The shooting style of the show - cutting from one character’s POV to another’s, flashbacks and present day, courtroom and the ER - made this recapping an incredible acrobatic exercise in writing!! Enjoy!


“Ames v. Kovac” serves as a vehicle to set up several continuing story lines....and to introduce even fuller.....new characters. Our episode begins with Pratt in a barber shop on the south side of Chicago. He is posturing with the elderly patrons of the shop, questioning their health and accepting being the butt of their jokes. It’s designed to show him a real healthcare need in his own backyard. When he exits and is on the sidewalk he runs into Chaz, his half brother, who is attending a local Chicago college - VIC - in the area. Chaz says he is late meeting a friend and they make plans to meet up later.

We cut to the Kovac home. Abby peeks into the bassinet at a smiling Joe. She starts stuffing a back pack and talking to herself about procedures she thinks she has forgotten. Luka is poring over a stack of papers at the table. She tells him that he will likely be home before her and that Miriam needs to leave at 6 pm. He absently answers her question about a procedure and she wonders how she could have forgotten that. She accidentally tips a coffee cup over and spills the contents onto his papers. He is upset and tells her that he has to go over them. “Ten times?” she asks. He says that he gave his deposition a year ago and it would look bad if his testimony in court doesn’t match. She tells he to tell the truth. He didn’t do anything wrong. The doorbell rings. She stops to pick Joe up from his bassinet and carries him to the door. She is telling him that the babysitter is going to take him to the park.

We cut to their car and Abby is going on about going back to work. She knows she can ask an attending if she has a problem but she doesn’t want to keep going to them like a med student or something. Luka isn’t saying anything so she asks him if he is okay. She tells him that doctors get sued all the time and not to worry about it. They don’t have a case. He says that if they lose, his name goes in the National Data Bank and he might be turned down for a job or their income will be cut. She looks at him - a bit worried - and asks if he wants her to come to court with him. He tells her they need her at the hospital and she says they have gotten along fine without her for the past few months. Luka tells her that it’s more important for her to be at work. She kisses him and gets out of the car, telling him to call her. Luka looks sick to his stomach.

At the courthouse Luka is being counseled on how to behave in the courtroom by the hospital attorney and Angela - the new chief of staff. Hold his temper. Say too little and the jury will think he is being evasive. Say too much and they will think he is covering something up. He excuses himself to go to the bathroom.

While he is in the bathroom, a stall door opens and Curtis Ames, the plaintiff, comes out with his left arm in a sling. They look at one another and Luka watches as Ames washes his hand. Luka says that he is sorry they have to be there....that he didn’t want the case to go all the way to court. Ames scowls slightly and says, “I came in with a cough and you sent me out a cripple.” He leaves and Luka stands there, dumbfounded.

At the ER admit desk, Pratt is going over the board with Abby. First Sam interrupts and welcomes her back saying she wants to see pictures. Pratt goes on again and is interrupted by Ray who tells Abby he didn’t wrap his gift and gives her a guitar embellished baby onesie on a hanger. Cute. Pratt frowns and begins with another patient. Gates interrupts with a patient dispo and introduces himself to Abby. Abby says “‘Didn’t you used to be....???’ He says “A paramedic...yeah...now I am an intern” to which Pratt says “and next week he’s going to be a cowboy.” Gates looks at him and says “.....astronaut.” Pratt scowls. A cop brings in a guy with a bloody mouth and his tongue on ice in a container. The cops says his wife bit it off because he talks too much. Pratt takes the trauma patient with Ray and tells Gates that he is with Abby. Gates says “cunniligus interruptus...they did it on Grand Rounds last year.” Abby pulls a chart and says “abdominal fullness....not so bad.” Gates trots behind her as they approach a gurney in the hall and she tells him to take the patient’s blood pressure. Abby diagnoses a pulsatile abdominal mass and pronounces him hypotensive. She immediately pulls the bed into a trauma room with Gates and Sam and they start working on him. She asks for the ultrasound and is told they will have to get it from radiology because the ER ultrasound is still in for repair. Abby says he is a Triple A and Sam asks if it has burst. Abby says no...he’d be dead....most likely a slow leak and pages surgery. Gates calls for the ultrasound and asks Abby if ‘the big guy’ is watching the baby. She says that he is in court.

