Medical Investigation (2004) s01e18 Episode Script
The Black Book
Donna, I can't find my speech.
I had it just a minute ago.
You left it on your desk, honey.
They're ready for you, Congressman.
You're very warm, Doug.
Are you all right? He's fine, Mrs.
Lawrence.
He doesn't look fine.
I just have a headache.
You haven't been able to keep food down for two days.
You're very weak.
Maybe we should hold off on this speech until you feel better.
We don't want to miss the news cycle.
President just had his physical.
Health care's on everyone's mind.
I'll get some rest later, I promise.
I'll tell the press you're coming out.
Smile.
You're impossible.
That's what my last opponent ran on.
Good afternoon.
As you know, I've been working closely with representatives from both parties to hammer out a bill that would guarantee prenatal healthcare to all women regardless of their citizenship, and to guarantee healthcare to all children up to the age of 12.
Well, I'm pleased to announce that I'm introducing such a bill tomorrow before Congress recesses.
Well, Congressman Lawrence, hasn't the President indicated that he'll veto such a bill, as it's too expensive? I've had discussions with With -- Medical Investigation 118 -- -- The Black Book -- How is he? The attending should fill you in, Donna.
Yeah, but he's not my friend.
It's hard to tell right now.
At first, the doctors thought Doug had a pulmonary embolism.
But now they're just not sure.
I always know when you're not telling me everything.
Okay.
I'm not just here as a friend anymore.
We were officially brought in this afternoon.
N.
I.
H.
? Why? Okay, so Congressman Lawrence isn't the only political player who's sick? No.
There are two other men with similar symptoms-- heart abnormalities, lung inflammation and gastrointestinal discomfort.
A multi-system disease.
It could be toxin exposure, severe infection.
Yeah so, who are the other victims? Congressman Jack Jacobs.
He's been on all the political talk shows.
Didn't know you were a news junkie, Miles.
Jacobs's taken lots of money from pharmaceutical interests.
He's always debating Lawrence about health care.
Third victim? Yes, Raymond Wingate.
He's a lieutenant in the Capitol Police.
He's the worst off of the three.
He's unconscious and on a ventilator.
He's obviously no help.
That's all we know for now.
Except that they all work in the Sam Rayburn Building.
The Rayburn Building? That's home of the entire United States House of Representatives.
Which means we may be dealing with An intentional release of a biological agent.
Obviously, with members of the Congress involved, we can't rule that out.
A wise assumption.
Director Ewing.
Hello, Kate.
Must be a photo op somewhere nearby to get the head of the N.
I.
H.
down here in the dungeon.
Somebody's got to be the N.
I.
H.
poster child.
Unfortunately, the press is already smelling blood.
Are we talking terrorist attack? Three people sick, all in the same government building, post 9/11.
It doesn't take a tabloid diehard to make that leap.
I'm assuming that's your working theory, Stephen.
Of course.
I mean, when you hear hoof beats Think horses, not zebras.
Oh, this is going to be a PR headache.
Which is why you need to sniff around.
I can check with the editors, see what stories they've assigned.
See how the press is going to play this.
Good.
We have a better chance of tracking down what's really going on here if CNN's not fanning the flames.
Frank, I assume you'll be going over the Rayburn Building? Yeah, I'll have a team ready to go in after the Capitol Police clear and lock it down.
Copy me on any results.
Homeland Security been alerted? And the FBI.
But before they change the color level, I've convinced them that medicine can tell us the most.
Our job's critical.
Look, if you're here to take over our case, just take it.
Why would you think that? I'm hearing hoof beats again.
Quite the contrary.
I told the Secretary that I was bringing in my best team here.
Fair enough? Any idea what's making the patients sick? Natalie's at the hospital now.
We've eliminated the most obvious-- anthrax, smallpox, plague.
Keep me in the loop as appropriate.
Otherwise, you have carte blanche.
It's your game to win.
Am I imagining things, or was that a hand-off? Ewing doesn't do anything out of the kindness of her heart.
The only reason she's letting us run's so she won't have to take the heat.
Carte blanche, my ass.
Well, I guess they don't cozy up and read The Merck Manual together.
This goes way beyond professional sword fighting.
It's very personal.
Like? I'm not going there.
Natalie.
Hey, guys.
You know Dr.
Connor.
Yes, we've met.
How are you? Mrs.
Lawrence, Congressman.
So what makes them think this thing might be intentional? Everyone who's sick works in your building.
How many are sick? So far, three.
Look, Mrs.
Lawrence, you may be more comfortable waiting outside for a while.
Come on, Donna, that's our cue.
Let me get you a cup of coffee.
Love you.
You're in good hands, Doug.
So, how can I help? Tell me about the Rayburn Building.
Have you seen any people who don't belong or smell anything unusual? Has the water tasted differently? I'm strictly a bottled water and diet soda guy, so I haven't noticed anything.
Can you think of anything you've been exposed to in recent weeks? Packages, foods, foreign animals, birds? Plenty of vultures in the U.
S.
Congress, but nothing I haven't seen before.
How's Jack Jacobs? He's got the same thing as me? He may.
Ahh You both work in the Rayburn Building, and you both got sick about the same time.
Now I know you and Mr.
Jacobs are at opposite ends of the political spectrum.
I need you to think where your lives may have intersected.
That could be anywhere.
We went to college together, we rowed together we joined the same fraternity We even started our political careers on opposite sides of the debating team.
golf, lunches, dinners I thought you two were political enemies.
9:00 to 5:00 we do battle, but after that we remain friends.
I'm even his son's godfather.
Jack is like a member of our family.
What about Lieutenant Wingate? Can you think of any places where the three of you might have intersected? None that I can think of.
How's he doing? Mr.
Wingate is still unconscious and not responding to treatment.
Lawrence and Jacobs have hundreds of potential commonalities.
We should be able to narrow it down by seeing where Wingate triangulates with them.
Yeah, right.
All right, cross-reference everything these three men have in common.
Shared foods, meetings, vehicles, habits, hobbies anything else you can think of.
Let's hope Frank comes up with something on Capitol Hill.
My gut says it's not the Rayburn Building.
What makes you think so? We're still looking at some underground pipes and some air ducts upstairs.
But right now, we've pretty much come up empty.
So no sign of anything that would imply a coordinated attack? Just your basic public building germ factory.
Kate? Those are my samples.
Yes.
I know.
You didn't get my preliminary report? I like to look myself.
I don't see anything here that would indicate an attack.
Yeah? What? I'll be right there, Miles.
Another sick patient.
