New Amsterdam (2018) s04e15 Episode Script

1 You know, you were so right.
The light on this side of the room, way better.
I've been right about quite a few things since you left.
I wanna give you a choice between two doors.
Well, by all means.
And you have until security gets here to give me as many choices as you like.
Oh, this is gonna be fun.
What's behind door number one? Resign.
Collect your golden parachute or whatever it is they promised you, and leave this hospital in the hands of any of the dedicated and passionate department chairs who love this place with their entire being and will run it with dignity and grace.
Okay, let's just skip ahead to door number two.
Okay, door number two, you cling to a job that I know you don't like, don't want, only took for money, and I stay here in New York, away from the woman that I love, the life that I love, and rip you from this hospital by the roots.
And believe me, you will be begging for mercy once I unleash the full Got that yummy-yum That yummy-yummy Excuse me.
Yeah, you got that yummy-yum Hi, baby.
So I was just walking into work, and I passed that gazebo.
Do you remember? When it was raining, and one thing led to another Yes, yes, I do.
I would very much love to relive wet-clothes-gazebo-day, but I'm right in the middle of giving Veronica - that ultimatum - Oh.
Go, go, go.
Yes, give her the full Mad Max.
Love you, bye.
Yeah.
Bye-bye.
Yeah, so rip you from the Sorry, where was I? You're gonna take me down, nothing's gonna stand in your way, whatever it takes.
Whatever it takes to make sure that you, Veronica Fuentes, are going Ow, ow! Guys, okay, I'm going.
You win.
Hey, take it easy.
Sorry about this, Dr.
Goodwin.
No, no, don't be, Joe.
Everything went exactly as planned.
Did you find it? I literally had my hand in a drawer when Veronica walked in, but Yahtzee.
- Oh, thank God.
- Yeah.
Now, start scouring, okay? We're looking for anything that says "deal points".
How did you even come up with this? Well, the only way to oust Veronica is with a seat on the board.
And the only way to get back on the board is to be employed at the hospital.
And right now, I can't even get past the front doors without security kicking me out.
So I figured, let's get creative.
Urgent Medicine Incorporated? UMI, they're a bargain-rate trauma clinic that Veronica franchised out to a third party.
And technically, they remain a separate entity fully outside of Veronica's purview.
We're gonna need more than that.
How's this for more? According to this deal, UMI negotiated exactly one seat on the board of New Amsterdam.
Hey.
Do you remember the Nick's Grocery Massacre? Oh, yeah, yeah.
From the news.
The shooting a few years back.
Six years ago and five months, four days.
But who's counting, right? You were there? I worked at Nick's after school.
I was a stocker.
Okay.
And what do you remember? I was I was working with this guy Marco in the cereal aisle.
He was doing impressions of the different characters on the boxes.
And then I heard the bang, and I looked back, and Marco was bleeding.
His chest.
I don't know where it came from.
I tried to help him, but the wound was so big, and he died really fast.
And I was kind of in shock, I guess.
Yeah.
Then I heard the screams, and I knew the shooter was coming, so I got on the floor, and I pulled Marco's body on top of me and pretended I was dead too.
He came right up to us.
And I thought, "This is it.
" Then he just walked away, shot everyone else, and here I am.
I gotta say, it sounds like you're processing that day about as well as can be expected.
Yeah, that's not why we're here.
Oh.
Okay, well, then why don't you What brings you in? Tell him.
I wanna help you.
I do.
But I don't think this is Just tell him, Dad.
Dr.
Frome, Nick's Grocery was a false flag operation.
The so-called shooting it never happened.
- Teyarnie? - Yeah.
Who are you? I'm Dr.
Reynolds.
What happened to the spine doctor? Well, we got the results from your scans and the source of your back pain.
Unfortunately, it is a tumor on your pancreas.
A tumor? I'm afraid so.
I've been driving long haul 16 years.
Backaches come with the 18-wheeler.
Are you sure? I am.
And it needs to be removed, or it could prove fatal.