In the courtroom, Curtis Ames has taken the stand. He is telling the jury about his reason for visiting the ER. In a flashback to February 13, 2004, he is sitting at the triage desk with Chuny. His boss has brought him in with a cough. Chuny takes his vitals and tells him it will be a 12 hour wait to see a doctor. He protests and asks what will happen if he leaves. Chuny tells him he will lose his place in line as she gets up and goes to the admit desk. When he asks his boss if he can go back to work and come back the next day, his boss tells him he can’t come back to work till they know if he is contagious or not....insurance issues.

In a Point of View switch, we have Luka telling the very same story except from his position at the admit desk. His description of the scene has a much angrier Ames. Luka asks Chuny if everything is okay and she tells him that Ames will settle down.

Back at the hospital, Abby, Gates and Sam are working on the old guy with the distended belly. Abby asks Sam how her testimony went the day before and Sam says fine...that it was just about procedures and policy. She asks where surgery is - that she has paged them twice. Gates says ‘Here comes the calvary’ and Crenshaw leads Neela and Katey into the trauma room. ‘Enlighten me,” Crenshaw says. Abby tells him that the patient has a hypotensive pulsatile abdominal mass. Crenshaw redlines him to surgery. Abby says that they are waiting on an ultrasound. Crenshaw asks Neela what happens when they wait for labs on a Triple A. Neela goes on about attempts to stabilize are futile...Katey adds with a 90% mortality rate. Sam says he’s stable and Gates adds that an ultrasound is warranted. “Zip it, Sparky,” Crenshaw says. (Gads... Romano reincarnated or what??) He begins to roll the gurney out of the trauma room and Abby asks- sarcastically - if he needs her to keep bagging. He says as long as she doesn’t talk. She says “By the way, I am Abby Lockhart. Lovely to meet you.” Crenshaw says ‘Ssshhhh....” as they enter the elevator.

Cut to the present day courtroom as Luka is asked what brought Ames to his attention again. “A nurse was concerned about his oxygen level,” he says. Flashback to 2004 as Luka is looking at an x-ray and around a crowded ER corridor. He calls out Ames’ name and Ames raises his hand. As Luka approaches, Ames asks about a beeping on his monitor. Luka tells him it’s his oxygen level....or a dirty fingernail...and he wipes the guy’s fingernail and replaces the clip on his finger. He asks what he does and Ames says he is a custom carpenter....bookcases, armoires, remodeling, etc. Luka tells him that his father had a woodshop when he was a little boy. He played in the shavings from the lathe and loved the wood smell. He says that Ames has pneumonia and should be admitted to the hospital for a few days. Ames protests because he is supposed to start a new job that very day. Luka tells him that he has a temp of 102, low oxygen and his right lobe is full of infection. He wants to give him IV antibiotics. Switch to Ames in the courtroom and his lawyer asks him what happened next. Ames says that Luka left him with a nurse that couldn’t start an IV. Flash back to 2004 as Chuny is trying to get an IV started. She asks Ames if anyone has ever told him he has bad veins. Ames asks to talk to Luka and Chuny tells him he is with a trauma patient. He looks over at the admit desk and Luka is standing there, leaning on the desk, talking to Frank. Switch back to present day courtroom and his lawyer asks how long it was before he talked to Dr. Kovac again. Ames says that it was an hour and during that time he saw Luka working on the computer, talking to nurses and eating a bagel with cream cheese....a poppy seed bagel. His lawyer (who is the actress that played the nasally Janice on ‘Friends’....) asks him how he felt during this time. He says that he felt alone and like no one cared about him. Pan to Luka’s face. Sad.

