Emergency: NYC (2023) s01e08 Episode Script

1
Hey, Lisa, it's Dr. Langer.
Lisa, open your eyes.
Hey, Lisa.
Why don't we just go
take her down for a scan?
I don't want to sit around
and stare at her like this. Okay?
Let's take her for a scan.
As soon as she seized, that was like
It's just bad luck.
It just colors the whole exam, it's like,
if you have a grand mal seizure,
you're postictal, gonna be postictal,
meaning like lethargic, for 12, 24 hours.
I mean, you're just, like, blech.
- This is where the tumor used to be.
- Yeah, exactly.
Nope, there's no signs of stroke.
There's no signs of
Just with this long operation
and air in the head,
that should be the cause of it.
She has air, she has a seizure.
- No surprise. No shock.
- No shock at all.
All right. Let's see
what she looks like tomorrow.
- It's good to be back. Back with you.
- Really is.
I'm going back to my Vice Chair.
It's a tough business.
How much longer for Tyler?
- Longer for what?
- For Tyler.
For Tyler, that remains to be seen.
See that? See how pancaked it is?
As in, look at the posterior wall.
The artery is too small to apply this.
So the question is
- Can you redo from this orifice?
- Yeah, or should I patch this?
For Tyler, I have to make
four connections.
Two arteries, one vein, and one ureter.
I'm worried that there could be leaks.
If the leak's in one of the blood vessels,
that'll lead to bleeding.
- Can I get another clamp?
- Sure.
Blood clots can happen.
And I need to make sure
that the exposure is perfect
and that, technically,
the surgery goes perfectly
because, ultimately, this is
a dad who's giving to his teenage kid,
and there's no room for error.
We're gonna have to patch this
and sew on to attach it,
because I think that's the problem.
This arteriotomy really opened up.
Let me see Another irrigation?
I don't want this anterior artery to clot
now, because it's got no blood flow.
This kidney had two arteries,
and it's a very small native vessel,
so the main artery clotted.
The key is to always notice the issue,
and if you're ever not comfortable,
you redo something,
because you can't leave the operating room
and just hope that things
are going to work out.
You have to leave the operating room
and be confident things are gonna work out
and the blood flow
to the kidney's gonna be great.
Hi there. I'm MacKenzie. I'm going
to be the nurse in the back with you.
You took a big spill, huh?
Well, I just fell.
I just came over the lawn,
and then I went down on the driveway.
Gotcha, okay, so maybe possibly tripped?
- Could be.
- Okay.
Do you feel nauseous at all?
- No.
- Okay.
So if any of that changes,
just let me know, okay?
- Is this your better half?
- Yes. For 55 years, he's my better half.
Oh my gosh, that's amazing.
One, two, three.
Alright, perfect.
So you just fell, you don't
- She didn't.
- Can you put your hands in front of you?
- No.
- No. I can tell, no.
I just went to get the mail.
Just as I got to the driveway,
I went down.
- Have a good flight. I hope to see you.
- Yeah, I hope so.
Fifty-five years.
- You believe that? That amazing?
- I know. They're adorable.
- Oh my God, goals. Goals, right there.
- I'm telling ya.
I promise I'll take
good care of her, okay? I promise.
Alright, I'm gonna call you
as soon as we land, okay?
Thank you very much.
- You got it.
- Be safe.
If you start to feel sick,
or if you need anything for pain,
- please let me know, okay?
- Okay.
Tyler.
Tyler? Can you hear me, Tyler?
Tyler, open your eyes.
Can you hear me?
Take a big deep breath, okay?
We're gonna go see Mom and Dad.
That sound good?
Can you hear me okay?
Open your eyes. There we go.
See how that urine
is, like, a lighter color?
That's good.
That's the that's the good stuff.
That's like the aged, nice urine.
- The Bordeaux?
- A lot of tannins in there.
Okay. Upstairs.
Later, guys. Thank you.
Mom, you can come over here?
- Your son's recovering.
- Thank you.
Hey, buddy.
Hi, sweetheart.
