New Amsterdam (2018) s02e17 Episode Script

Only three more meetings and you are on your own.
If I knew being Chair meant this many meetings, I might've reconsidered.
Hey, Reynolds said the same thing.
Excuse me, Dr.
Goodwin, I don't mean to interrupt.
Can I get your autograph? Iggy, I'm kind of in the middle of something.
Have you seen the GoFundMe video Max is in? - It blew up! - Yeah, okay.
For the record, I didn't even know I was in that video.
And for the record, it was also featured on "Ellen," funded in less than three hours, my man.
Yeah, well, I think that had less to do with me and more to do with I don't know, Ellen? Regardless, I now have This is a rough estimate About 6,000 of my own patients all begging me to get you to star in their GoFundMe videos.
No, no, no.
That's very flattering.
But that is not a precedent I wanna set at this hospital.
Maximus, you have a gift here.
You have a gift.
You should not squander it.
Anyway, try to enjoy the ride.
You have big shoes to fill, but Max, I need you down in the ED, stat.
- Why? - I'll give you a hint.
- Come camera ready.
- No! Half my ward wants you to cameo on their GoFundMe pages.
I'm not sure how you're gonna find time to do your actual job, but if anyone can do it, you can.
Mm.
Welcome to the room where it happens, and by "it" I mean even more boring administrative stuff.
Reynolds leaving is making more and more sense.
- Morning.
- Oh.
Uh, I did not know you were still here.
Where else would I be? I don't know.
San Francisco or maybe in a bed? Evie caught a flight last night, and the sub-letters are already in, but Floyd Reynolds doesn't leave business half-done.
- Business? - Orientation.
Gotta show the new Chair the ropes.
Oh, that's very kind, but we just we just did that.
Oh, okay, but I gotta introduce you to the board.
Can't just get thrown into the deep end.
Uh, Max took me to breakfast with them.
- Oh, smart.
- Mm-hmm.
Okay, uh, gosh.
It's just that my flight doesn't leave until tomorrow.
Oh, we got the new couch coming in if you wanna help carry the old one out.
It's official.
As of today, you are reinstated as Chair of Oncology and Deputy Medical Director.
- I wish I'd prepared a speech.
- I'm glad you didn't.
Now that you're back, we need you to salvage the Fighting Cancer fundraiser tonight.
What what's to salvage? It's being headlined by Yo-Yo Ma.
Yo-Yo's got strep.
He's out.
We need to find someone else rich people like.
Also, the teenage cancer survivors who are speaking? Amazing kids, incredibly inspiring, but they're also rowdy little teenagers who need to work on their speeches, so get on them.
Oh, and per the fire marshal, the Rose Room was too small, so everything has to move to the Atrium theater.
Karen, this is an awful lot of ground to cover by tonight.
Afternoon would be better.
So glad you're back.
Hello, Mateo.
How are you feeling? Just tell me.
Did it work? May I? Today, you move again.
You're him, right? You're the GoFundMe doctor.
- Max Goodwin.
- Jason Huang.
- I'm sorry to bother you.
- That's okay.
Listen, I can't do your crowdfunding video if that's what you were gonna - Yeah.
Okay.
- I'm sorry.
But if there's anything I can do for you as a doctor, then let me know and I'll be there.
My dad gave up a good life in China so I could grow up here.
He's spent 20 years making minimum wage, thousands of miles away from everyone he knew for me.
And I'm going to med school next year, full ride, thanks to him.
But he needs surgery, mitral valve stenosis, just like the girl in your video, and the deductible, it's so much money.
I don't know what to do.
How can I help? Hey, Dad, you awake? Uh, I can just come back later.
No.
Please stay.
Hey, it's me.
This is Dr.
Goodwin.
He's gonna help us, okay? Can you sit over here by him? All right, Dad.
Can you tell Dr.
Goodwin your story? Maybe we should try this another time.
No, his surgery is tomorrow.
