement that he is on it.
Romano
makes it down to the ER and runs out of the elevator. He
runs outside and begins breathing heavily. The sight of
the helicopter was too much for him. He begins to calm
down and looks at the patients out in the ambulance bay.
He spots Morris smoking. "WHAT in the hell do you think
you are doing?" he says forcefully. Morris is scared and
replies "Nothing!" Romano tells him to get inside and
sit at admit and not to move until he gets in there.
Morris heads inside as Romano shakes his head in
disgust.
The helicopter swivels in the wind above Neela. She and
the nurse wave and begin to roll the gurney back into
the elevator. The chopper begins to wobble. While
rolling the gurney into the elevator, it gets stuck.
"The strap is caught," the nurse says to Neela, pointing
to the gurney's wheel. Neela bends down to fix it.
Suddenly, the chopper loses control and the bottom slams
onto the helipad. Neela looks at the helicopter.
It tilts over to it's side and begins spin out of
control. Fragments of the blades break off and fly
everywhere. The nurse shrieks as she and Neela try to
avoid getting hit. A huge piece of a blade shoots into
the elevator and just barely misses Neela's head. The
nurse screams and piece of shrapnel slams into her back.
The
helicopter slams into the helipad walls and begins to
fall off the building. Luka and Sam, still in the ICU
with Mr. Garland argue over how to treat him. The
helicopter slams into the side of the building creating
a huge explosion. Luka, Sam, and other assistants all
drop to the floor as flames fill the room.
The explosion causes fiery debris to fall into the
ambulance bay. Dr. Romano looks up and screams as the
flaming chopper heads down and crushes him to death.
EMTs and others flee the ambulance bay which is
completely on fire.
Firefighters
scramble to extinguish flames outside, as doctors and
nurses treat the patients that were outside. Meanwhile,
inside the ER, guards and police try to get everyone
inside and treated. Pratt uses a walkie talkie device
and says "Tell every surgeon to get down here!" Neela
yells "From the roof!" as she enters the ER floor. The
nurse that was hit by a piece of shrapnel lays on the
bloody gurney. "Decreased breath sounds", Neela tells
Pratt as he comes to assist. Pratt tells Neela to go to
triage and treat patients there. Abby yells for Neela as
she pushes a box to her. Neela asks what it is and Abby
tells her they are mass causality beds and morphine.
Abby hurries into an exam room where Dr. Lewis is
treating a GSW to the face. "How much longer?" Abby
asks. "As soon as I get this crank - what happened?"
Susan asks. "Helicopter crash." Dr. Lewis looks up
immediately, because she knows Chuck is on duty today.
Lewis asks if it was on the roof but Abby tells her it
was in the bay. She tells Abby to find out if there are
any survivors.
Abby instructs how the color coded gurneys work. She
yells at Morris for just sitting there at the desk. He
tells her Romano told him to wait there. Dr. Lewis runs
out to the ambulance bay and is very surprised. She runs
to assist with a woman whose legs are stuck under an
ambulance that was tipped over when the chopper crashed.
Doctors Cooper and Gallant rush to provide backboards
and gurneys.
Susan
chokes up while treating the patient. She is obviously
thinking about Chuck. The patient asks her if she's
okay, but Lewis just covers up by saying it's the smoke
that's bothering her. Meanwhile, Mr. Garland screams as
the flame surround him. Luka tells him he'll be okay.
The alarms are blaring and water pours from the ceiling.
Outside, a firefighter asks Abby who's in charge. She
points to Susan. He approaches Susan and tells her that
no one survived the crash, but the flames are out.
Dr. Weaver arrives, and approaches Dr. Lewis. She asks
if she's hurt and which of the other doctors are on
duty. Lewis tells Weaver Chuck was on the flight. Kerry
sincerely apologizes. Morris is still sitting, doing
nothing. Gallant wheels in a patient whose wife is being
taken up to surgery by Dr. Corday. Anspaugh also wheels
in a patient. Pratt walks past the elevator as someone
gets off it and yells "I need a doctor here!" It's Chuck
who is wheeling in another flight nurse injured above.
Dr. Pratt asks if he was suppose to be on the flight.
Chuny, Cooper, and Lewis tube a patient. Cooper takes a
hit off his asthma inhaler. "Do we need to tube you
too?" Chuny asks him. Dr. Cooper looks through the
window and says "I thought he was dead." Dr. Lewis turns
around and she's Chuck. He doesn't appear to be harmed,
but just roughed up. She runs towards him and gives him
a huge hug. He's surprised, but embraces her. She tears
up and begins joyfully crying. "That bitch wouldn't let
me fly!" he tells her. "That bitch saved your life!"
Chuny calls for Dr. Lewis but she ignores her for a
minute. "I thought you were dead", she cries. "Well I
scraped my back a little, he shows her a tiny piece of
metal." She laughs lightly and runs back to the patient.
Chuck seems happy.
The flames are finally out in the ICU where Sam and Luka
are. Luka removes a woman who's tube melted in her
throat. Luka tells Sam to find a surgeon.