Cut to the OR....Abby is standing in the door with surgical garb on saying that they need to do an ultrasound on the patient...that he is a frail old man who deserves the benefit of diagnostic confirmation. “Neela...” she says. Neela says that he’s not stable. Crenshaw says that the patient is now on OR service and not ER service so to ‘go pull a cockroach out of someone’s ear or something.’ Gates arrives with an ultrasound machine and Crenshaw asks why they keep insisting on annoying him. He tells them to get out of his OR and tells Shirley to call security. ‘Nice working with you,” Gates says as he pulls Abby away. Someone says ‘bovie’ and there is an explosion of flames on Katey and the patient. Neela shouts to unplug the bovie. Abby and Gates run in to help douse the flames.

Cut to present day courtroom and a lawyer asks Luka what action he took when the nurse could not start an IV. Flashback to 2004 as Luka is telling Ames and his wife that he needs to insert a central line to administer IV drugs. Ames says he wants to think about it and coughs. His wife tells him no he doesn’t need to think about it. She needs to get back to work. Back to present day, Luka explains that Ames did not want to be in the Er, did not like doctors, so he felt he needed to treat the pneumonia aggressively. Then we flip from Luka to Ames and back again as they state valid reasons for their feelings at the time. “If I gave him pills and sent him home he’d get worse.” “My opinion didn’t matter.” “His wife worked” “He said complications were rare that he did this all the time.” “He would die alone at home.” “We were both really scared.”

Luka exits the courtroom as Angela asks if she can get him a sandwich. He shakes his head no and sits on the bench in the hall. He pulls out his cell phone and dials. He asks Timmy if Abby is around and says not to bother her if she is in surgery. He’ll try to get her later. The corridor clears and the camera pans back for the saddest scene in the whole show.....Luka sitting alone on the bench with his head in his hands.

Abby comes out of the surgical room shaking her head. ‘Tricuspil rigors,’ she says to Gates. ‘Ah...a bad heart valve,” he says. Abby says that the fire saved the guy from unnecessary surgery. She stops at the desk and picks up the phone, hangs it up and picks it up again. Gates frowns and asks if she has forgotten how to use it. She says she doesn’t want to be one of those crazy mothers who calls the babysitter every hour. They start walking again and Gates says that his babysitter tied him to the high chair....but that her’s must be much better. Hee hee...Abby’s face is priceless.

Back in the present day courtroom his lawyer is asking Ames what happened after his first dose of antibiotics. How long was he in the ER? Ames responds that it was a long time...three days. His lawyer walks along the jury box. THREE days? Flashback to 2004 and Ames is on a gurney in the ER corridor. He asks about going to the bathroom and a passing nurse says that it will be a minute. He starts to say that he can’t wait but she is gone. They show him in a back room crowded with patients as a voice over explains that he couldn’t sleep at night. Then we see him in the hall again as he tells Chuny he hasn’t had breakfast. She is dismissive and says she will have to check his chart. He asks to talk to Dr. Kovac and she tells him that Luka isn’t on that day. He asks who is doctor is and she says she has to check his chart. Switch to Luka on the stand and Ames’ lawyer is saying that state recommendations are a 4 to 1 patient/nurse ratio and during the time Ames was in the ER it was 8 to 1. She asks if he contacted anyone about that... administration.... the director of nursing...a nurse manager? Luka says that they are always short staffed in the ER and that they can’t control how many patients come in. She asks if he talked to anyone at all about bringing in more staff? He says that it doesn’t work like that.

Cut to the hospital and Abby and Pratt enter a room with a patient who is vomiting blood. She is a Crohn’s patient and they have called for a gastro doctor. He enters, checks her out and then tells them he can’t scope her, that she needs surgical exploration. Timmy comes in and tells Pratt that his brother is on the line and Abby that ‘big daddy’ called while she was upstairs.