Can you hear me, baby? Mommy's here.
Hi.
Oh, there he is.
What's happening, Tyler?
Taking a look at the incision here, okay?
Oh, wow.
We'll get you a nice tattoo
right over it, how's that, okay?
Push on the gas pedal, push.
Gas pedal.
Oh, you don't have your license.
This is the biggest moment in their lives.
Tyler is gonna have birthdays,
hopefully Tyler's gonna get married,
Tyler's going to have his own family,
and all of those moments
are going to be
at the same level of the day
that Tyler was transplanted from his dad.
Oh, he's all bundled up.
Hey, pal, did you name the kidney?
Think of a name for it.
- I think that said, "Okay."
- Okay.
- Okay.
- I love you, son.
He said he loves you too.
Medic 66
for an eight-year-old male in Queens.
Patient was hit by an SUV
in front of his home.
Head trauma and possible neck injury.
Patient is in extreme pain.
A second trauma coming in.
He'll be next door. Coming here.
My ear!
My biggest fear
is entering a trauma room
and see one of my children's on the table.
You get a call, and it's an area where
you know your children were hanging out
or where they live.
Over the years, I've developed a mechanism
to function in high-stress situations.
I want to relax.
You are relaxed,
you're already laying down.
- Ask someone for a leg?
- Feel sleepy?
Nothing worse
than my child needing something,
and someone could not act and save them.
Mom, we're just going to CAT scan,
right next door.
- Mom, will you come with me?
- Mom's going to come with you.
Gonna get a picture
of the inside of your head.
I've been a nurse for 19 years,
and things I've seen on a daily basis
really make me feel viscerally
what's real and what matters.
Like, this is this is what I know.
So I don't question what I do in terms of,
is it worth it,
or should I continue to do it?
That's not a question for me.
- Mom, you stay here.
- I'm here, Christian, right here.
One, two, three.
Skids down, skids down.
South side.
Okay, we are here, Ms. Margaret.
Just to prepare you,
sometimes when we go into this room,
there's going to be a ton of people
asking you all different questions,
and there'll be a trauma team
that's going to assess you
to make sure that you have
everything you need.
Alright, let's go get you
into the trauma bay, okay?
So this is Ms. Margaret.
She's a 78-year-old female.
She sustained a fall in her driveway,
which is concrete.
Um, she was unable
to protect herself with her hands,
so she doesn't really have injuries here,
but she did face-plant in her driveway.
She has a septal hematoma in her nose,
and then she has a subdural hematoma.
Um, but nothing
on her secondary assessment.
No step-offs, no deformities.
Nothing like that.
Ms. Margaret, I'm actually
going to talk to, um, your husband.
- Gonna let him know you arrived safely.
- Okay, thank you.
Yeah, you're welcome.
Hope you get to feeling better. Okay?
Mr
Yeah, I'm going to call
Mr. Bernard right now, actually.
- Who's Mr. Bernard?
- Her husband.
Just to let him know that she landed safe.
Hi, Mr. Bernard,
it's MacKenzie with SkyHealth.
I just wanted to let you know
that we arrived safely with your wife,
and they're taking care of her
in the emergency room,
and the trauma team is seeing her now.
Oh, you're so welcome.
Oh!
You're very sweet. Thank you.
All right, bye-bye.
Yeah.
In 2015,
my mother was diagnosed
with adenocarcinoma of the lung.
Her symptoms, in the beginning,
were really benign,
and it wasn't obvious
what she was suffering with.
They scanned her, and they diagnosed her
with stage 4 cancer in the emergency room,
which is not common.
It's usually not that obvious.
Worst day of my life.
She was my heart and my soul.
You know, I watched her soulmate suffer
while she was suffering.
That was difficult to witness too,
but it was also beautiful
because of how much they endured together
and how much they loved one another.
- Come on in.
- Hi.
Dr. Macri here. How are you?
Sorry, I'm with my daughter here.
Of course,
don't be sorry about that.
You're her dad! So, how did you
arrive here? What happened?
Um, I fainted, basically.
That's the first time it happened to me.