Okay.
Well, let's get on it, then.
There's the challenge.
This is an extremely specialized procedure that requires an endocrine surgeon, and currently, we don't have one.
- Well, can you bring one in? - Well, that's the plan.
You know, I've got word out to every hospital in the tristate area, but these specialists, they are almost as rare as your tumor.
Dr.
Reynolds? One sec.
Okay.
We can schedule Teyarnie's surgery today at New Amsterdam.
Wait, how? Turns out, we do have an endocrine surgeon on staff.
Who? I completed my Endocrine Surgery Fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Made me who I am today.
- Hey.
- Hey, hon.
So it is raining cats and dogs, and we are thoroughly soaked.
Wet clothes are clinging to every curve of your body.
I'm gonna stop you right there.
I'm sorry, you wanna stop me before the part where we cracked the gazebo banister with our entangled bodies? Only because now might not be the ideal moment to recount us vandalizing a local heritage site.
I'd like to hear it.
Oh.
Hello everyone.
Let me give you a call later, okay? Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
My apologies to everyone.
Hello? I'm busy.
Oh, busy? There's nobody here.
Not enough docs.
Well, that's perfect, actually, 'cause I'm here for a job interview.
I sure do love that idea, sweetie.
I knew you would, Dad.
Oh! My doctor's here, hon.
Say hello.
Thank you for taking care of my dad.
My pleasure.
Okay.
I'll call you later.
Love you.
Love you too.
Your daughter seems very sweet.
She just played me the song for our father-daughter dance.
One of my favorites.
How are we feeling? Has your pain level decreased at all? No.
Still a pressure always there.
But let's hear it for consistency, right? Ooh.
Mr.
Aronova, late-stage osteosarcoma is an incredibly painful and Lewis, please.
I mean, you're getting me to that wedding after all, huh? - Of course, Lewis.
- Mm.
But there is only so much that we can do.
I promised Marissa I would walk her down that aisle.
My body just needs to hold on three more months.
I can look into upping your dosage and possibly a spinal infusion, but you should know that the only guarantee we can give you for these treatments is that your pain will increase.
I just need three more months.
So Teyarnie Jordan's been moved to pre-op.
You just have to pick out an OR.
Oh, okay, okay.
Slow down, cowboy.
I won't even consider operating until I've run every MRI, every CAT scan, every blood lab.
No, no, no, that could take days.
Teyarnie Jordan needs surgery now.
May I remind you that only one of us is a specialist in this field? And in order to do my job, I need to be 100% certain that this tumor is even amenable to resection.
It doesn't take an expert to know that Teyarnie Jordan's tumor is a time bomb.
She could have a GI bleed at any second.
Your hesitation could kill her.
Dr.
Reynolds, I am not hacking into a woman's torso without sufficient preparation.
You know, Dr.
Fuentes, we all know surgeons who try to get back in the game after some time away.
Doctors who became administrators who, at one point, wanted to step back up to the table but, once they got there, realized they're not doctors anymore.
Is that what you think this is? I think that Teyarnie Jordan shouldn't have to risk her life for us to find out.
Excuse me, where are you going? I'm transferring Ms.
Jordan to another hospital.
So this is Romero Willis, who I presented at rounds.
Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor.
Yeah, that's right.
And if you concur, I plan on going in with a chevron incision and resecting the pancreas, leaving margins approximately here and here.
Do you see this dark spot here, Veronica, on the wall of the stomach? The tumor is not confined to the pancreas.
If you start cutting, you're gonna be compelled to keep cutting.
You'll take out the stomach and then half the liver, and you may even have to resect the entire diaphragm.
If you pull this thread, it will cost this hospital $750,000 with no guarantee this patient can even survive post-op.
So basically, what you're saying is, it's just too expensive to save this man's life? No, I wanna hear you say it.
The answer is no, Dr.
Fuentes.
The surgery is not approved.
All right, so tell me, was it always like this? No.
No, we used to be really close.