Cut to the present day courtroom and Luka is on the stand. He says that Ames complained about numbness in his left hand. Flashback to 2004 as Luka is doing a check of Ames’ reflexes. He says the numbness lasted about 10 minutes and is gone now. He says his left side feels.....weird. Luka says it was probably from a compressed nerve from sleeping funny. Ames says he has slept on floors more comfortable than the bed he is in. Luka nods and goes to the telephone to call bed control. He is frowning grimly. Cut to Ames on the stand as he tells the same story. Flashback to 2004 as Ames is telling Chuny that he wants to talk to his doctor. She tells him that Luka is with a heart attack victim. He wants to talk to him and she says ‘not right now.’ Ames pulls his monitor off and climbs out of bed. He is angry and frustrated and goes toward the room where Luka is...hollering that no one will talk to him. Frank tries to restrain him and Chuny says he needs to be back on his monitor. Ames falls to the floor in a faint.

Flashback with Luka’s point of view shows Chuny lifting Ames’ floppy arm and telling Luka that he has had a stroke. Luka does a reflex test of his foot and then Frank says CT can take them now. They wheel the bed out.

Cut to Ames in the courtroom as he tells the same except that it was...chaotic. Flashback to him looking up as Luka and Chuny are shouting at one another about how could he have had a stroke and Chuny saying I don’t know. Here we see a loss of perception in Ames’ left eye as Luka’s face is out of focus but Chuny’s is not.

Cut to a trauma room at the hospital as Abby, Sam and Pratt are working on their Crohn’s patient. She is bleeding out and Abby is trying to insert a tube in her stomach to drain the blood and suddenly grimaces as she says ‘uh oh’. She suggests an intra-aortic balloon. A passing Gates asks if she is a heart patient and Abby says no....but that it would be a non invasive way to occlude the bleeding. Gates says it’s a good idea and Pratt tells him to leave because it’s not his patient. Abby goes on that they could insert the balloon, inflate it and block off the aorta. She turns around suddenly and says “crap....crap....” She hugs her chest and tells Pratt to come with her. Sam is dumbfounded (and way cute!) as Abby tells her to give the patient platelets and that they will be right back. Pratt is double stepping behind her as they head down the hall toward the lounge and she is asking him what his problem is with the balloon. He is confused and asked if this is some postpartum power play and tells her that the balloon will cut off the blood supply to her lower organs and extremities. She wants to know what is problem is with the balloon and he says he doesn’t agree with her. Abby goes to her locker and pulls out a backpack as she tells him he used to be a cowboy and what is his problem now...that Gates thinks it will work. Pratt tells her that Gates would defillibrate with jumper cables and a car battery. He is the attending and the buck stops here. She goes on about the patient dying and this being her very last chance as she takes off her lab coat and pulls her shirt out of her slacks. Pratt is clearly confused and asks her WHAT she is doing. She says “I’m pumping. My boobs are about to explode.” Hee hee.....Pratt’s face is priceless. She sits down and turns to look at him. He shrugs and shakes his head as he leaves. LOVE this bit with her. Haven’t been there but know people who have.

Ames’ lawyer asks when he saw his wife again. He says after the CAT scan, when he could talk again. Flashback to 2004 as Luka is explaining to Ames and his wife about a new drug - TPA - that will give him a chance at full recovery. He tells him that he has an excellent prognosis because it has only been 90 minutes since his symptoms began. Ames asks about numbers and side effects.

Cut to present day and Luka’s lawyer is asking him what he did when Ames refused to take the drug. Luka says he brought in a neurologist, Dr. Saunders, to explain the drug more fully. Flashback to 2004 as Dr. Saunders has joined Luka in explaining that the drug would give him a chance. He refuses again. Luka tells him that if it were him he would take the drug. Ames is furious and tells Luka that if it were him he would be in intensive care with 10 doctors and nurses paying attention to his ass every second. Dr. Saunders emphasizes that the TPA is the only chance he has at a full recovery. Ames blows up about the total incompetence of the hospital.