Um, and I think it's because
of medication I was taking
- Uh, Lorazepam.
- Lorazepam.
- Lorazepam.
- Yeah.
Okay. Why are you taking that?
Um, for anxiety.
She hasn't been sleeping well,
and she's tired.
She's been very anxious.
Okay. I'm just going to examine you.
I wanna listen to your heart.
You're much more relaxed now.
I turned off the monitor because there's
no need to make you more anxious.
Okay. It sounds very good.
I've been working
so many shifts recently where I'm seeing
this trend of anxiety, depression, panic.
I really, honestly think
it's all building in a lot of people.
Do you want me to contact a psychiatrist?
Is that something that
you want to speak to somebody about?
Uh
Were you thinking
maybe more of an in-person situation?
Maybe.
Yeah, I think sometimes, with psychiatry
especially, in person is better.
I know with the pandemic
a lot of people migrated to telemedicine,
um, but it's always nicer to sit down
in front of somebody and speak to them
When I see patients like this,
I like to make sure they're not feeling
hopeless and need to talk to Psychiatry,
those resources are available
to everyone here.
I think the pandemic,
it's taken its toll on us. We're tired.
Alright, very good.
- Thank you, Doctor.
- Of course.
Alright. Poor thing.
These children.
A COVID test?
- Yes.
- Yeah.
Oh, please.
Come on, guys. I don't got it.
He's so cute.
Christian, does anything
hurt you right now?
My face.
- Your face?
- My face and my leg.
Okay, a lot or a little bit?
It's ten being the worst,
one being like, almost nothing.
An eight?
You're very comfortable-looking to be
an eight. Think you're just a tough boy.
I just wanted
to let you know that I love you.
I love you too, little man.
If anything happens to me,
just know that I love you.
I love you, Mommy.
- I love you too, little man.
- I love you so much.
Just putting
some water on your face.
There's some hair I want to pull off.
Just cold, right? That's it, just cold.
- So it's just water?
- Just water, that's it.
You are just
the bravest little boy we've seen today.
Done. All gone.
- Feel better?
- Yes.
Good, alright.
I know he told me he was an 8 or 10 pain,
but we are looking at the same child,
and you think his pain is comfortable,
much better than when he first came in?
- Mommy.
- Yes?
Mommy, don't cry,
because you're going to make me cry.
- I'm not crying.
- Don't cry, please.
I know you're crying but it's okay.
It's okay, Mom. I'm going to feel better.
- Love you.
- Love you too.
I always kind of push him
and tell him that he needs
to keep his hand in this.
He really is so talented,
and he gives a lot
to these children and their families.
That's something
that I really cherish about him.
My children, the divorce process,
it's tough for them.
The distraction that the pandemic caused
pulled me away from my family
and made me think,
how can I spend more time with them
and still enjoy and watch them grow?
Nursing is about being meticulous.
And if you take being meticulous,
you can apply that to any business.
So I opened a business,
the trucking company.
It's going to give my children,
our children, a future.
And it all comes down to quality time.
It's about regaining your time
and having time with family.
Before everything and after everything,
I'm a father.
It's gonna be sad
because this has been me for so long.
- What are you going to do today? Tonight?
- Homework.
Homework?
- Like right now, we're doing psych.
- Uh-huh.
I was assigned PTSD. So I'm doing, like,
how the treatment for PTSD has changed.
'Cause you know, before,
it was primarily military personnel
returning from war suffering PTSD.
And it wasn't even called PTSD, it was
shell shock syndrome. Something like that.
They come home and they still hear
guns blazing and bombs.
Yeah, yeah.
And it was just like all men at war,
but now they say it can apply to children
and anyone that's been
in a high-stress incident.
Especially now,
after the whole virus thing and
Yeah, true. Of course,
we worked the entire time,
and that's unnatural
for people to see that much death,
so we're going to all have PTSD.
Something that
nobody talks about, you know, is like,
how all these calls
take a toll on our mental heath.
We have to normalize not being okay.
I had a patient in the West Village
who died of an overdose.