Similar set of symptoms.
You think it's possible that he and I will ever put our crap behind us? You're a smart man, Frank.
No comment.
That'd be my move, too.
Someday somebody's gonna drop a house on that woman.
Hey, what have you got? Kenneth McBride, 36.
He collapsed in a restaurant.
He's much further along than the others.
Mr.
McBride, I'm Dr.
Connor.
How are you feeling? Like I'm dying.
All right, get him up to isolation.
We're going to start you on fluids and antibiotics, but I need to know have you been to the Rayburn Building recently? I look like a Congressman to you? It's very important.
No, I've never been there.
Either it's not in the building, or he's an outlier.
A what? Someone who doesn't fit our pattern.
What's wrong with me? That's what we have to find out so we need to test your home, your business every place that you go for the source of this disease.
You can't.
Mr.
McBride, you're very sick.
I said no.
You don't have permission to set one foot inside my house.
You do and I'll sue.
Touchy guy.
Usually the case with someone who has something to hide.
This could be terrorist-related.
Clear! All clear! I'm getting a good idea why McBride didn't want us to search his place.
Hey, Frank, look at this.
If they're terrorists, they sure look a lot like call girls.
McBride's no terrorist he's Heidi Fleiss.
Hey, look-- I got a PDA.
Initials and numbers? The initials are the list of ladies he has in his stable.
And the numbers are the price they charge.
So a date with one of his women is 2,000 to 3,000 a night? And look who's paying those prices.
I voted for that guy.
This is a who's-who of Beltway insiders.
Including Congressman Lawrence.
There's Lawrence's name here Lawrence again he's always with the same girl.
Nicoletta.
And look-- Jack Jacobs and Lieutenant Wingate's names are in here, too and they were all with Nicoletta.
Forget terrorists.
We're looking for a "sexual Typhoid Mary".
Oh, my God.
Do you know who these men are? I know who one of them is-- husband of a good friend.
If this thing is sexually transmitted, he may have given it to Donna.
They have two kids, Stephen.
Look, regardless of how he got sick, the Congressman is our patient.
We still have to protect his privacy.
Eva, contact all the men in the PDA who had contact with Nicoletta.
They all have to be tested for STD exposure.
So do their families.
You know the protocol.
Say only they've been exposed to a potentially dangerous disease.
Don't get specific.
Protect their privacy.
We'll print out a list of the names.
I'll send them to your office.
Sorry, Nat.
Natalie, you'll conduct all the blood tests.
If this is an STD, it's nothing that I recognize, which makes me worry that we're dealing with some kind of new strain of something.
Nat? Blood.
Yeah, I know.
Hey.
You okay? No.
I-I'm far from okay.
Natalie.
Director.
What was that about? Nat and Donna Lawrence are old friends.
Well, maybe somebody else should take over for her.
Nat can do her job just fine.
That's not the feeling that I got.
Obviously you didn't come here to talk about my team.
No, I came to talk about that PDA.
So how did you hear about it? The real question is why didn't I hear about it from you? I was a little busy to write up a report.
When were you going to find the time? You said I had carte blanche.
I took you at your word.
I also said that I wanted to be kept informed.
What do you want, Kate? I want the PDA.
A sexually transmitted disease is just as volatile politically as terrorism, if not more so.
It has to be handled delicately.
Look, I don't have that luxury.
If this is what I think it is, a new strain of STD that kills within days, screw policy.
I know how serious this is, Stephen-- I'm a doctor, too.
Well, I need you to start acting like one.
Wait, I'm going to pretend you didn't say that.
Don't pretend for my sake.
We need to keep this professional, Stephen, for everybody's sake.
And that's my point exactly.
I want the PDA.
Medicine first, politics second.
I can't do my job without these names.
And I'll provide you with a list of each and every one, but I don't want this lying around your office where anyone can stumble across it.
Who the hell are you protecting in here? Are you that naive? I'm protecting everybody.
The names of some of the most powerful people in this town are in there.
Some of whom provide funding for all of this.
Why is it that everything that comes out of that mouth sounds like a press release? You stop this disease.
I'll keep the names from leaking, and everybody wins.
We'll have lots of people in Congress who owe us.
He lost consciousness before I could ask him how to find Nicoletta.
We had to intubate him.
Well, we can't wait for him to wake up.
If he wakes up at all.
There weren't any contact numbers for his escorts anywhere? No.
He's obviously careful to protect his stable.
We have to ask somebody else.
Any ideas? Yeah.
One of her regulars.
At least it wasn't an attack.
That's good news.
Yeah.
Look, we need to talk about what made you sick.
I thought you hadn't determined that yet.
We believe it's being spread through close physical contact, including sexual contact.
What are you insinuating? I wish it were just an insinuation.
We know about Nicoletta.
Oh, good God.
How is she involved? Well, you, your friend Congressman Jacobs and Lieutenant Wingate were all clients of Nicoletta's.
You all got sick after being with her.
Look, I can put you in touch with the man who arranged the meetings with Nicoletta.
He's across the hall on a ventilator.
Same disease that you have.
We have to find her and identify the source of this infection, before this thing becomes an outbreak.
We need an address, Congressman.
Please open.
Looks like someone warned her we were coming.
McBride? He's unconscious.
He was wide awake when we went to search his house.
He could have called.
All right, then, where the hell is she? That's another question for McBride.
And if he can't talk what are the odds of him regaining consciousness? Not very good.
Eva's going to have to ask everyone on that list if they know where Nicoletta is.
Stephen, if this disease is as bad as we think, there's another possibility.
Yeah, she's sick and holed up somewhere.
Or dead.
You'll be tested in strict confidence.
That's right.
Your privacy's guaranteed.
I'm sorry.
I-I know this is awkward, sir.
And you're sure this is the only address you have for Nicoletta? No, thank you.
Thanks for your cooperation.
Ms.
Rossi? Director Ewing this was a lot easier before I had to tell people what they were being tested for.
Now that I have to ask about Nicoletta So, any progress? Well, I'm making my way through the list.
So far, nobody knows where Nicoletta is.
Has anyone found numbers to his girls? No.
Powell says some pimps never write down certain information.
They keep it all in their heads.
Anyway, the police are watching Nicoletta's condo.
Any other leads? There's one name on the list that's giving me fits, a Michael Wilson.
There are three dozen of them.
Director Ewing.
You're avoiding my calls.
Not at all.
I've been a little tied up, Mark.
You can understand.
Sure.
It's just a big story for all of us.
