Working in a hospital isn’t always about saving lives.
Chicago Med Season 7 Episode 2 focused on the frustrating side of the American health care system: lack of beds, doctors rushing patients out of the hospital, and political concerns interfering with patient care.
It never got preachy; instead, delivering gut punch after gut punch and leaving viewers to wonder how the hell to fix any of this.
Will, Scott, and Vanessa all struggled with issues relating to advocating for their patients.
As Will pointed out to Stevie, that’s a big part of their job, but there were a ton of other considerations in play.
Scott and Charles’ case was the least clear-cut. It was hard to know what the best thing was for Krista, given the circumstances.
For one thing, it wasn’t clear why there weren’t enough beds or whether Archer’s insistence that Krista vacates the one she had immediately was due to legitimate concerns or to his hatred of psychiatry.
I wasn’t sure why there weren’t enough beds in the first place. In real life, this is happening in areas where there are a ton of new COVID cases taking up beds, but no one mentioned any such issue here.
Were there budget cuts recently? An epidemic of either COVID or some other disease? Total mismanagement by Archer since he took charge?
While explaining what was going on wasn’t strictly necessary, it would have added another layer to an already compelling story if we knew the reason for the shortage.
The psych ward wasn’t the only one suffering from this, either. Archer didn’t want to take the motorcyclist’s case because there were supposedly no beds in the ED either.
Whatever the reason was, the bed shortage had to be dealt with, but Archer being part of the equation made it even more difficult.
There’s already bad blood between Archer and Charles, and Archer isn’t above manipulating situations for his benefit. And his insistence that Krista is made someone else’s problem didn’t include a single ounce of empathy for her.
I didn’t blame Scott for being frustrated with Archer as well as with the situation. Archer was acting more or less as if Krista’s mental health issues weren’t significant enough to keep her in that hospital bed until another could be found, even though she had recently attempted suicide.
No wonder Scott felt as if he were back on the police force, dealing with a ton of red tape and finding it hard to help people.
Archer’s big ego is problematic no matter who he’s dealing with. Nobody can ever be sure that his decisions are based on medical necessity because he’s always on a power trip.
That was why Maggie was worried about Vanessa standing up to him, but Vanessa was right that she overstepped.
Vanessa took a risk, but she was looking out for the patient’s best interest. And ultimately, all that happened was that Archer and his hurt feelings gave the case to her and Marcel, most likely secretly hoping they would fail so he could lord it over them.
That said, I wasn’t sure that Maggie wouldn’t confront Marcel on behalf of a different resident.
Yes, her protectiveness came from her desire to be the mother she never got to be. But it’s Maggie’s nature to tell the doctors what she thinks of their choices, so she might have given Marcel a hard time no matter who the resident was.
In Vanessa’s case, it simply came down to whether she wanted to put staying in Archer’s good graces over her duty to advocate for her patient.
Vanessa believed Archer’s approach was wrongheaded, and she got confirmation of that from a senior doctor. At that point, she decided that it was in the patient’s best interest for her to risk ruffling Archer’s feathers.
If anything, that demonstrates (again!) that Archer is not fit for a leadership role, not that Vanessa doesn’t know her place. And Marcel empowered her to use her voice to advocate for the patient instead of being too afraid of Archer’s reaction to do so.
No wonder she chose him as a mentor!
Sharon: Dr. Marcel. I wanted to talk to you about a new program. This is totally voluntary, but we’re looking to pair doctors with new residents so they can mentor them.
Marcel: It sounds like a great program. But I wouldn’t want to leave anyone hanging.
Sharon: Leaving anyone hanging? What do you mean? Are you planning on leaving Med?
Marcel: Nothing like that, but I like to keep my dance card open. Tell you what. Let me think about it.
Sharon: You’re the fifth ‘let me think about it’ this week.
At some point, though, Vanessa and Maggie need to stop going through this vicious cycle. Vanessa always gives Maggie another chance, then slams the door closed again when Maggie oversteps, only to forgive her eventually and try again to let her in.
I’m tired of this pattern and hope someone finds a way to break out of it soon.
Stevie: I can’t believe you. You are just like you were in med school. Always getting in everyone’s business.
Will: Excuse me?
Stevie: Why couldn’t you just leave it alone?
Will: I’m trying to help our patient.
Stevie: How? By tearing our family apart? You planted the idea in his head, didn’t you?
Will: He was distraught. I told him his options.
Stevie: At the expense of his mother. You’ve been judging Marie since she walked in here.
Will: And you’ve been defending her!
Stevie: Because I don’t like seeing that poor woman being attacked!
Will: Why are you making this personal?
Stevie: Because I think she needs someone in her corner!
Will: Well, newsflash, Marie isn’t our patient. Brandon is. And I’m gonna advocate for him cause that’s my job. Yours too, but you seem to have forgotten about that.
Elsewhere, I knew that Will would stick his nose into Brandon and Marie’s conflict, but he happened to be correct this time.
Or mostly right, anyway. I’m not sure if telling a kid he can file for emancipation falls under an ED doctor’s official job duties.
Will probably should have referred Brandon to a social worker to go over his options, but what fun would that have been?
Anyway, I figured Stevie was taking it personally because of the issues with her mother. I didn’t guess that she thought of Marie as the kind of mother she wished she’d had, but still.
Stevie will have to stop getting triggered by mother/child interactions, or she’ll continue to make emotionally driven decisions, which is not a great way to practice medicine.
I preferred that to this Will undercover business, though. We already did this during Chicago Med Season 4 when Will’s wedding to Natalie was ruined by his clandestine activities to bring down mobster Ray Burke.
Will his new plan to pretend to be desperate so that Cooper will try to get him into illegal activities work, or will it backfire in Will’s face?
I’m guessing the latter, as that would create extra drama.
Your turn, Chicago Med Fanatics!
Hit that big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts about the various medical situations, Will’s undercover operation, or Maggie’s latest attempt to protect Vanessa.
Missed the episode? No problem. Just watch Chicago Med online right here on TV Fanatic. Don’t forget to come back and comment!
Chicago Med airs on NBC on Wednesdays at 8 PM EST/PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.