We need this video to work, or we can't okay, uh, Dad, can you just look at the camera and say, "I need your help.
Anything you can give.
" Or just smile.
Yeah, that little girl smiled.
Maybe if you just smiled, I can Smile, Dad.
Smile.
It's fine if you can't talk.
They see how sick he is.
It works better, right? The sadder it is, the better Jason, you don't have to do this.
Actually, I do.
What other choice do I have but crowdfunding? Karen, I need to talk to you.
She's adorable.
Well, yeah, so is the dancing sloth that follows, but that's not why I wanna talk to you.
It is why I want to talk to you.
I want us to facilitate crowdfunding for everyone who needs it.
It'll cost us next to nothing, just a camera and a room, and we'll help so many people.
No.
No crowdfunding.
Not for anyone.
Wait, are you kidding me? Now you're against this? - Yes, I am.
- Well, that's absurd.
Crowdfunding empowers patients to fight bad insurance through the power of their stories.
It's a Max Goodwin trifecta! No, it forces people to sing for their supper at the worst possible moments in their lives.
We're making people pay their bills with their dignity.
We're not.
Insurance companies are.
Well, I'd like them to stop.
And I'd like to ride a unicorn.
Crowdfunding works, Max.
What if I can find a better way? I'm sorry, but are you eating smoked whitefish? In fact, I am.
I love smoked whitefish.
My dad used to take me to Nussbaum's every Saturday after synagogue.
Oh, Nussbaum's is my favorite.
Oh, mine too until it closed.
Honestly, that is the best smoked whitefish I've smelled since.
It's the dill.
Lauren Bloom, Emergency Department.
Harold Rothman, Psychiatry.
Oh, until next time when I'll reveal the best lox in New York, and it's not in Brooklyn.
Yeah? Vito's for lunch today.
You in? Uh, no, no.
Thank you.
Nothing for me.
I'm okay.
Well, I'm just very impressed.
You've been sticking with your healthy choices - Oh.
- And you look great.
Thank you.
That's very sweet.
I have a ways to go, but Thank you.
Hey Iggy, where can I find Dr.
Rothman? I forgot to ask him where he got his whitefish.
Um, don't know who Dr.
Rothman is.
Uh, yes, you do.
Harold Rothman.
He works in your department.
No.
Sorry.
- Why would he lie? - Why would I? Okay, let's sort this out right now.
Harold Rothman.
What do we got? There you go.
Left New Amsterdam in 1996.
No, no.
He's very distinctive.
He's pale with, like, bright white hair, and this, like, an old-timey vibe.
Wait a second, did he have a mysterious smile and soulful eyes? - Yeah.
- Okay, this all makes sense.
- What makes sense? - I don't know how to say this.
The man you spoke to is a ghost.
Thank you.
Have you not heard tell, Lauren, of the Phantom of New Amsterdam? 'Twas many a moon 'ere first his steps were heard.
Looks like someone's already gotten the party started.
Dr.
Sharpe! Look how gorgeous you all look.
And since you're relaxing, I can assume you've all memorized your speeches for tonight? Mm-hmm.
Come on, rehearse now, catch up later.
Jessye? Can I just ask how long you've had that limp? Oh.
Maybe like a week? Do you mind if I take a look? I'd like to run a few tests on this leg.
It'll be quick, I promise.
That's where my cancer was.
There's no need to jump to conclusions.
Your brain's impulses are transmitted as electricity.
Even since your paralysis, your brain has been sending signals to your arm.
Your arm has just been unable to hear them.
The silicone chips we embedded in your brain send the signals through these wires to your pedestals, and from there to the robotic arm.
In a sense, it's just a spinal cord outside of your body.
If you can master this, you'll move on to our most advanced robotics.
You'll test simulations of cars, planes A plane? I can fly again? Let's just focus on a finger today.
And we're live.
Mateo, please try and move your index finger.
Okay.
It's okay.
This may take some time.
We are awakening neural pathways which you have not used since the accident.