Word is, your investigation has uncovered something you're trying to keep under wraps-- some say a sex scandal.
Any comment? This town.
I swear, everything becomes an opera.
There's nothing to the rumor.
Okay? We've also heard that Beltway insiders may be involved in this When we know anything, you'll be the first call.
I'll hold you to that.
I ordered strict confidence, Ms.
Rossi.
I was discrete.
Apparently not discrete enough.
I followed protocol to the letter.
Then how the hell did this happen? So this is just a precaution, right? We all feel fine.
Once we determine what's making Doug sick, we'll be able to test your blood immediately to make sure that you haven't been exposed.
So I can stop worrying? Given how you're all feeling, I'd say you can relax.
Nat You're telling me everything, right? Of course.
Doug isn't getting better.
No.
But we're working to find a treatment that will help him.
Okay? Natalie.
It's McBride.
He's coding.
What's up? McBride's coding.
Don't lose him, Stephen.
Nicoletta's place is clean.
It's a dead end.
Time of death, 2:07.
I have never seen an STD kill this fast.
How are the other patients? Sicker.
We're nowhere on this disease.
They're not responding to anything.
Maybe McBride's autopsy will tell us something.
We gotta find this woman.
We're going to lose Lawrence and Jacobs and everyone else who gets exposed.
I look forward to seeing you.
Yes.
Me, too, lover.
Two whole hours? No, that doesn't get you a discount.
It gets you twice the fun.
So far, nobody knows where Nicoletta is.
They all have the same address Congressman Lawrence gave us.
It's like she disappeared.
Any luck with Mike Wilson? 30 down, six to go.
Too bad we just can't issue a BOLO on these guys.
Confidentiality.
I gotta do this one at a time on tiptoes.
Look, if you need to see them at their places of business, or knock on their front doors, just do it.
What happened to keeping this under the radar? Nobody said to call the Post, Eva.
Well, Dr.
Ewing already reamed me about the leak.
Look, I'll take the heat for it.
Just find Mike Wilson.
I need to take some more blood.
I don't feel any better, Natalie.
I don't mind telling you I'm scared.
Well, it was all avoidable, Congressman.
Someone else could've come and done this if you're uncomfortable.
First of all, this is my job to do this.
Second of all, I'm not the one who should feel uncomfortable.
Look I screwed up, okay? The only thing that matters is finding this thing and putting a stop to it.
Right.
Doug? Your breathing sounds labored.
It's my asthma.
Time to time, it flares up.
Especially when I'm under stress.
Are you taking anything for it? I have an inhaler.
Anything else? No.
"Predni" something.
Prednisone? Prednisone, right.
But that's not on your chart.
Does that mean something to you? It might.
I'll have someone come check on your asthma.
Natalie, I'm glad you're here.
For me and for Donna.
How is he? Still struggling.
I need to get these to the lab.
Nat, what's wrong? Nothing.
Come on.
It's me.
If there's bad news about Doug, I want to hear it.
I've told you everything about your husband's condition that I can.
"My husband"? Like he's some stranger.
Don't get all doctory on me, Nat.
Please, not now.
I won't.
Natalie.
Director Ewing.
Kate.
Isn't it about time we were on a first-name basis? I had an unsettling experience this morning.
A reporter said he'd heard we might be dealing with a sex scandal.
Well, how did he find out? I thought you might have an idea.
You're friends with Donna Lawrence.
You think what? I told her? That thought had crossed my mind, yes.
I didn't.
And if I had, that reporter would have more than a rumor.
He'd have a headline.
Well, I think, all things considered, you should step back; let someone else handle your duties on this one.
Well, before I step back, you might want to take a look at this.
What is it? I found a commonality among all our patients.
I think I know why only some of the call girl's customers are getting sick.
Tell me.
Lieutenant Wingate was undergoing chemotherapy for lung cancer.
Congressman Lawrence was taking Prednisone for asthma.
McBride and Jacobs are both diabetic.
They're all immuno-suppressed.
We were asking the wrong questions Kate.
Hi, this is Eva Rossi with the N.
I.
H.
I'm looking for a Michael Wilson.
Does he work there? He called in sick? When? Do you have a home number for him? Thank you.
Still hunting your prey, huh? This guy's work said he hasn't been there in four days.
If he doesn't call back soon, I'm gonna go to his place.
You want to come? Yeah, yeah.
Let me check first, see if I'm needed here.
Is this a Ewing thing? All right, look, I'm coming, all right? Just let me know what time that bus leaves.
Kate? What's going on? Nothing.
Doesn't look like nothing.
I was checking the blood results.
By looking at our vials? You might want to try the written reports.
Good night, Stephen.
Wow, you really have found a home here, Kate.
Cocktail parties with Senators Oh, to hell with you.
You're out saving the world and I'm shuffling papers.
That was your choice.
You were a good doctor once.
What I do here is vital-- providing funding for this agency, supplying you with what you need.
You gladly take what I provide, and then you have the gall to complain about the way I do it?! You still haven't said what you're doing in here.
No, I haven't.
Hey.
It's Wilson.
One of his neighbors was walking the dog, found the body this morning.
Do they know what he died of? No, but he was clearly sick.
It's Wilson's cell.
Let's look in his phone book.
Anything? No Nicoletta.
He's got McBride's number in here.
Check "frequently called numbers.
" A bunch of male names somebody named Didi Lomax.
Connor we found a number Wilson dialed a lot.
A woman named Didi Lomax.
I talked to some of my boys in Vice.
Didi Lomax is a known high-class call girl who sometimes takes spillover business from Nicoletta.
Well, maybe Didi can lead us to Nicoletta.
Yeah.
Only Didi's hard to reach.
She hasn't returned any of my calls.
Maybe that's because you're a woman.
Miss Lomax? You can call me Didi.
Okay, Didi So, you booked us a hotel room, I'm assuming.
There's been a change of plans.
I'm Dr.
Stephen Connor, National Institutes of Health.
We're investigating a very serious health problem.
I need to find a friend of yours-- Nicoletta.
Don't have any friends by that name.
Kenneth McBride, your stable boss, died today.
My God.
Of what? From a disease we believe he got from Nicoletta.
If we don't find her, more people are going to die.
So, please, tell me where she is.
Coming.
My, aren't we impatient.
I don't believe we have an appointment, gentlemen.
We do now.
Did you sleep with Kenneth McBride? Yeah.
He liked to take advantage of his position.
What's the big deal? You slept with everyone who got sick.
There's a good chance you're spreading it.
I get tested every month.
It's a disease we haven't seen before.