Another guy that had COVID,
and him and his wife passed away.
We found them together.
I also had another gunshot wound guy.
Really, really young. He passed away.
You know, I see horrible things every day.
But now that I have
this little person in my family,
I feel like work now took
a whole different meaning to me.
I'm just grateful to go home to my family
because, you know,
there is always that chance
that you may not make it home.
My career used to be
just everything, you know, in my head.
I used to really identify with my job and
I used to feel like that's who I was.
Now, I don't feel that way as much.
I feel like this is a part of me,
but it doesn't define me.
You know, I feel like there's
so many different sides and aspects of me.
- Hey. baby. How's she doing?
- I just fed her.
Does she need to be
suctioned again? Before she went to bed?
I wanted her to stay asleep
for as long as she can, so
Alright, well, I just wanted to call
and check in and say I love you.
- I love you too.
- Alright, bye.
I hate that she's sick.
It's, like, making me sick to my stomach,
to be honest.
But, you know,
she's building her immunity and
I know she's okay, it's just
it blows that I can't be there.
Just always want to be
a better spouse or a better mother.
Just trying to create more time
even when there isn't any,
because that's what commitment is.
I'm really grateful for having
a healthy body and a healthier mind.
You know, my husband and my daughter
are a lot to do with that.
I think I'm in awe
of the way she makes me feel,
in the sense of being connected to my mom.
My mom is more present now
than she could ever possibly be.
Damn.
Hi, love!
Mi little daughter.
Hey, a little kiss! Kiss!
Where's Mauricio?
Here he is!
I'm very sleep-deprived.
It is definitely catching up to me
after my second child.
And I'm in my 40s now,
so I've been doing this
for over 10 years, working nights.
It's definitely catching up to me
health-wise and just overall, physically.
I don't know
how much longer I'll do it for.
- Good morning. Stacy?
- Good morning. That's me.
- Hi.
- Hi.
And you are?
- That's Zaire, my brother.
- Hi.
So the triage note was brief.
- It said you were fasting for Ramadan.
- Right.
Are you still fasting?
- Eight more days.
- Eight.
- But who's counting?
- My goodness.
And my head
Back of my head, I felt pressure
in the back of my head and in my eyes,
and I kept looking in the mirror
and going, "You're okay, relax."
But my heart started to beat faster.
That's when we called the ambulance,
I said, "I'm not better, I'm weaker."
So we're going to check some heart labs,
some electrolytes, your magnesium,
make sure that nothing's off balance
that could be causing the symptoms.
- Are you a smoker?
- No.
And no alcohol, right?
- No.
- Okay.
I'm a recovering addict, if that helps.
Oh, okay. And if you don't mind my asking,
you're a recovering addict from what?
Crack cocaine.
Okay. How many years clean now?
- Four months.
- Four months!
- Former relapse.
- That's excellent.
I think it's phenomenal!
Only because I'm done.
That's really good.
Mm.
You're gonna make me cry more.
You wipe one, it gets replaced.
Well, we're gonna check cardiac enzymes
and your heart, everything,
just to make sure this is
not something else being unmasked.
If it looks moderate
and your labs look okay,
then I think that you're okay to go home
with some ice chips and recover at home.
- Okay.
- Alright, I'll come back for you.
- Okay.
- Okay.
I would have never, ever thought
that she's a recovering addict.
She's just a sweet, sweet soul.
People surprise me all the time.
I'm not overly skeptical.
I'm trying to still always stay optimistic
and keep a positive vibe
when I come into work.
But lately, that hasn't always happened,
and we're reaching a level of fatigue.
We've all worked so hard,
you know, we've sacrificed so much.
We don't want to reach that burnout
where you're not putting
all your heart and your soul into it.
It's tested our resiliency for sure.
What's the story?
Joshua, a 17-year-old male.
He has multiple gunshot wounds
- He's gonna pull through.
- He's a fighter.
He is.
He is.
Josh walked out of the hospital.
Now his family
also is going to leave town.
My heart is with all of these children
as they go out into the world.