Cut to the hospital trauma room where Pratt, Abby and Sam are using a fluoroscope to insert the aortic balloon into their Crohn’s patient. A nurse tells Abby that her babysitter is in the phone. Pratt pulls the fluoroscope away as Abby goes to the phone. She asks if she tried the stroller. Crenshaw and Neela enter and Crenshaw asks why they bothered to use a fluoroscope because he’s heard that ER doctors have x-ray vision. Neela looks over at Abby who is rocking/bouncing and singing Clash’s ‘Should I stay or should I go’ into the phone. Abby says that it’s his favorite song and will put him right to sleep. Crenshaw says the balloon was an idiotic move and says ‘aren’t you glad you don’t work here any more?’ as they wheel the patient out. Sam is grinning and says Abby is auditioning for ‘American Idol’.

Cut to the courtroom where Luka is on the stand. There is a large poster of a human body and Ames’ lawyer is explaining heart murmurs to the jury. She turns to ask Luka if he could have stopped the stroke if he’d found the murmur. She asks if he ever considered a cardiac source for the numbness Mr. Ames was experiencing? Luka goes off about the number of patients that were in his care that day and the lawyer talks over him. The judge warns the lawyer that only one may speak at a time. She asks him again if he could have stopped the stroke by detecting the murmur. He starts again by saying that the case load was overwhelming and then says - angrily - that every indication was that Mr. Ames’ numbness could wait. The lawyer asks again and Luka is unresponsive. She finally says that she is finished with this witness.

Luka’s lawyer asks Ames if he refused a drug that was his only chance at recovery. Ames says he was not taking what ‘they’ were pushing. The lawyer ass again if he refused to take the drug. Ames said that it wasn’t that simple.

Cut to the hospital where Pratt’s brother Chaz asks about him at the admit desk. He says he will wait in triage for him. Katey approaches the desk with both arms wrapped in gauze. Abby is working on a computer and Katey says hello. She explains that the med school wants a chart on her burns for insurance purposes. Ray steps up and says he will do it. Katey smiles at him and says ‘thanks, Ray.” Abby smiles at him as well and says ‘Yeah...thanks...Ray” as she steps away. He frowns at her and then smiles at Katey. He is debriding he burns and she says they have given her two days off because of them. Says she hasn’t had a free night in ages. She asks if he has ever been to Rednofive....which I am assuming is a club. She says she has heard that the disk jockey on Thursdays is ridiculous and asks if he wants to check it out with her that night. He looks up at her with a slight frown.

Cut to the courtroom where summations have begun in court. Luka’s lawyer says that their witnesses agree that Dr. Kovac gave superior care....went above and beyond what he needed to do. Stroke is a complication that no one could have predicted or prevented. An aide comes in with two young children and seats them behind Ames in the courtroom. Ames turns around and smiles and then notices Luka looking at them as well. Their eyes meet. The lawyer says that an ER is a safety net for millions without health care. Dr. Kovac and others like him are on the front lines providing the best health care possible to people who need it most. If they find against him, what kind of message are they sending to him and other like him who make this struggle part of their daily lives?

Cut to a screen where Ames’ lawyer is showing videos of him with his family in 2004 and what his life is like now. She says that Dr. Kovac assumed that Ames was unreliable and untrustworthy. The stroke her had resulted in loss if income, self esteem and created profound stress. He cannot drive, cannot work and is being treated for depression. He is subsisting on a $1300 monthly disability benefit and sees his children just one day a week. The award they give him must compensate for past and ongoing medical care, 25 years of lost wages and the pain and suffering he must go through every single day.

Cut to the hospital where Abby is teaching a patient how to use crutches. One of them breaks and she nearly falls to the floor. She send the PATIENT to the pharmacy for a new pair. She turns to the desk and Neela asks if she needs to be signed in as a trauma patient. Abby says no...that her shift is over. Neela says to let her know if her spleen ruptures. She smiles and Ray corners her to ask about going out with Katey. Neela says that residents are not allowed to date their students. Rays says she isn’t his student and is not doing an ER rotation. Neela says why bother asking then. Ray is hurt by her reaction and thanks her for her help before walking away. Chaz tells Neela that he has to go and to tell Greg they will hook up another time. Gates comes to the desk and asks what she is doing there. She tells him a small bowel obstruction and he asks about the burn guy. She says he has minor burns on his arm and trunk. Gates says ‘But I hear that his aorta was okay’...and that there is a lesson to be learned here...’Wise men say only fools rush in....” Pratt comes to the desk and Neela tells him that Chaz is gone so he rushes out.