We think it's a new STD.
Oh, my God.
You think I have this? I mean, everyone dies? We don't know yet.
But Wilson's dead and McBride's dead.
I slept with them I'm next? Nicoletta, take it easy.
Okay.
Look, I'm not sick.
So, that's got to be good, right? You could be a carrier.
Or you just haven't gotten sick yet.
This can't be happening.
I got the results from Nicoletta's blood work back.
And? Negative.
No STDs.
No sign of infection at all.
So she's not our Typhoid Mary.
Well, at least we're not looking at some super AIDS virus.
But we're still dealing with a disease that kills quickly.
And we still don't know the source.
So If Nicoletta's clean, what's the commonality between our patients? You mean besides weakened immune systems? Yeah.
All right, look, they were all her clients, right? And we know McBride slept with her, too.
So the sexual connection still holds.
Wait a second.
Is this the whole list? Yeah.
Why? Maybe nothing.
Eva talked to everyone on this, right? Every one.
None very happy.
These times here When they had their appointments with Nicoletta.
Yeah.
All our sick people met in the late afternoon.
On their way home to their wives.
Look, if Nicoletta wasn't making them sick, it had to be something in that environment.
I went over every inch of her apartment.
There's nothing there.
All right, let's go over it again.
This time in the late afternoon.
Stephen, I just got a call from a friend at the Department of Health.
The Secretary's pulling us off the case.
He's pulling N.
I.
H.
? No, us-- this team.
Dr.
Stephen Connor for Kate Ewing.
She's not in right now.
Never mind.
Stephen, I need the Jacobs file.
His family is You pulled us off this case.
What? No.
I catch you doing God knows what in our lab the other night, you stumble across some little secret, you get me axed and wreck my credibility.
I was doing N.
I.
H.
business in that lab.
Okay, I looked through that PDA before I turned it over to you.
So? I saw the list you gave Eva.
There's a name missing-- a prominent one.
All right, you saw the name.
So what were you trying to do-- steal his blood results so he wouldn't be part of my investigation? You're way off base.
You're protecting him.
Why? Watch your tone, Doctor.
Okay, I'm going to find the source of this disease, and if you think you can pull me off this I fought to keep you on it.
The Secretary ordered your removal, I refused.
He wasn't happy with your lack of progress.
I could have let him bury you, but I didn't.
Why not? That's not like you.
As I said before, your team's the best.
So we're still on the case.
Yeah, but don't prove me wrong.
You're down to your last strike.
We both are on this one.
We must have missed something here.
Look, we can go through it again, top to bottom-- if that's what you want to do, but I didn't miss anything the first time.
Frank, test it again-- all of it.
Look, if Ewing chews on you, that's no reason to chew on me.
Let's just do it right, okay? If you think my testing is an issue, maybe you should find another tox guy.
Let's just step back and concentrate on what happened here.
Say you're a john.
One of Nicoletta's customers.
You come inside.
Nicoletta greets you at the door.
You go up to the bedroom.
Let's go.
Nothing we didn't already know.
And none of which explains the illness.
We already know it's not sexually transmitted.
Sprinklers.
Did you test them? No.
Not specifically.
I tested the water in the apartment.
It's clean.
What are you thinking? That the sprinklers weren't on when you tested in the morning.
No, they weren't.
An above-the-ground storage tank.
So this system runs independently from the others.
Right.
The sidewalks are dry.
So the water's draining into the tank.
If the tank wasn't disinfected properly it would be the perfect place for an infectious agent to grow.
Then the sprinklers aerosolized it.
And the men would have walked right through it on their way up to Nicoletta's apartment.
At this time of day, they would have all been exposed.
Could have been an atypical mycobacteria or aspergillus.
The sprinkler system.
How did I miss that? Well? It's a boy.
Excuse me? You've found the source.
The recycled sprinkler water is contaminated with legionella bacteria.
Next time my kids play under the sprinklers, I'm going to have to test that water first.
All the patients tested positive for Legionnaire's Disease, and I found it in McBride's lungs when I did the autopsy.
Hey.
Hey.
How are our patients doing? I started them on azithromycin.
Their fevers are coming down already.
Good.
That should wipe out the Legionnaire's.
Lucky men.
Vitals are good.
Looks like you'll be fine, Congressman.
How's Jack Jacobs? Him, too.
Thank God.
And, um Nicoletta? Was never sick.
The source of the contamination was the sprinkler water at her condo.
Oh, my God.
Your asthma medication weakened your immune system, making you very susceptible to the bacteria.
Doesn't make me any less guilty for what I did.
Look, Congressman, that's something you might want to discuss with your wife not me.
I already have.
Donna.
You knew the whole time.
Yes, I did.
And Doug told you to keep this from me? No.
I was bound not to tell ethically.
Ethics in this town.
I'm sorry.
I'm a doctor.
I have obligations.
What about your obligations to me? If it matters to you, this was the hardest thing that I have ever had to do.
And whatever you're feeling, I don't blame you.
If it were me, I would be livid.
So there it is.
I can't change what happened.
I can't even tell you that I would do anything differently.
I'm so sorry.
Donna are we going to be okay? Not today.
Kate.
Stephen.
The final report on the outbreak.
It's, uh it's not in there.
The results to your blood test.
How did you know? There was one blood test ordered that wasn't accounted for.
Must have been what you were doing in the lab that night-- testing your blood.
And you removed my blood results from the report.
So no one will know who you were sleeping with.
I'm taking medication for psoriasis.
I could be immuno-suppressed.
Contracted the disease.
Nothing ever changes, does it, Kate? You must be enjoying this.
No, not really.
So, um, you going to keep my results? It's your secret.
Why? You could ruin me.
I'd be replaced, off your back.
You never really understood me, did you, Kate? Look, if your personal life had anything to do with this case, I would have included it.
Yeah, I know you would.
Always upsetting the apple cart.
No diplomatic sense.
A complete loose cannon.
Kate? Yeah.
Thanks for backing me.
In the end, we want the same thing.
I still think you're a royal pain in the ass.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
I'm grateful to be here to speak to you today.
I'm also grateful that, as a Congressman, I have a health plan that allowed me to get the best medical care this country could provide.
But isn't that something that should be available not just for me, but for all the voters who put me in office to advocate for them? Politicians in Washington talk a lot about family values.
As a family man myself I know what it takes to keep a family together.
It takes hard work and dedication and commitment.
With all the pressures the average person faces, he or she doesn't need the crushing weight of paying exorbitant health care costs on top of everything else.
Health care should be something that we all have, without questions asked.