It's very hard keeping track of folks.
You live through this powerful,
life-changing moment with them,
and then you wonder what happened to them.
When something
traumatic happens to you,
the chemical way that your brain
filters information, or something,
changes radically,
because I felt different.
Deep breath in.
I have no anxiety.
I clearly found
a philosophy that explained,
to me, a lot of the reasons
why I was on the earth.
Which is to be a good person.
To be kind. To be humble.
And, you know, there are times
I struggle with it a little bit.
That's cured.
Now we're good. Thanks, guys.
Because frankly, I think, as a leader,
when you show vulnerability,
you actually end up better.
I think it's very possible
that she's also a COVID long hauler,
and she's having sequelae of having COVID.
I'm pretty conservative with going out.
I haven't been out to dinner
in a year and a half.
Alright, I'll be right back.
- Stacy. Hi.
- Hi.
Uh, so your labs look fine.
The magnesium is normal.
The heart labs are normal.
Um, I would at least finish out
this liter of fluids, if you can,
because that's going to help you
if you continue fasting today.
And I think you're good to go
if you're feeling better.
I am feeling better, but I want the fluids
'cause I keep thinking that
Absolutely. I think you should
definitely finish that liter.
So why don't we do that?
I am getting ready to leave.
- How dare you?
- I know.
In ten minutes, to go to sleep.
Not right away.
And why, God forbid,
you'd ever do a thing like that?
- Just to be back here tonight.
- I don't know how you do it, bless you.
I, honestly, just want to say
I appreciate doctors.
I think of nurses and doctors
and all the stuff that's going on,
and it's your heart,
it's not 'cause it's just your job.
I don't think how
when people actually are caring about
the people who are suffering,
it means a lot.
Thank you. Such a nice ending to my night.
It was so nice meeting you both.
- Same here, you get some rest.
- You too.
I will.
Doing this type of work,
we appreciate life and what we have
in general, at least I do.
I'm pretty grateful for what I have
and every time I come here and see people.
But now it's even more pronounced.
I just got the news.
So she woke up.
- I mean, she was blind.
- I know.
- They were sending her to rehab.
- Fantastic.
- Tell me now.
- Two.
- She couldn't see her fingers.
- Watch this.
- Wow.
- No. This is something in yellow.
- Wow. She has colors.
- She has color vision.
- Oh my God.
- But watch this, she sees your gloves.
- Yes. I see it now.
- And she just rolled up her sleeve.
- I can hold it.
- Doing great.
Oh my gosh, she reached for it.
You have a watch
on your right wrist.
I told you. I told you it would come back.
Come back? It's better than it was before.
It's insane.
- He's here?
- Hey.
- Hi.
- I heard some good news.
- Oh my God.
- Is it true?
- Hey, how are you?
- Is it really true?
I can
- I see you have a blue on today.
- I do.
Can you see my face for the first time?
Got your glasses on.
- I do.
- Oh my God.
This is not your
I can see your lips, yes.
Yeah.
- How many fingers?
- Two.
How many fingers?
- One.
- Pretty good.
Tell me when the light comes on.
- Yes.
- She'll get the right eye back.
Yeah, you sure will.
So that's really great news,
that this early you're getting color
and real good focused vision
in your left eye.
The right eye will come with time.
The right eye was much more compressed
by tumor than the left eye nerve.
I expect that to come,
but it's going to take a while.
- The nerves heal about a millimeter a day.
- Okay.
Which is a lot of days.
- Okay. He did a good job, you know.
- He's a good guy. Good surgeon too.
Your eyes, the nerves
are just starting to kick in again,
they're just not quite but this is going
to get better really quickly, I think.
I was really bummed, you know,
when we saw you first wake up,
and I know you got to wait,
but we're all inherently impatient.
John was the one who kept saying,
"Be patient, it's going to get better."
And he was right.
I don't think your vision
is ever gonna be perfect,
but you may get enough vision back
As long as I can see your cute face,
then we're okay.
She's great.
I mean, she sees me perfectly.
- Yeah.