Gotta clear out the cobwebs, right? Try to remember what it was like to move your own arm, how it felt.
Dr.
Kapoor? He's just starting.
Give him time.
It's not a time thing.
Every subject that's worked has had at least some activity in the motor cortex upon initiation, but Mateo has none.
Move.
Come on.
Move.
Let's start with the elephant in the room.
Who saw me on "Ellen"? Okay, just everybody.
Well, I'm not here to talk about Allie Baker.
I'd like to talk about Zhen Huang.
Not exactly an Allie, is he? It's okay, it's true He's not young, he doesn't have a winning smile, and can barely even talk.
So what do you think? His story gonna be a hit on the talk shows? You don't have to go on Fallon to have crowdfunding work.
No, you don't.
You just have to flaunt your misery for money.
And it gets better, the public starts voting with their wallets.
It's a Tragedy Olympics where the contestants are dying and the judges vote not on medicine, but on whose story is the cutest.
So, what are you suggesting? Let's get new judges.
There's only one group who knows which patients are the most deserving Doctors.
So when patients can't afford even the deductible, the doctors in this room will decide who gets the money.
I have got a $100,000 set aside for patients like Allie.
And I'm willing to bet that all of us have patients who could use a little help.
Mine is Zhen Huang.
So we're gonna decide who gets the money not with emotion but with reason.
I'd like to present New Amsterdam's response to GoFundMe WeFundYou.
- Dr.
Reynolds.
- Yeah, what? Need a consult? No, I was just surprised to see you.
I thought you already left.
Whoa, whoa, hey! Watch it! Easy there, big guy.
Hello? Someone help me! Hello? I'm down here! Help! - Hang on! - Help me! Okay.
Don't worry.
Hang in there.
I got you.
I'm coming.
Hey, I'm Dr.
Reynolds.
What's your name? - Tevi.
- Tevi.
Okay, yeah.
Let me see.
Let me see.
Yeah, okay.
You've got a little bit of trouble here, Tevi, okay? When you fell, you broke a rib, all right? So I'm gonna take care of you, okay? First, I just gotta get you out of here.
Whoa.
Stage 4 Hodgkin Lymphoma is more deserving than a Stage 4 Neuroblastoma? No, what I said was my patient is more deserving, because she's so young; she's only nine.
Yeah, g-guys? Let's try to think about this rationally.
Do you think I'm an idiot? I didn't say you were an idiot, I said it was This $100,000 they're all fighting so hard for, where exactly is it coming from? Funny enough, the next item on my agenda was going to be finding the money, rationally and thoughtfully.
Don't play stupid.
You're only thinking about your patients.
That is the whole point, Steve! - What's her name? - Lisa! Let me know how that goes.
What you're saying is that she's gonna go home sick, and that I'm supposed to let her die.
There we go.
Okay.
All right, just relax.
I'm gonna get us help, okay? Okay, Tevi, just relax.
Just breathe through your nose like this.
Okay, try it.
Okay.
Okay, kiddo.
All right.
All right.
Tevi, listen to me.
Listen to me.
Now when we breathe, we make a vacuum with our chest, all right? With that rib you broke, it poked a hole from your lungs to the outside world.
So now you can't make a vacuum.
So all we gotta do is we gotta make you a vacuum.
Ah, here we go.
Now we're talking.
Okay, do me a favor.
Can you hold this for me like this? Hold it right there, okay? We're gonna make that vacuum, buddy.
Here we go.
Okay.
Now take a deep breath.
Come on.
It's holding.
Good.
Now take another one.
There you go.
That's it.
That's it.
Good.
You're doing great.
All right, you wanna tell me how you wound up down here in the first place? Huh? Come on now.
I promise you I've heard crazier.
Oh - What? - You're bleeding out, and we've got to get you to the OR.
How long before your family or your friends realize you're gone? A few hours, but someone's gonna notice you're gone, right? - Don't say it.
- I'm sorry.
I do not know if it is the chips, the pedestals, or Or me.