That burden should be shouldered by all of us.
I had it just a minute ago.
You left it on your desk, honey.
They're ready for you, Congressman.
You're very warm, Doug.
Are you all right? He's fine, Mrs.
Lawrence.
He doesn't look fine.
I just have a headache.
You haven't been able to keep food down for two days.
You're very weak.
Maybe we should hold off on this speech until you feel better.
We don't want to miss the news cycle.
President just had his physical.
Health care's on everyone's mind.
I'll get some rest later, I promise.
I'll tell the press you're coming out.
Smile.
You're impossible.
That's what my last opponent ran on.
Good afternoon.
As you know, I've been working closely with representatives from both parties to hammer out a bill that would guarantee prenatal healthcare to all women regardless of their citizenship, and to guarantee healthcare to all children up to the age of 12.
Well, I'm pleased to announce that I'm introducing such a bill tomorrow before Congress recesses.
Well, Congressman Lawrence, hasn't the President indicated that he'll veto such a bill, as it's too expensive? I've had discussions with With -- Medical Investigation 118 -- -- The Black Book -- How is he? The attending should fill you in, Donna.
Yeah, but he's not my friend.
It's hard to tell right now.
At first, the doctors thought Doug had a pulmonary embolism.
But now they're just not sure.
I always know when you're not telling me everything.
Okay.
I'm not just here as a friend anymore.
We were officially brought in this afternoon.
N.
I.
H.
? Why? Okay, so Congressman Lawrence isn't the only political player who's sick? No.
There are two other men with similar symptoms-- heart abnormalities, lung inflammation and gastrointestinal discomfort.
A multi-system disease.
It could be toxin exposure, severe infection.
Yeah so, who are the other victims? Congressman Jack Jacobs.
He's been on all the political talk shows.
Didn't know you were a news junkie, Miles.
Jacobs's taken lots of money from pharmaceutical interests.
He's always debating Lawrence about health care.
Third victim? Yes, Raymond Wingate.
He's a lieutenant in the Capitol Police.
He's the worst off of the three.
He's unconscious and on a ventilator.
He's obviously no help.
That's all we know for now.
Except that they all work in the Sam Rayburn Building.
The Rayburn Building? That's home of the entire United States House of Representatives.
Which means we may be dealing with An intentional release of a biological agent.
Obviously, with members of the Congress involved, we can't rule that out.
A wise assumption.
Director Ewing.
Hello, Kate.
Must be a photo op somewhere nearby to get the head of the N.
I.
H.
down here in the dungeon.
Somebody's got to be the N.
I.
H.
poster child.
Unfortunately, the press is already smelling blood.
Are we talking terrorist attack? Three people sick, all in the same government building, post 9/11.
It doesn't take a tabloid diehard to make that leap.
I'm assuming that's your working theory, Stephen.
Of course.
I mean, when you hear hoof beats Think horses, not zebras.
Oh, this is going to be a PR headache.
Which is why you need to sniff around.
I can check with the editors, see what stories they've assigned.
See how the press is going to play this.
Good.
We have a better chance of tracking down what's really going on here if CNN's not fanning the flames.
Frank, I assume you'll be going over the Rayburn Building? Yeah, I'll have a team ready to go in after the Capitol Police clear and lock it down.
Copy me on any results.
Homeland Security been alerted? And the FBI.
But before they change the color level, I've convinced them that medicine can tell us the most.
Our job's critical.
Look, if you're here to take over our case, just take it.
Why would you think that? I'm hearing hoof beats again.
Quite the contrary.
I told the Secretary that I was bringing in my best team here.
Fair enough? Any idea what's making the patients sick? Natalie's at the hospital now.
We've eliminated the most obvious-- anthrax, smallpox, plague.
Keep me in the loop as appropriate.
Otherwise, you have carte blanche.
It's your game to win.
Am I imagining things, or was that a hand-off? Ewing doesn't do anything out of the kindness of her heart.
The only reason she's letting us run's so she won't have to take the heat.
Carte blanche, my ass.
Well, I guess they don't cozy up and read The Merck Manual together.
This goes way beyond professional sword fighting.
It's very personal.
Like? I'm not going there.
Natalie.
Hey, guys.
You know Dr.
Connor.
Yes, we've met.
How are you? Mrs.
Lawrence, Congressman.
So what makes them think this thing might be intentional? Everyone who's sick works in your building.
How many are sick? So far, three.
Look, Mrs.
Lawrence, you may be more comfortable waiting outside for a while.
Come on, Donna, that's our cue.
Let me get you a cup of coffee.
Love you.
You're in good hands, Doug.
So, how can I help? Tell me about the Rayburn Building.
Have you seen any people who don't belong or smell anything unusual? Has the water tasted differently? I'm strictly a bottled water and diet soda guy, so I haven't noticed anything.
Can you think of anything you've been exposed to in recent weeks? Packages, foods, foreign animals, birds? Plenty of vultures in the U.
S.
Congress, but nothing I haven't seen before.
How's Jack Jacobs? He's got the same thing as me? He may.
Ahh You both work in the Rayburn Building, and you both got sick about the same time.
Now I know you and Mr.
Jacobs are at opposite ends of the political spectrum.
I need you to think where your lives may have intersected.
That could be anywhere.
We went to college together, we rowed together we joined the same fraternity We even started our political careers on opposite sides of the debating team.
golf, lunches, dinners I thought you two were political enemies.
9:00 to 5:00 we do battle, but after that we remain friends.
I'm even his son's godfather.
Jack is like a member of our family.
What about Lieutenant Wingate? Can you think of any places where the three of you might have intersected? None that I can think of.
How's he doing? Mr.
Wingate is still unconscious and not responding to treatment.
Lawrence and Jacobs have hundreds of potential commonalities.
We should be able to narrow it down by seeing where Wingate triangulates with them.
Yeah, right.
All right, cross-reference everything these three men have in common.
Shared foods, meetings, vehicles, habits, hobbies anything else you can think of.
Let's hope Frank comes up with something on Capitol Hill.
My gut says it's not the Rayburn Building.
What makes you think so? We're still looking at some underground pipes and some air ducts upstairs.
But right now, we've pretty much come up empty.
So no sign of anything that would imply a coordinated attack? Just your basic public building germ factory.
Kate? Those are my samples.
Yes.
I know.
You didn't get my preliminary report? I like to look myself.
I don't see anything here that would indicate an attack.
Yeah? What? I'll be right there, Miles.
Another sick patient.
Similar set of symptoms.