Every summer, we'd go to Oak Island, just the two of us.
The island with no roads, no power? That is some intense, rugged father-son bonding right there.
Yes, sir.
Anything you want on Oak Island, you gotta build yourself.
Mm.
Nobody can build like my dad.
I always looked up to him.
Yeah.
Okay, so tell me about when it changed.
A few years after the shooting, I'm home from college for Thanksgiving, and I go to use my dad's laptop, and I see that on his browser, he has this video about how 9/11 was an inside job.
I mean, I thought it was "The Onion", but then I see he's got, like, 60 tabs open.
Lots about Nick's Grocery, about how it was a false flag.
I mean, he's cooking the turkey, and I'm looking at a photo of my friend dying on the ground with arrows pointed at him saying, "Blood isn't this red! #InOnIt.
" Did you confront him? Yeah.
But it's like he was brainwashed.
Like he wasn't even my dad anymore.
Hmm.
Shrinks can help people get out of cults, right? Yes, but this isn't a cult, not like we've known.
But, you know, cults have one leader.
They have a physical location that you can actually leave.
That's not the case here.
This internet-fueled delusion is still very new, but from what doctors are seeing, cult deprogramming tactics don't work.
So what does? Nothing.
I mean, he's not just some rando who clicked on the wrong social media post about mass shootings.
I'm his son.
I was there.
He picked me up, and I was covered in blood.
He knew it was real.
He's still in there.
Help me get my dad back, please.
You've certainly been in and out of some highly esteemed institutions.
Thank you.
So I'll do you the favor of not bringing you into this one.
Not What? Something stinks.
The ex-medical director begging to work here? I don't buy it.
You want something.
So what's your game? Very good, Antonio.
You got me, okay? You're very astute.
So they say.
I need your seat on the New Amsterdam board.
Mm.
Very stirring.
As you can see, we're not exactly busting at the seams here.
Sixth floor isn't the best spot, as you might notice, for an urgent care.
Corporate doesn't seem to care, but I know it's gonna land on me somehow.
You find a way to triple our patient volume, increase our revenues, and that seat's yours.
You want me to triple your pat that's impossible.
They say anything's possible, you want it badly enough.
Okay.
All right, you give me hiring privileges, and you got yourself a deal.
Welcome to Urgent Medicine Inc.
- Hello.
- So there I was, licking every inch of your body.
Mr.
Twickham, I'm gonna have to call you back.
Oh, role-playing? Kinky.
I like it.
So where were we? Oh, right, the gazebo was a-rocking, so don't come a-knocking.
Wrong number! Hello? Hello? Broken.
Welcome.
Hey, you got a minute for a consult? Yeah, always.
So I have a patient who is losing his battle with late-stage bone cancer.
His only wish is to live long enough to attend his daughter's wedding.
It's only three months away, but I don't think he's going to make it that long.
That's heartbreaking.
Well, I was hoping that you might have a way to You know, with To extend his life with the means and methods that maybe are outside of the realms of scientific study.
You've come to the right place.
I was just putting together this elixir.
It's from the springs of the Loxahatchee River where, in 1513, Ponce de León searched for the Fountain of Youth.
Oh.
Wait, seriously? Of course not.
This is Dijon vinaigrette for my arugula salad.
I am a medical practitioner.
I don't make magic potions.
I'm a healer.
I'm like you.
I can't just wave a magic wand and heal your patient, even though I wish I could.
- I'm sorry.
- Sorry.
Enjoy your salad.
I have heard what Drew has to say about that day.
But what about you, Robert? You think it's gonna help him? I do.
Drew and I don't see eye to eye on Nick's Grocery, and I don't wanna keep upsetting him.
That day was hard for everyone, okay? But I think what Drew needs to hear is what it was like for you in your words.
I was at work.
My wife called and said she saw Drew's store on the news.
Brought Drew home.
Okay, well, what was that like, getting that call? Bad news, your heart drops, you know? I could hear panic in her voice, but she was talking so fast.
