It’s another episode of The Resident, which means another day at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital for our favorite doctors. But before heading to the emergency room, they all start their days at home. Dr. Devon Pravesh discusses wedding plans with his fiancée, Dr. Conrad Hawkins sleeps with a woman named Noni, and Dr. Bell struggles to button the cuffs on his dress shirt now that his tremor is back and seemingly worse than ever.
Upon getting in, Dr. Mina Okafor comments to Nurse Nic Nevon that Conrad looks like he hadn’t gone home that night. Nic says she doesn’t care and gets up to stop Devon who just got to work. She tells him that she wants to report Dr. Lane Hunter to the state board for her shady cancer practices, and convinces him to get more information on her protocols under the guise of writing a research paper.
Treating Stage IV Cancer
Lane’s newest patient, Darryl Phillips, has Stage IV lung cancer, and Nic and Conrad want to help him figure out his options. While the patient’s wife, Mary, wants him to consider treatment, all Darryl wants to do is make sure he doesn’t leave her with a messy garage and a mountain of medical bills once his time is up. Conrad hears where he’s coming from and relays this information to the board, but Lane disapproves. She tells everyone she’ll convince Darryl to get a biopsy and start radiation, which doesn’t sit well with Conrad, who always believes the patient’s wishes should be taken into consideration.
Lane tells her patient that he needs to fight his cancer with “fire and fury,” and gets him to agree to do a biopsy. However, when Dr. Jude does it, he messes up, and Darryl’s lung collapses. Lane decides he’s fine and pushes for him to start radiation the next day. “He doesn’t want it,” Conrad argues with her. “Bottom line, no one’s hopeless in my world,” Lane responds. The resident follows up with Darryl, who’s not thrilled about what’s happening.
When Conrad and Nic take the patient and Mary to start radiation, Darryl asks what it means to have a 25% longer lifespan expectancy. Conrad confesses that it’s about 5 weeks added onto his prognosis and explains he’ll likely feel sicker and more nauseous undergoing treatment. The couple is livid no one told them earlier, and Darryl asks the doctor to be straight for him and tell him what he’d do in his situation. Conrad says he’d rather spend the time he’d have left with his loved ones, not at Hunter’s clinic. “Start the paperwork now,” Darryl decides. “Discharge me or I’ll walk out of here myself.” Mary doesn’t think he can do that, but Conrad says hospitals aren’t prisons. “It’s called eloping,” Nic explains about what happens when a patient slips away without being discharged. The resident adds that they’ll have hospice check up on them once they’re settled at home, should they choose to leave now. Mary helps her husband off the gurney, and they start to head out of the hospital. Before leaving, she thanks the two medical aides and tells them they’re a very cute couple. (It’s true!)
After the couple leaves, Conrad confesses to Nic that he slept with Noni, and that it may have been his way of trying to get over her. He then asks her to tell him everything about Lane. Devon’s fiancée, a journalist, has been looking into her procedures by finding her patients through social media, so there’s likely even more about the doctor that we aren’t aware of yet.
A Baseball Player Needs To Pitch Again
Dr. Spalding Massero, nicknamed Dr. Smooth, doesn’t like to deal with drama or giving his very high-profile clients bad news. He shows up at Chastain with Bobby Singer, a famous baseball player who’s about to get his shot at pitching in the World Series. Bobby’s leg has been swelling and hurting, and they aren’t sure what’s wrong. They figure that he has Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) which is a blood clot in a deep vein.
Nic comes into Bobby’s room because some of the children in the pediatric ward heard he was there. She brings along baseballs for him to sign for them, and he asks for her number so he could try to get the kids even more merchandise. He later takes advantage of the number by sending her a naked photo of himself. Nic shows Conrad, who’s livid. He decides to confront the patient about it, letting him know that the “little selfie you sent to one of our nurses? It’s harassment.” Tell him, Conrad! Unfortunately, the argument ends with Bobby’s DVT flaming up, and he needs medical attention ASAP.
Dr. Massero finds out Conrad confronted his patient and decides he doesn’t want him working with any of his clients ever again. Dr. Bell delivers the news to his resident, right after they realize Bobby will likely not be able to pitch this year or even the next. Since Conrad’s kicked off the case, Devon has to deliver the bad news to the patient. Nic then comes in and tells Bobby that if he ever sends a nude photo to her or a colleague of hers ever again, she’ll blast it out to every news outlet. Yes, girl!
Dr. Bell Needs Okafor’s Help… Again
The board doesn’t trust Okafor and wants to terminate her for mistakenly removing the healthy testicle off a patient in a previous episode. Dr. Bell stands up for her and insists she’s not a problem. Her job is saved, but she tells the surgeon that she isn’t ready to work with him again and has sought permission to work under Dr. Kays for the next three months. However, Bell has been asked to perform on a VIP patient and wants her to assist. He says it’ll give her the opportunity to impress her doubters on the board of directors, but she declines. He reminds her that everyone has to answer to the chief of surgery, which is him, giving her no chance to refuse. Okafor, who’s angry that she always does his work for him and receives none of the credit, approaches the CEO of Chastain and other board members. She says that she “wanted to personally thank all of you for my second chance” by letting her assist with Bell’s VIP surgery. The next day, the CEO confronts Dr. Bell saying no residents can assist in the operation with the patient, meaning that Okafor cannot be part of the surgery. How’s he going to perform the surgery?!