You think it's possible that he and I will ever put our crap behind us? You're a smart man, Frank.
No comment.
That'd be my move, too.
Someday somebody's gonna drop a house on that woman.
Hey, what have you got? Kenneth McBride, 36.
He collapsed in a restaurant.
He's much further along than the others.
Mr.
McBride, I'm Dr.
Connor.
How are you feeling? Like I'm dying.
All right, get him up to isolation.
We're going to start you on fluids and antibiotics, but I need to know have you been to the Rayburn Building recently? I look like a Congressman to you? It's very important.
No, I've never been there.
Either it's not in the building, or he's an outlier.
A what? Someone who doesn't fit our pattern.
What's wrong with me? That's what we have to find out so we need to test your home, your business every place that you go for the source of this disease.
You can't.
Mr.
McBride, you're very sick.
I said no.
You don't have permission to set one foot inside my house.
You do and I'll sue.
Touchy guy.
Usually the case with someone who has something to hide.
This could be terrorist-related.
Clear! All clear! I'm getting a good idea why McBride didn't want us to search his place.
Hey, Frank, look at this.
If they're terrorists, they sure look a lot like call girls.
McBride's no terrorist he's Heidi Fleiss.
Hey, look-- I got a PDA.
Initials and numbers? The initials are the list of ladies he has in his stable.
And the numbers are the price they charge.
So a date with one of his women is 2,000 to 3,000 a night? And look who's paying those prices.
I voted for that guy.
This is a who's-who of Beltway insiders.
Including Congressman Lawrence.
There's Lawrence's name here Lawrence again he's always with the same girl.
Nicoletta.
And look-- Jack Jacobs and Lieutenant Wingate's names are in here, too and they were all with Nicoletta.
Forget terrorists.
We're looking for a "sexual Typhoid Mary".
Oh, my God.
Do you know who these men are? I know who one of them is-- husband of a good friend.
If this thing is sexually transmitted, he may have given it to Donna.
They have two kids, Stephen.
Look, regardless of how he got sick, the Congressman is our patient.
We still have to protect his privacy.
Eva, contact all the men in the PDA who had contact with Nicoletta.
They all have to be tested for STD exposure.
So do their families.
You know the protocol.
Say only they've been exposed to a potentially dangerous disease.
Don't get specific.
Protect their privacy.
We'll print out a list of the names.
I'll send them to your office.
Sorry, Nat.
Natalie, you'll conduct all the blood tests.
If this is an STD, it's nothing that I recognize, which makes me worry that we're dealing with some kind of new strain of something.
Nat? Blood.
Yeah, I know.
Hey.
You okay? No.
I-I'm far from okay.
Natalie.
Director.
What was that about? Nat and Donna Lawrence are old friends.
Well, maybe somebody else should take over for her.
Nat can do her job just fine.
That's not the feeling that I got.
Obviously you didn't come here to talk about my team.
No, I came to talk about that PDA.
So how did you hear about it? The real question is why didn't I hear about it from you? I was a little busy to write up a report.
When were you going to find the time? You said I had carte blanche.
I took you at your word.
I also said that I wanted to be kept informed.
What do you want, Kate? I want the PDA.
A sexually transmitted disease is just as volatile politically as terrorism, if not more so.
It has to be handled delicately.
Look, I don't have that luxury.
If this is what I think it is, a new strain of STD that kills within days, screw policy.
I know how serious this is, Stephen-- I'm a doctor, too.
Well, I need you to start acting like one.
Wait, I'm going to pretend you didn't say that.
Don't pretend for my sake.
We need to keep this professional, Stephen, for everybody's sake.
And that's my point exactly.
I want the PDA.
Medicine first, politics second.
I can't do my job without these names.
And I'll provide you with a list of each and every one, but I don't want this lying around your office where anyone can stumble across it.
Who the hell are you protecting in here? Are you that naive? I'm protecting everybody.
The names of some of the most powerful people in this town are in there.
Some of whom provide funding for all of this.
Why is it that everything that comes out of that mouth sounds like a press release? You stop this disease.
I'll keep the names from leaking, and everybody wins.
We'll have lots of people in Congress who owe us.
He lost consciousness before I could ask him how to find Nicoletta.
We had to intubate him.
Well, we can't wait for him to wake up.
If he wakes up at all.
There weren't any contact numbers for his escorts anywhere? No.
He's obviously careful to protect his stable.
We have to ask somebody else.
Any ideas? Yeah.
One of her regulars.
At least it wasn't an attack.
That's good news.
Yeah.
Look, we need to talk about what made you sick.
I thought you hadn't determined that yet.
We believe it's being spread through close physical contact, including sexual contact.
What are you insinuating? I wish it were just an insinuation.
We know about Nicoletta.
Oh, good God.
How is she involved? Well, you, your friend Congressman Jacobs and Lieutenant Wingate were all clients of Nicoletta's.
You all got sick after being with her.
Look, I can put you in touch with the man who arranged the meetings with Nicoletta.
He's across the hall on a ventilator.
Same disease that you have.
We have to find her and identify the source of this infection, before this thing becomes an outbreak.
We need an address, Congressman.
Please open.
Looks like someone warned her we were coming.
McBride? He's unconscious.
He was wide awake when we went to search his house.
He could have called.
All right, then, where the hell is she? That's another question for McBride.
And if he can't talk what are the odds of him regaining consciousness? Not very good.
Eva's going to have to ask everyone on that list if they know where Nicoletta is.
Stephen, if this disease is as bad as we think, there's another possibility.
Yeah, she's sick and holed up somewhere.
Or dead.
You'll be tested in strict confidence.
That's right.
Your privacy's guaranteed.
I'm sorry.
I-I know this is awkward, sir.
And you're sure this is the only address you have for Nicoletta? No, thank you.
Thanks for your cooperation.
Ms.
Rossi? Director Ewing this was a lot easier before I had to tell people what they were being tested for.
Now that I have to ask about Nicoletta So, any progress? Well, I'm making my way through the list.
So far, nobody knows where Nicoletta is.
Has anyone found numbers to his girls? No.
Powell says some pimps never write down certain information.
They keep it all in their heads.
Anyway, the police are watching Nicoletta's condo.
Any other leads? There's one name on the list that's giving me fits, a Michael Wilson.
There are three dozen of them.
Director Ewing.
You're avoiding my calls.
Not at all.
I've been a little tied up, Mark.
You can understand.
Sure.
It's just a big story for all of us.
Word is, your investigation has uncovered something you're trying to keep under wraps-- some say a sex scandal.