We're not registering any relevant brain activity.
- And your pain - I'm fine.
The EEG shows the brainwaves that signal pain.
- You're not fine.
- No! I can do it.
I just Mateo.
Move.
I ran airlifts in combat zones.
I could land a C-2 Greyhound smack in the middle of an aircraft carrier getting hit by 30-foot waves, and now I can't move a finger.
It's in me somewhere.
I know it.
Detach his arm.
Hook him up to a flight simulator.
The simulator is an advanced cerebral interface.
Mateo is a pilot.
Flying is in his blood, his bones, his neurons.
If his brain comes to associate reawakening the motor cortex with pain, anything alive in there might never wake up.
If he fails at the simulator, it won't just be an emotional setback.
It could be a neurological one.
There is no flight without a leap.
Mateo, would you like to fly? Let's get her a pulmo consult with Loeb.
- Okay.
- Hey, what's up? Hi.
So, funny story.
I was over at the vending machines, not eating candy or anything, - I was just looking at it - Iggy, I do have a job.
Yeah, yeah, I know.
I do too.
So, I saw Dr.
Rothman.
Pretty sure I did.
He's old, white hair, pale skin.
The whole thing.
And I think he's just, um it's the darndest thing.
He just Vanished is the word, I guess.
What? Okay, I don't really know how to I googled him after we talked, and And? Harold Rothman died four years ago.
Your limp is being caused by a soft tissue sarcoma in your popliteal fossa.
It is aggressive.
I'm gonna need to schedule you for surgery, and I'm gonna have to call your parents.
I already called.
I knew what you were gonna say.
Jessye, if you would like to go to a little of the party, there is time.
Why would I go to the party? That party is for kids who beat cancer.
I lost.
Cancer doesn't have winners and losers, and anyone who makes you feel that way does not know what they are talking about.
You made me feel that way.
The stupid speech.
"I was 12 when I learned I had cancer.
"I was told I was in for the fight of my life.
"I battled each cell of my sarcoma.
New Amsterdam taught me how to fight and how to win.
" Your party is called Fighting Cancer.
So, yeah, cancer won and I lost.
No pulse.
Going again.
Clear.
Doctor, crash cart bedside.
- What happened? - Sinus brady and hypoxia.
- Did you push Atropine? - Times two.
Okay, hang epi drip, 4 micrograms per minute, and let's put on Zoll pads for external pacing in case the epi isn't enough.
Bag it.
Breathing pattern ineffective.
One, two Hey, why don't you tell me how you You got here in the hospital? Alpha 1 Antitrypsin deficiency.
Come here a few times a month for a gene transfusion.
Only at New Amsterdam? - Sometimes at Baptist.
- Oh, then I want to know.
Do we have the best elevator shafts, or does Baptist got us beat? That's more like it.
All right.
Here we go.
One, two Yes.
Yeah.
You like that? Pry this open, get you to the OR, and get you fixed up.
Hey! Hey! - We're down here! - We're down here! - Help! - Hey! Hey, there's somebody down here! Hey! Hey! Hey, we're down here! Oh! Clear? I've got a pulse.
So do you think it'll work? I don't know.
The insurance company says Dad's setback is classified as a new disorder.
We owe two deductibles now.
We'll have to sell everything unless I post it and it works.
Well, I couldn't find you a better way, so why haven't you? I showed my dad the video.
He said if he has to beg to live, he'd rather die.
That's how he was brought up.
If I post it, he'll never speak to me again.
How can the only way to save him be losing him forever? Hey! Oh, damn.
- Dr.
Bloom.
- Hey, I found him.
- What? - He's on the fourth floor.
- Dr.
Rothman? - Yes, the fourth floor.
Meet me there.
You know, growing up, my Aunt Norma always claimed to have the sight.
- Mm-hmm.
- This makes sense.
She always said that you can only see what you are pure enough to receive.
Oh, she would just be absolutely thrilled if my new diet had somehow purified me.
