Chicago Med Season 8 Episode 17 Review: Know When to Hold and Know When to Fold
Jack Dayton never struck me as a petty SOB, but it appears he is.
After Sharon refused to let his camera crew invade a patient's privacy on Chicago Med Season 8 Episode 17, Dayton barred the doctors from using OR 2.0 on subsidized patients.
I'm not sure how legal it is to do that, but it certainly is obnoxious.
Dayton's love of technology and the hospital's mandates have often been at odds, but not to this degree. Dayton appeared to genuinely care about patients despite his conflict of interest, but was that all an act?
And what does he mean by paying customers? Few people can pay out of pocket for procedures, and hospitals usually won't schedule them until they get pre-authorization. If Dayton plans only to offer 2.0 services to his rich friends who can afford to pay out of pocket, that will blow up badly in his face.
All it would take is one press release announcing this decision, and Dayton will have a serious problem. If he thought the janitor's strike was bad, wait until the general public got wind of this plan.
Dayton's been promoting 2.0 as cutting-edge technology that will improve healthcare, but if 99% of patients can't access it, that undercuts its appeal.
And even if the hospital doesn't go running to the press with this, someone will sue when they're denied service.
It doesn't appear Dayton has thought this one through.
Hopefully, Marcel can talk Dayton out of this disastrous plan before it goes into effect! He knows Dayton and the technology the best, which puts him in a unique position to have some influence.
I don't know which is worse: Dayton's decision or Abrams' smug delivery of the news.
Abrams is insufferable at the best of times; his comment that Marcel isn't a terrible surgeon is the highest praise anyone has ever gotten from him.
He did not try to hide his dislike of the 2.0 technology and the cameras in the room. He almost derailed the entire operation by refusing to let Marcel use 2.0's capabilities to perform an ultrasound instead of moving the patient elsewhere.
The last thing anyone needs is for him to be right about anything related to the new technology!
I can't blame him for wanting to get rid of the cameras, though. The cameraman was more concerned about creating drama than with the patient's health and safety. Marcel had to keep telling him to get out of the way, and he might have distracted the doctors during a crucial moment and killed the patient.
That was also why Sharon didn't want the cameraman bothering the family.
Invading their privacy during their reunion wouldn't have been life-threatening, but it wasn't right.
Sharon might have been able to find a compromise, but she'd had enough of dealing with the film crew and their mixed-up priorities while trying to keep the hospital running correctly.
Elsewhere, Archer's difficulty in dealing with his condition was highly relatable.
Archer's never been my favorite character, but I could easily empathize with his difficulty admitting he wasn't physically up to par.
It's hard for anyone to deal with physical health issues that stop them from doing what they need to do, and Archer is a proud man who finds these things doubly challenging.
Understandably, Archer was aggravated by well-meaning colleagues who kept offering him their seats, suggesting he sit out procedures he was supposed to supervise and otherwise implying that he was an invalid one step from needing full-time care.
Everyone was trying to be considerate, but it came off somewhat as if he were incapable of doing anything. That wasn't the best way to show kindness or support for his condition!
It would have made more sense for Sharon to talk to him after he learned his disease had advanced and discovered what he needed. But then again, Archer didn't want to change his life, so he might have told her that he didn't need any accommodations!
Thank goodness he finally listened to Maggie. He was making his condition worse by refusing to take things more slowly and potentially putting patients at risk.
Archer collapsed after doing a hip replacement; what if that had happened during surgery or while he had the patient's leg in his hand?
If a patient had been injured because Archer refused to limit his medical activities, he and the hospital would be liable. Plus, he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he cost a patient their life or quality of life.
Zac: Dr. Archer, how are you?
Archer: Fine. Why would you ask?
Zac: Just asking. Do you need anything? Water?
Archer: I need residents to talk less.
- Permalink: I need residents to talk less.
- Added:
I felt bad for Zac, too. He didn't deserve Archer's semi-bullying behavior, even if Archer was right that first-year residents shouldn't be telling attendings what they could handle.
Zac should have brought his concerns to Sharon or Maggie and asked what to do, but it's often hard to think ahead in the ED's frenetic environment.
Finally, Will's love life dominated his storyline, though he also saw a patient.
I found it ironic that Kara turned out to have the same super rare brain disease that a toddler had on The Good Doctor Season 6 Episode 14. This disease may be extraordinarily unusual in real life, but it's popped up on TV hospitals twice within a couple of months!
Anyway, on the Chicago Med Season 8 Episode 17 spoiler post, I predicted that someone would make a Will and Grace joke, and Hannah did not disappoint! But with all the time she and Will spent discussing his love life, I wondered if he'd fall for her instead of Grace.
His new relationship with Grace is sweet, but Will's right that it'll be hard to maintain if she moves to a different hospital far away. Long-distance relationships rarely work on TV, so let's hope Grace stays a while now that Will's decided to give her a shot.
Your turn, Chicago Med fanatics! Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts.
Don't forget you can watch Chicago Med online whenever you'd like.
Chicago Med airs on NBC on Wednesdays at 8 PM EST / PST.