Weaver instructs Pratt to call surgery concerning the
injured flight nurse that Chuck brought in. Lewis is
still treating the woman whose legs were stuck under the
ambulance. Abby tells Lester he has 10 other patients
that need him, and to quit wasting time on just one.
Suddenly, Chuck collapses behind Abby. "Chuck...Chuck!"
she says. She tells Neela and Lester to help her get him
on a bed. Neela runs off to find a doctor - she first
asks Pratt but he tells her he's busy.
She grabs an Ultrasound machine and wheels it to Abby
and Lester. No doctors are available. Abby looks at the
two of them. She begins intubate in Chuck's mouth, which
is normally a procedure doctors do. Chuck's stats are
good. Abby uses the Ultrasound machine and sees a piece
of metal in his back.
Anspaugh comes and picks up a patient that Luka and Sam
are working on. "Your burns are only minor, Mr.
Garland", Luka tells him. "I liked it better downstairs.
I only had pneumonia downstairs." Weaver and Gallant
pronounce a patient that was injured in the ambulance
bay. Gallant tells her that the man's wife is in
surgery.
Neela
comes to Susan and tells her "We still need an
attending." She asks which patient. "The flight nurse
guy, Chuck?" Neela replies, not knowing about Susan and
Chuck's relationship. "What?!" Susan runs to Chuck's
side. He's still unconscious. "He's intubated with a
central line, who did this?" Susan asks. Abby tells her
to sign the clipboard and say she did. Dr. Corday enters
and asks if this is the patient needing surgery. Susan
tells her it's Chuck and that she can't observe, but she
can take her up to the OR "Abby, thank you!" Susan says
as the elevator doors close. Neela and Abby step into
the hallway. Neela looks around. "Is it over?"
Dr.
Lewis is on the phone with Dr. Corday. Chuck is fine.
She begins walking with Abby. "Too bad it takes a
disaster to whip this place into shape." Dr. Coburn
approaches Abby and tells her that her patient Lauren
required a hysterectomy, and tells her goodnight.
Alex walks up and asks Sam if those are body bags
outside. "Did you see the crash?" he asks Luka. He nods
yes. Sam asks Alex if he wants to go across the street
for dinner. Sam tells Luka he's welcome to join them. He
agrees, and goes.
Anspaugh enters an exam room where Pratt is stitching up
a patient. "Are you ready? Where is Romano??" Anspaugh
asks, and tells Pratt to have the nurses finish the
stitching. Weaver says she's too busy to have the
meeting at the moment. "Where is Robert?!" he asks her.
"I thought he was up in the OR with you? Fill me in
later."
Pratt steps outside with Anspaugh and tells him this
will be settled right now. He tells him Romano sent him
a file of letters, and that Pratt is definitely
qualified for suspension.
Pratt says he and Romano don't see eye to eye most of
the time. Anspaugh thinks nothing of it, and says he
hasn't received any other complaints from other
attendings, and obviously Romano didn't care enough to
show up for the meeting. "I saw you in action today.
You're an excellent physician", Anspaugh says as Pratt
smiles and shakes his hand. Anspaugh hands him the file.
"Give this to Romano when you see him."
Luka, Alex, and Sam sit at a table and review a menu.
Luka says he's going to go wash up. Sam asks Alex why he
invited Luka. "You shouldn't have friends over 30." "So
I like him, he's cool." "I rather not be dating someone
right now", Sam tells him. "Besides, he's my friend, not
yours", Alex shrugs her off.
A patient tells Abby that "this is a very strange
hospital" after Abby serves her both as a nurse and a
medical student in the same day. Abby agrees. Chuny and
Lily look at old photos. Neela asks which one is Dr.
Greene in the photo. Pratt tells Morris to go home.
Chuny shows Abby a picture of her and Romano that Frank
took earlier in the day. Everyone asks Abby how Carter
is and she says she doesn't know.
Meanwhile, in Africa, a bearded Carter sits at the end
of a bed as a woman leans up and puts her arms around
him. "Come back to bed."
Dr. Lewis puts flowers next to Chuck's bed. She kisses
him as he wakes up. "I should fake my death more often."
"You just had your spleen removed", she says to him.
"You know what they say," he replies, "when you lose an
organ, the other ones get stronger." She laughs and
holds his hand.
Abby walks from Jumbo Mart across the street back over
to the ambulance bay, carrying a cup holder full of
coffee. The bay is heavily surrounded by news vans and
firefighters still finishing up. Neela is there. She
begins to walk back inside with Abby. "Today was pretty
amazing", Neela says. "I've never seen anything like it
- but we saved lives. It was like a rollercoaster, and
I've always hated roller coasters. But I sort of can't
wait for the next ride", she continues.
Abby says that's fine, just as long as it's not in the
next 12 hours. "Coffee?" Abby offers. "Nah, I'm not in
the club", Neela replies. "I have an extra." Abby
offers. Neela takes one, as they walk by a crane lifting
up the remains of the helicopter. Searchers use
flashlights to inspect what is underneath it.
Reviewed by Cody on January 05,
2004