It took me a sec to get what she was seeing on the news, but when I did When I did I did, like, 90 out of that parking lot.
I had this image of you shot, dying, wanting me with you when you went and not being with you.
But then I come around the corner and there you are.
My boy.
Alive.
You both experienced a trauma that day.
It's not the fear or the pain that casts a shadow over your life.
It's the, "Why did this happen? Why?" You ask God, you ask the universe, and you don't get an answer, ever.
And that is so hard.
And in that void, we turn to whatever we can find.
We turn to anything that looks like it might tell us why, no matter how far-fetched it may be.
But some things can't be explained.
Sometimes "why" doesn't have an answer.
Hmm.
You're right.
You're right.
All I wanna know is, how did they get to my son and get him to say those things? - Jesus! - If you would just let me, I could show you how it was all rigged I was there, Dad! You saw me! Why the hell would I make that up? I'm not saying you're lying.
Maybe we can just We can take a step back here.
I can't believe I thought this would actually work.
Drew, hang on.
Where's Teyarnie Jordan? Dr.
Fuentes had her transferred up to the OR, like, 20 minutes ago.
What in God's name do you think you're doing? This middle school teacher needs our help to get back to work.
This surgery was not approved.
Yet we're starting with a chevron incision.
Scalpel.
As chief of medicine, I will make certain that anyone doing procedures behind my back will never find work in another health-care facility.
Noted.
Now, get out of my OR.
Scalpel.
Need a little more light on the field, please.
Why wasn't I notified of my own patient's surgery? Need I remind you of our last exchange, Dr.
Reynolds? Retractor.
You refused to run labs and order scans that I deemed relevant.
You tried to push through a surgical procedure before it was even clear that surgery was the best course of action.
Lap pad.
So I ran those labs myself, and I really didn't feel compelled to include you in that decision.
But if you're gonna stick around, I suggest you make yourself useful.
Scrub in.
It's called Urgent Medicine Incorporated.
And I know, it sounds like a front for the Serbian mob, and honestly, it might be, but we're gonna turn this place around, okay? And this job is gonna be way more hours with a lot less money.
How do you think your pitch is going so far? What you're trying to do sounds amazing, Max.
Right? And that's why I'd love to have you on board.
I would love to, but my hands are full.
My patient load is crazy now that I'm no longer a chair.
So you expect the former chair of surgery at the largest public hospital in the country to join you working part-time at some rinky-dink walk-in clinic? Well, no, Claude, I never said, "Rinky-dink.
" - Gladys, please.
- It's just a case - of supply and demand.
- Uh-huh.
You know, there's a nationwide nursing shortage.
And my level of skills is in very high demand.
- Well, I can see that.
- I can even make my own hours.
That's great! Then you can totally fit Urgent Medicine right into your schedule.
Oh, Max, you couldn't afford me.
Sandra Fall, me and you back together again like Thelma and Louise! - They drove off a cliff.
- Oh, yeah.
What about excuse me Butch and Sundance? Died in a hail of bullets in Bolivia.
Oh.
Well, how about peanut butter and Tall mocha latte for Tanya! Max, for over a year, I've been trying not to work for you, and I've finally succeeded.
- But - My answer is no.
No.
No.
No.
Hell no.
How can you say that? How can everybody say that? We're talking about New Amsterdam.
There's no place in the world like it.
How can nobody wanna fight for it? 'Cause we all lost our jobs 'cause of you, Max.
And now you want us covering your six like you're some kind of Joan of Arc? Listen, I'm sorry, Max, all right, but you're just gonna leave again.
You're gonna leave New Amsterdam in the hands of some other bureaucrat.
You tell me you're sticking around, you're not going back to London, I'll come with you right now, and so will everyone else.
Can you do that? I Yeah.
I didn't think so.
Got that yummy-yum That yummy-yum, that yummy-yummy Yeah, you got that yummy-yum That yum Dad, I so wish you were here.
Oh, the walk was amazing, but this view, it's everything we imagined.