Any comment? This town.
I swear, everything becomes an opera.
There's nothing to the rumor.
Okay? We've also heard that Beltway insiders may be involved in this When we know anything, you'll be the first call.
I'll hold you to that.
I ordered strict confidence, Ms.
Rossi.
I was discrete.
Apparently not discrete enough.
I followed protocol to the letter.
Then how the hell did this happen? So this is just a precaution, right? We all feel fine.
Once we determine what's making Doug sick, we'll be able to test your blood immediately to make sure that you haven't been exposed.
So I can stop worrying? Given how you're all feeling, I'd say you can relax.
Nat You're telling me everything, right? Of course.
Doug isn't getting better.
No.
But we're working to find a treatment that will help him.
Okay? Natalie.
It's McBride.
He's coding.
What's up? McBride's coding.
Don't lose him, Stephen.
Nicoletta's place is clean.
It's a dead end.
Time of death, 2:07.
I have never seen an STD kill this fast.
How are the other patients? Sicker.
We're nowhere on this disease.
They're not responding to anything.
Maybe McBride's autopsy will tell us something.
We gotta find this woman.
We're going to lose Lawrence and Jacobs and everyone else who gets exposed.
I look forward to seeing you.
Yes.
Me, too, lover.
Two whole hours? No, that doesn't get you a discount.
It gets you twice the fun.
So far, nobody knows where Nicoletta is.
They all have the same address Congressman Lawrence gave us.
It's like she disappeared.
Any luck with Mike Wilson? 30 down, six to go.
Too bad we just can't issue a BOLO on these guys.
Confidentiality.
I gotta do this one at a time on tiptoes.
Look, if you need to see them at their places of business, or knock on their front doors, just do it.
What happened to keeping this under the radar? Nobody said to call the Post, Eva.
Well, Dr.
Ewing already reamed me about the leak.
Look, I'll take the heat for it.
Just find Mike Wilson.
I need to take some more blood.
I don't feel any better, Natalie.
I don't mind telling you I'm scared.
Well, it was all avoidable, Congressman.
Someone else could've come and done this if you're uncomfortable.
First of all, this is my job to do this.
Second of all, I'm not the one who should feel uncomfortable.
Look I screwed up, okay? The only thing that matters is finding this thing and putting a stop to it.
Right.
Doug? Your breathing sounds labored.
It's my asthma.
Time to time, it flares up.
Especially when I'm under stress.
Are you taking anything for it? I have an inhaler.
Anything else? No.
"Predni" something.
Prednisone? Prednisone, right.
But that's not on your chart.
Does that mean something to you? It might.
I'll have someone come check on your asthma.
Natalie, I'm glad you're here.
For me and for Donna.
How is he? Still struggling.
I need to get these to the lab.
Nat, what's wrong? Nothing.
Come on.
It's me.
If there's bad news about Doug, I want to hear it.
I've told you everything about your husband's condition that I can.
"My husband"? Like he's some stranger.
Don't get all doctory on me, Nat.
Please, not now.
I won't.
Natalie.
Director Ewing.
Kate.
Isn't it about time we were on a first-name basis? I had an unsettling experience this morning.
A reporter said he'd heard we might be dealing with a sex scandal.
Well, how did he find out? I thought you might have an idea.
You're friends with Donna Lawrence.
You think what? I told her? That thought had crossed my mind, yes.
I didn't.
And if I had, that reporter would have more than a rumor.
He'd have a headline.
Well, I think, all things considered, you should step back; let someone else handle your duties on this one.
Well, before I step back, you might want to take a look at this.
What is it? I found a commonality among all our patients.
I think I know why only some of the call girl's customers are getting sick.
Tell me.
Lieutenant Wingate was undergoing chemotherapy for lung cancer.
Congressman Lawrence was taking Prednisone for asthma.
McBride and Jacobs are both diabetic.
They're all immuno-suppressed.
We were asking the wrong questions Kate.
Hi, this is Eva Rossi with the N.
I.
H.
I'm looking for a Michael Wilson.
Does he work there? He called in sick? When? Do you have a home number for him? Thank you.
Still hunting your prey, huh? This guy's work said he hasn't been there in four days.
If he doesn't call back soon, I'm gonna go to his place.
You want to come? Yeah, yeah.
Let me check first, see if I'm needed here.
Is this a Ewing thing? All right, look, I'm coming, all right? Just let me know what time that bus leaves.
Kate? What's going on? Nothing.
Doesn't look like nothing.
I was checking the blood results.
By looking at our vials? You might want to try the written reports.
Good night, Stephen.
Wow, you really have found a home here, Kate.
Cocktail parties with Senators Oh, to hell with you.
You're out saving the world and I'm shuffling papers.
That was your choice.
You were a good doctor once.
What I do here is vital-- providing funding for this agency, supplying you with what you need.
You gladly take what I provide, and then you have the gall to complain about the way I do it?! You still haven't said what you're doing in here.
No, I haven't.
Hey.
It's Wilson.
One of his neighbors was walking the dog, found the body this morning.
Do they know what he died of? No, but he was clearly sick.
It's Wilson's cell.
Let's look in his phone book.
Anything? No Nicoletta.
He's got McBride's number in here.
Check "frequently called numbers.
" A bunch of male names somebody named Didi Lomax.
Connor we found a number Wilson dialed a lot.
A woman named Didi Lomax.
I talked to some of my boys in Vice.
Didi Lomax is a known high-class call girl who sometimes takes spillover business from Nicoletta.
Well, maybe Didi can lead us to Nicoletta.
Yeah.
Only Didi's hard to reach.
She hasn't returned any of my calls.
Maybe that's because you're a woman.
Miss Lomax? You can call me Didi.
Okay, Didi So, you booked us a hotel room, I'm assuming.
There's been a change of plans.
I'm Dr.
Stephen Connor, National Institutes of Health.
We're investigating a very serious health problem.
I need to find a friend of yours-- Nicoletta.
Don't have any friends by that name.
Kenneth McBride, your stable boss, died today.
My God.
Of what? From a disease we believe he got from Nicoletta.
If we don't find her, more people are going to die.
So, please, tell me where she is.
Coming.
My, aren't we impatient.
I don't believe we have an appointment, gentlemen.
We do now.
Did you sleep with Kenneth McBride? Yeah.
He liked to take advantage of his position.
What's the big deal? You slept with everyone who got sick.
There's a good chance you're spreading it.
I get tested every month.
It's a disease we haven't seen before.
We think it's a new STD.
Oh, my God.