Pratt catches Chaz in the ambulance bay and apologizes for not connecting. Chaz tells him things aren’t going so good at home. Too noisy to study... can’t have his friends over.....always late for class because the commute is too long. He was looking for an apartment to share that morning but they all sucked. Dorm cost too much so he was thinking about moving in with Pratt. Would get a part time job to help pay for the rent. He is quiet. They would probably never see each other. Pratt says he has his own style so Chaz tells him that all he has to do is say the word and he will be gone. Pratt is reluctant but says they can try it for a month. Promises to talk to Chaz’ mom.

Pratt grins as Abby approaches across the ambulance bay and asks how her first day back went. She responds that it was a piece of cake. Like riding a bike. “Did you miss your little man?” he asks. “Yeah.....” she responds, “ but I think we will bond again when I feed him at 11...and 2....and 5 am.” She says the nicest of the day was that she talked like a grown up to grownups. Pratt says ‘except when you talked to surgeons.’ She laughs and says “Well...yeah, but they don’t spit up on you....much.” She laughs and heads off down the sidewalk toward the el station. Pratt tells her to get some rest and she says that’s a nice idea.

Luka and Angela are walking down the sidewalk away from the courthouse. It is night. He asks how long she thinks it will be till the jury comes to a decision. She says 2 or 3 days. She says Ames’ lawyer is a publicity hound and the local news is having a field day trashing County General. She says it will be nice to parade him as ‘the doctor found not guilty.” Luka says she is optimistic. She said people need to hear our side of the story and be reassured that the county health system works. She hails a cab and Luka asks if she was looking at the faces of the jurors during the video tape. She tells him that doctors. Get sued for ignoring or under treating patients not for doing too much. Plus he did well on the stand. He says that he doesn’t think so. says that has been through a hundred trials and can tell when the jury likes the doctor.

Cut to the conversation in the jury room. “He is just another greedy MD getting rich by over treating. I read about it....Doctors take kickbacks from drug companies for using expensive drugs.....The judge instructed us not to decide this case on anything we have read or heard outside the courtroom......They neglected this guy for three days....His pneumonia was improving....That doctor used a hand grenade to kill a mosquito, That’s my medical opinion. ....You’re not a doctor....Our decision has to be based on expert witnesses description of standard of care....And we know that when we’re talking about County General the standard of care is a joke......Dr. Kovac is just part of the system and we all know the system sucks.”
During the above debate we cut from the jurors to a shot of Ames sitting alone in a darkened court room and finally, Luka walking alone down a Chicago street.

Reviewed by Lynda Foote on June 29, 2007

NBC Review

KOVAC TAKES THE STAND-- FOREST WHITAKER ("The Shield") GUEST STARS- Fresh off of her maternity leave, Abby (Maura Tierney) prepares to return to work but worries that she may not remember how to be a doctor. Kovac (Goran Visnjic) tries to recall his treatment of stroke patient, Curtis Ames (guest star Forest Whitaker) as he prepares for his day in court. Abby and Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) try an unconventional method for treating a heart patient in hopes of avoiding a more invasive procedure. Meanwhile, Dr. Kovac defends his actions in court while Mr. Ames tries to prove he was neglected at County General. Parminder Nagra, Linda Cardellini, Shane West, and John Stamos also star.

TV Guide Review

October 19, 2006: Ames v. Kovac:

As Abby returns from maternity leave, Luka takes the stand in a malpractice suit involving a former patient (Forest Whitaker), who accuses Luka of neglect and causing his stroke. Also, Pratt and Abby use unusual methods to treat a heart patient.