I can see that.
I know it's hard for people trained in Western medicine to understand what I do.
Look, I swear I was not trying to ridicule your specialty.
I know.
You're struggling with the limitations of your power to care for this man, and you came to me for help, and I whiffed it.
I just know that I have used every single tool in my toolbox.
I might have one left in mine.
Do you see what I'm dealing with? I do.
I do.
I do.
He's so lost in this, but his heart's still there.
Yes.
Yes, it is.
It is.
So what do we do? How do we help him change? He can't change.
He won't.
So you have to.
But he's the one who's wrong.
He's the one who believes things that aren't true.
Exactly.
You are able to tell what's real and what is not.
The burden falls to you to do what he can't, what he isn't doing.
No.
No, no, he's just lost contact with reality, and if we can figure out why, then we can bring him back.
We'll never know why.
Even if we did, it wouldn't matter.
It wouldn't change anything because the reason doesn't matter.
Of course it matters.
Conspiracy theories aren't harmless.
They're the reason why millions of people won't get a vaccine that could save their lives.
They're why global warming might actually kill every person on the planet.
Right.
Mass shootings like Nick's happen so often, it isn't even news anymore, and I'm supposed to just put my head in the sand? Yes.
If you want a relationship with your father, that is the price tag, accepting his reality.
But how am I supposed to have a relationship with somebody who insists on calling me a liar? He's not insisting on that, is he? He didn't wanna discuss the topic.
He didn't share his beliefs with you.
The only reason you found out is because you borrowed his laptop.
The person who keeps insisting that you talk about this is you.
Because it happened to me.
Yes, it did happen.
But now you have a choice.
You can be right, or you can have your father, but you can't have both.
And that is the last of the primary tumor.
Negative for hypothermia.
Yeah, Mr.
Willis should get a Medal of Honor.
Sponge and lap pad.
Can you imagine being a middle school teacher? Ugh, brutal work.
Janice, no stories from you? You're usually so chatty.
Dr.
Palpa said if we helped you, we'd all lose our jobs.
Well, that is not happening.
I will protect you.
I will protect every single one of you.
Helping this man was my call, and it is the right call.
He needs us today, and we're gonna do whatever it takes to help him, understood? I got you.
And that is the last of the primary tumor.
Moving on to expose the stomach wall.
Forceps.
Damn it.
What you got? Right there.
I don't see anything.
It's that tiny spot.
Teyarnie's tumor has invaded her stomach wall.
Ooh.
Okay.
Close her up.
Close her up? No, we just resect the stomach wall.
That's just the beginning, Dr.
Reynolds.
And then we'd have to perform a radical resection, remove half of her liver or more.
Yeah, so we do it.
To not do it is a death sentence.
Scalpel.
Dr.
Reynolds, I want you to think this through.
If we keep resecting, what awaits Teyarnie when she wakes up? She's gonna need a kidney transplant, a liver transplant, an islet cell transplantation of the pancreas.
And if she survives, she'll never drive a big rig again.
Following down this path is simply not worth it.
This is her only chance! Dr.
Reynolds, I said stop! You're done! I'm not done, actually.
Step away from the table, and get out of my OR now! This is not how we do things around here! Get out.
All right, let's get to it.
Let's close her up.
Oh, sorry.
I just came out to clear my head, but I can No, no, just Don't worry about it.
I'm just leaving.
I did what I did for the sake of the hospital.
How's that working out for you? Hey, man, you're the one who left.
Yeah, because I thought the people who stayed would keep fighting.
Yeah, but how long? Max, how long should we keep risking our careers, our livelihood, our reputations? For six months, a year? How long should we keep fighting to make it easier for you? Easier for You think this is easy? I'm dragging Luna back and forth across an ocean.
I'm leaving behind the life I'm just getting started.
So what? So we should be grateful for your presence? We should be thankful that you came back to save us? I just came back to help.
And today, when I asked all my friends to join me, they all said no.
You didn't ask me.