You think I have this? I mean, everyone dies? We don't know yet.
But Wilson's dead and McBride's dead.
I slept with them I'm next? Nicoletta, take it easy.
Okay.
Look, I'm not sick.
So, that's got to be good, right? You could be a carrier.
Or you just haven't gotten sick yet.
This can't be happening.
I got the results from Nicoletta's blood work back.
And? Negative.
No STDs.
No sign of infection at all.
So she's not our Typhoid Mary.
Well, at least we're not looking at some super AIDS virus.
But we're still dealing with a disease that kills quickly.
And we still don't know the source.
So If Nicoletta's clean, what's the commonality between our patients? You mean besides weakened immune systems? Yeah.
All right, look, they were all her clients, right? And we know McBride slept with her, too.
So the sexual connection still holds.
Wait a second.
Is this the whole list? Yeah.
Why? Maybe nothing.
Eva talked to everyone on this, right? Every one.
None very happy.
These times here When they had their appointments with Nicoletta.
Yeah.
All our sick people met in the late afternoon.
On their way home to their wives.
Look, if Nicoletta wasn't making them sick, it had to be something in that environment.
I went over every inch of her apartment.
There's nothing there.
All right, let's go over it again.
This time in the late afternoon.
Stephen, I just got a call from a friend at the Department of Health.
The Secretary's pulling us off the case.
He's pulling N.
I.
H.
? No, us-- this team.
Dr.
Stephen Connor for Kate Ewing.
She's not in right now.
Never mind.
Stephen, I need the Jacobs file.
His family is You pulled us off this case.
What? No.
I catch you doing God knows what in our lab the other night, you stumble across some little secret, you get me axed and wreck my credibility.
I was doing N.
I.
H.
business in that lab.
Okay, I looked through that PDA before I turned it over to you.
So? I saw the list you gave Eva.
There's a name missing-- a prominent one.
All right, you saw the name.
So what were you trying to do-- steal his blood results so he wouldn't be part of my investigation? You're way off base.
You're protecting him.
Why? Watch your tone, Doctor.
Okay, I'm going to find the source of this disease, and if you think you can pull me off this I fought to keep you on it.
The Secretary ordered your removal, I refused.
He wasn't happy with your lack of progress.
I could have let him bury you, but I didn't.
Why not? That's not like you.
As I said before, your team's the best.
So we're still on the case.
Yeah, but don't prove me wrong.
You're down to your last strike.
We both are on this one.
We must have missed something here.
Look, we can go through it again, top to bottom-- if that's what you want to do, but I didn't miss anything the first time.
Frank, test it again-- all of it.
Look, if Ewing chews on you, that's no reason to chew on me.
Let's just do it right, okay? If you think my testing is an issue, maybe you should find another tox guy.
Let's just step back and concentrate on what happened here.
Say you're a john.
One of Nicoletta's customers.
You come inside.
Nicoletta greets you at the door.
You go up to the bedroom.
Let's go.
Nothing we didn't already know.
And none of which explains the illness.
We already know it's not sexually transmitted.
Sprinklers.
Did you test them? No.
Not specifically.
I tested the water in the apartment.
It's clean.
What are you thinking? That the sprinklers weren't on when you tested in the morning.
No, they weren't.
An above-the-ground storage tank.
So this system runs independently from the others.
Right.
The sidewalks are dry.
So the water's draining into the tank.
If the tank wasn't disinfected properly it would be the perfect place for an infectious agent to grow.
Then the sprinklers aerosolized it.
And the men would have walked right through it on their way up to Nicoletta's apartment.
At this time of day, they would have all been exposed.
Could have been an atypical mycobacteria or aspergillus.
The sprinkler system.
How did I miss that? Well? It's a boy.
Excuse me? You've found the source.
The recycled sprinkler water is contaminated with legionella bacteria.
Next time my kids play under the sprinklers, I'm going to have to test that water first.
All the patients tested positive for Legionnaire's Disease, and I found it in McBride's lungs when I did the autopsy.
Hey.
Hey.
How are our patients doing? I started them on azithromycin.
Their fevers are coming down already.
Good.
That should wipe out the Legionnaire's.
Lucky men.
Vitals are good.
Looks like you'll be fine, Congressman.
How's Jack Jacobs? Him, too.
Thank God.
And, um Nicoletta? Was never sick.
The source of the contamination was the sprinkler water at her condo.
Oh, my God.
Your asthma medication weakened your immune system, making you very susceptible to the bacteria.
Doesn't make me any less guilty for what I did.
Look, Congressman, that's something you might want to discuss with your wife not me.
I already have.
Donna.
You knew the whole time.
Yes, I did.
And Doug told you to keep this from me? No.
I was bound not to tell ethically.
Ethics in this town.
I'm sorry.
I'm a doctor.
I have obligations.
What about your obligations to me? If it matters to you, this was the hardest thing that I have ever had to do.
And whatever you're feeling, I don't blame you.
If it were me, I would be livid.
So there it is.
I can't change what happened.
I can't even tell you that I would do anything differently.
I'm so sorry.
Donna are we going to be okay? Not today.
Kate.
Stephen.
The final report on the outbreak.
It's, uh it's not in there.
The results to your blood test.
How did you know? There was one blood test ordered that wasn't accounted for.
Must have been what you were doing in the lab that night-- testing your blood.
And you removed my blood results from the report.
So no one will know who you were sleeping with.
I'm taking medication for psoriasis.
I could be immuno-suppressed.
Contracted the disease.
Nothing ever changes, does it, Kate? You must be enjoying this.
No, not really.
So, um, you going to keep my results? It's your secret.
Why? You could ruin me.
I'd be replaced, off your back.
You never really understood me, did you, Kate? Look, if your personal life had anything to do with this case, I would have included it.
Yeah, I know you would.
Always upsetting the apple cart.
No diplomatic sense.
A complete loose cannon.
Kate? Yeah.
Thanks for backing me.
In the end, we want the same thing.
I still think you're a royal pain in the ass.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
I'm grateful to be here to speak to you today.
I'm also grateful that, as a Congressman, I have a health plan that allowed me to get the best medical care this country could provide.
But isn't that something that should be available not just for me, but for all the voters who put me in office to advocate for them? Politicians in Washington talk a lot about family values.
As a family man myself I know what it takes to keep a family together.
It takes hard work and dedication and commitment.
With all the pressures the average person faces, he or she doesn't need the crushing weight of paying exorbitant health care costs on top of everything else.
Health care should be something that we all have, without questions asked.
That burden should be shouldered by all of us.