She always said, "You're never gonna get the sight if you don't stop eating chocolate, Iggy.
" Iggy.
Iggy.
Look.
Oh.
Dr.
Rothman? How are you doing today? Wait, this is the Alzheimer's Ward.
We think we're in time, but with a relapse this aggressive, we're gonna need to monitor Jessye's tissues regularly.
Thinking about something that Jessye said, how you were asked to talk about fighting cancer, right? How you beat it? Can you rip those speeches up, please? Go on.
I'm serious.
Take them out and rip them up.
If they're on your phones, delete them.
Now tell me, from the heart How does it feel surviving cancer? Scared.
You know, um, even though I'm in remission, it feels like I'm just waiting for it to come back.
Um, ungrateful.
I, like, beat this huge thing, but I feel like I should never complain or feel down about anything else.
This is what people should hear.
This is what I want you to talk about tonight.
So we nix the uplifting stories of beating cancer, and replace them with raw, improvised stories from terrified children? It's the truth.
People wanna hear the truth.
If there's one place people do not want to hear the truth, it's a pediatric oncology ward.
Donors want to hear that we're beating cancer, that we're going to beat more cancer.
Those kids were lying.
We asked them to lie.
So now they're gonna tell their stories, their real stories.
And for some of them, it's not a fight or it's not a fight that they're winning.
Fair point.
So sorry.
Wow.
We're gonna be okay.
Because as soon as this elevator tries to move It was a selfie challenge.
- What? - That's why I was down here.
See who can get the most extreme shot.
So I forced open the elevator doors, leaned back in the chair, and I'm so stupid, I know.
The younger patients, you know, the ones who come here a lot, they tend to feel left out.
Their friends are off doing things and, you know, they're just stuck here.
Wanting people to remember you That's not stupid.
We all want that.
Hey! Help! - Hey! - We're down here! - We're in the shaft! - Help us, please! Anybody! Hey! Please! Help! Do you hear someone in there? What was that? - Is someone down there? - Hello? Hello? We're gonna get out of here.
I'm gonna set the plane in motion, but you have to make it fly.
Like with the arm.
Imagine pressing a button, and if your neural pathways are connecting, the sim will press the button.
If you don't connect, you'll crash.
Reset.
Reset.
How many hours have you spent in a cockpit? More than I can count.
This should be second nature to me.
I suspect it still is.
Close your eyes.
Close your eyes now.
Visualize the cockpit.
Tell me, what is the farthest left indicator on the instrument panel? The ASI.
The airspeed.
Keep going.
The altitude indicator.
Compass.
Up is the fuel gauge.
You know this plane.
This is your plane, not a simulator.
This is my plane.
Say it again.
This is my plane.
Mateo, we are moving now.
You have a half-billion dollar plane that is your responsibility.
We are near the end of the runway.
You have to get us up in the air right now.
He's flying.
Wow.
That's a that's a dress.
Yes, and those are scrubs.
That they are.
I guess this concludes our game of name that clothing item.
Um, I need to talk to you about crowdfunding.
After you get dressed.
You're gonna be late.
- For what? - The fundraiser.
- Which is tonight? - It's in ten minutes.
Just throw something on and get down there, - I've got to prep the kids.
- Uh, kids? The ones who are sharing their stories.
To raise money for this hospital? Oh, yes.
It's a fundraiser, Max.
Yeah, with the kids that we're exploiting to emotionally manipulate people for cash.
- No one is exploiting anyone.
- You're damn right we're not.
We're cancelling that fundraiser.
Uh It's called therapeutic fibbing.
Instead of correcting the patient's delusions, you accept them.
So everyone here treats Dr.
Rothman - like he's still a doctor? - Within reason.
Whenever he leaves the floor he has minders with him.
It's startling, I know, but stability slows dementia.
And nothing's more destabilizing than forcing people to acknowledge they're in the grip of delusions.
- Excuse me.
- Have a good day.
Okay, so I never actually googled Rothman.