No.
I didn't.
This is why I didn't wanna come here today.
Yes, today has been very hard.
But Drew and I have spoken, and he has something he'd like to say to you.
You remember Oak Island? Remember how nothing mattered except the essentials? Pumping water, starting a fire, getting the generator to work.
I didn't think you cared about that place that much.
I didn't.
But it's the only place I had you to myself.
Like the rest of the world didn't exist.
Go on.
Tell him.
I've been, you know, thinking about making a coffee table for the house.
I just I don't know how to make a dovetail joint.
Oh.
Well your wood has to be planed true.
Otherwise, the cuts won't line up.
Maybe you can show me.
But if you don't have time I'd be happy to.
I'd be happy to.
All right, we could just go back to the house and focus on the basics.
Lewis, these are Tibetan singing bowls.
They're used in traditional Buddhist practices, and their sounds are known to be very healing.
Well, at this point, I'll try just about anything.
Can you take a deep breath for me? Good.
And another.
So far, better than chemo.
I'm curious, where is your daughter getting married? In the country, an old hotel in Connecticut.
- You got your tux all ready? - Oh, yeah.
I bet that it's beautiful up there this time of year.
Do you have a live band? I, uh Tell me about her dress.
Her dress? Yeah, the wedding dress.
What's it look like? It's cream long.
Nothing fancy, but beautiful.
My little girl is so, so beautiful.
Is he But you got him to his daughter's wedding.
ER physician to three, stat.
ER physician to three, stat.
We failed our patient today.
I know.
Dr.
Fuentes, you are incredibly, incredibly gifted Dr.
Reynolds, you are easily one of the best surgeons I've ever seen.
And I want you to know that I have stood exactly where you're standing right now.
But I want you to ask yourself a hard question.
How can you do the most good with those talents? Today you gave a middle school teacher two, maybe three more years, but you took away those years from a patient that we'll have to turn away tomorrow.
That is what so few people in our profession are willing to admit, much less understand.
That the greater good is simply too expensive.
Sacrifices must always be made.
Now, the doctors who do understand these hard truths they're the ones who keep this system afloat.
They're the ones who become great leaders, who become Medical directors.
Dr.
Fuentes, right now, you've got two doors in front of you.
Behind that first door, you're just another cog in the system.
You're just another nice guy, right? And behind that second door is the opportunity to fix The system, to decide what resources are best spent where and to Heal as many people as possible With what you've got.
- The choice - Is yours.
Sydney Tsimbaris? Sandra Fall from billing.
I'm as surprised as you are.
We're backed up, boss.
You mind pitching in? Didn't think you had it in you.
You still can't afford me, but I'm here.
What what happened? What changed your minds? Reynolds called me.
Me too.
Me too.
Me too.
I don't even know how he got my number.
He called me too.
How can I help? Hello.
Hey.
Sorry to call so late.
It's okay.
I was just getting up mm, in three hours.
Probably not a good time to talk about all the things we did in that gazebo, huh? No.
No, I don't think it is.
Well, if we can't talk about old memories, then maybe we could make some new ones.
Hmm.
I'd love to, but how? How when we're oceans apart? What new memories are we gonna make? Well, close your eyes.
Well, that will be easy.
Now imagine me next to you My arms wrapping around you.
Can you feel that? Max.
Just just try.
Can you feel me touching you? Yes.
'Cause I can feel you.
My fingers just Just graze your neck and slide down your chest Your stomach.
I can feel the heat coming off your skin.
And I can smell you.
It's that mixture of sun and jasmine.
Where are your hands now? Where do you want them? I think you know.
I'm kissing every part of you.
You try to kiss me back, but I don't let you.
This is all for you.
Then what? I work my way down your body, stopping at each little spot.
I take my time, and I don't stop until our bodies find their rhythm And it's like I'm there, Like there's no space between us, no ocean apart, just you and me, and we fit together.
You still you still there? What are you thinking? I'm thinking hmm that we're gonna be just fine.