- You probably see me better than my wife.
Well, tell her she's missing out.
She don't know
what she got going on there.
- You're pretty good.
- Oh, man. You're the best.
I was giving up hope, you know, I thought
I was going to be permanently blind.
But yesterday,
we have to always be optimistic
and believe in people
when you can't believe in yourself.
God has blessed you
to save people's lives.
And every day you wake up,
you should always feel
that you've done your part to society.
We try hard here.
Yes, you do.
See, we can't give up on hope.
The world is still good.
You're gonna go to rehab for three weeks,
and you're gonna come back and see us
and see even more, okay?
You're doing amazing. We're so happy.
I love you guys.
- We love you too.
- Keep up the good work, okay?
I see you.
I see you too.
Thank you for those beautiful words.
Thank you so much.
That was one of the nicest things
I've ever heard from a patient.
She's incredible.
Guns are coming into
our community and taking our youths.
I say to you guys,
I do not want to bury another child.
The absence of hope in community,
after community, after community,
often leads to the presence of violence,
and so we need to both
address the gun issue,
but also address the absence of hope.
The commitment that Che
and I have put into
really trying to get ahead of gun violence
has taken me to places that
I never imagined as a medical student,
that this is where
my life would go as a surgeon.
It's a challenging conversation,
it really is.
I now find myself at the White House,
the Congress, advocating,
trying to get legislation to move this.
- We're having lunch tomorrow, I'm told.
- Yes.
I wish I never had to watch
my son die before my eyes.
- I fear that this could happen again.
- Yeah.
I have three children, a couple teenagers,
and that's the worry every time they go
I fear that this could happen again.
I'll give you my contact so we can
connect on the work we're doing.
It certainly gives me a sense of agency,
a sense of power, sense of hope.
Part of what we're trying to do
is not just be surgeons
who pull bullets out of people
and then send you back on the street,
but really trying to do research,
really trying to understand,
how do we get a movement to change things.
There's a face that I can attach
to some of these flowers.
And when I reflect on the fact
I'm a pediatric surgeon,
it means it's a child that didn't make it.
And the truth is, it hurts all of us.
I'm starting to appreciate
how it's hurt me,
how it really does
change the way you look at life.
I feel this urgency
and the burden of this time in history,
that our children are being slaughtered.
This is the first time that
the number one cause of death for children
in the United States of America
is gun violence.
Great, congratulations.
And as much as I love this country,
and I am so grateful
for everything that it has offered to me
and to my family, this isn't the country
I want to leave my children.
There was this teenager who got shot,
but after I got home last night from that,
I got called every hour almost.
- So you don't have to go in?
- Unless there's something huge.
My girl!
I'm so happy to see her.
I love you so much.
Oh, there he is.
What's up, buddy. How are you?
- How you feeling, huh?
- Good.
Better?
- I can't move.
- It's alright. I'll come to you.
It's hard for me to move too.
So what do you think, Grod's good?
Mm-hmm.
So, we named the kidney Grod.
That's a perfect name.
Dr. Grodstein.
I love you.
I love you too.
Every day, I wake up,
and as I'm getting ready to come to work,
I listen to the news.
And I hear all these depressing stories
about crimes being committed, about war.
But then I get to come to work,
and I get to see all of these people
who are putting themselves potentially
in harm's way just to help others in need.
Don't worry,
we'll take care of you, okay?
And that reinvigorates
my faith in humanity.
You look like you are
a little dehydrated too.
I mean, listen,
I can't be admitted right now, anyway, so
- That's not a reason not to do it though.
- I know.
One, two, three.
Almost done.
It's a Friday gift, you know?
Margaret Mead,
the anthropologist, said,
the first sign of civilization was seeing
a broken leg that had been healed.
The broken leg that healed meant
someone bound the patient up,
carried them, fed them, protected them.
You know, basically helped them heal.
And in a civilized world, we protect
our wounded and we care for them.
That's what we're on Earth for,
to care for one another.
Medic 99, report of shooting
by Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn.
Two people down, repeat, two people down.
Oh God, again?