- Yeah, no kidding.
- I'm sorry.
Hey, it was just a joke that got out of hand.
But I thought that he was like a visiting doctor or something.
I never thought that he was a patient.
And I never really thought that you would think that he was a ghost.
I'm sorry.
No, Lauren, I'm not mad at you, okay? I'm mad at myself for even half-believing any of this nonsense.
- Okay, but that's my fault.
- No, it's not.
It's all me.
I'm the problem.
Iggy Sing a little song, do a little dance.
Just be yourselves.
- If you need anything, I'll - Helen.
Yeah, I'll be with you in just a sec.
Yeah, well, I meant that in the "what the hell" kind of sense.
This does not look like a cancelled gala.
That's because it's not.
My first act as the newly restored Deputy Medical Director was to ignore you.
I can't believe that you are okay with exploiting these children.
Kids? Quick question.
Do you want me to cancel the gala? Don't you, like, need the money to cure cancer? Yes, but if not if it means making you speak publicly about something that you would rather keep private.
I mean, are y'all being forced to do this? We want to do this.
This is how we help the next kid with cancer.
This is how we help Jessye.
Max, this isn't exploitation.
This is gratitude.
Gratitude? You may know it from such situations as the time I saved you from recklessly cancelling an important fundraiser.
Right.
Now I'm grateful that you're willing to be Deputy to a proven doofus.
And I'm also grateful because you just showed me how to do crowdfunding right.
Mateo, we have to stop.
No, no.
Not yet.
You have an infection at your surgical site.
We have to remove the implant.
No.
No, I just wanna stay up here.
But with the infection this close to your brain, we must stop now.
- Mm.
- Hey.
Hey.
You know that I would never intentionally mock Alzheimer's patients, right? - Of course.
- Good.
Parkinson's, though Just a little bit funny? That's maybe the worst joke you've ever made.
You seem really upset.
Yeah, you know, I'm I'm I've just been going through some stuff.
That's why I'm here.
Wanna talk about it? So I've been on this diet, and it's making me feel cold and drowsy and weak.
And I've been having vivid food fantasies.
And today, I temporarily believed in ghosts, which is that's not funny, really.
It's, um, it's more like what happens when my food stuff goes a little too far.
But I don't even look good yet, and people are giving me compliments already, so you do the math.
How terrible must I have looked before? So even if this diet is intense, it's necessary, right? Mateo.
It's not fair.
I encouraged you to go through so much.
To get so little in return.
I'm sorry.
I'm not.
I'll never walk again But I got to fly.
How long were you and this kid in the elevator? About four hours.
Spleen isolated and removed.
Music to my ears.
There's a small tear in the diaphragm near the sternum.
Can I suture? Ask the Chair.
Show me what you got.
Are we, uh, really not gonna see you - until the wedding? - Yeah, but it'll be fine.
I'm not fine.
I'm sad.
Well, you know how these things go.
You know, like I just did the surgery and we saved the kid, and everything was great, but the whole time I was thinking this isn't my OR anymore, you know? Things end.
People forget.
Tevi will remember.
So will every single one of your patients and so will I.
Thank you.
And so will every single one of your friends who are waiting around this corner to surprise you.
- Hey! - Yo! Surprise! Don't be mad.
It's just a small event.
I got the surgery I needed to survive last year.
I got mine ten years ago.
We got money to keep our little girl healthy, but what about the next little girl? Our family has so much gratitude and we want to help whoever comes next.
Last year, I almost died.
Now I'm going to college.
Can you help the next person like me? We get to tell our stories because we're survivors.
I'm a survivor.
And we want our friends to be survivors too.
Last year, I was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, and, uh I didn't want to admit that it was happening.
I didn't want to talk about it, not even with my closest friends.
But in New Amsterdam and all the amazing people in it, they they helped me through it.
So I'm a survivor.
And so many others aren't, not yet.
So that's why I'm asking you to donate because it's not for me, it's for them.