Empathy

"Empathy"

Episode Information

Season 2

Episode 9

Overall 27

Airdate:

November 26, 2018^[2]

Viewers:

7.43^[1] million

Writer:

Karen Struck^[3]

Director:

Joanna Kerns^[3]

Episode Chronology

Preceded by:	Followed by:
"Stories"	"Quarantine"

"Empathy"^[2] is the ninth episode of Season 2 of The Good Doctor. It is the twenty-seventh episode overall, and aired on November 26, 2018.

Synopsis[]

Dr. Neil Melendez, Dr. Morgan Reznick and Dr. Claire Browne grapple with a patient's wish to perform an operation that would keep him from acting on his pedophilic urges; and Dr. Shaun Murphy learns a lesson in empathy.^[3]

Summary[]

Following the revelation that Dr. Glassman is losing his memory, Shaun tries to ask for his license due to his condition which Dr. Blaize agrees with and he will notify the DMV if he doesn't give it to him right now. Claire, Morgan and Neil walk with their patient, George Reynolds who has an embolism and only noticed his symptoms a few hours earlier; it seems like he is having a stroke from the medications and they are taking them to the OR.

Dr. Park works with Shaun on Billy Cayman, a young man in a juvenile detention center who has a dent in his forehead. He was made fun of for it throughout his life. While Shaun states that they will order an MRI for his lung and fix his fractured eye orbit, Park offers to repair Billy's forehead but Shaun says it is a pre-existing condition and shouldn't be approved. Meanwhile, Claire and Morgan are doing the procedure on George when they realize he doesn't have an embolism and could be taking the meds because he is transitioning. However, Neil wants to focus on what they know and hope that George has other options; if he keeps taking them he will keep having strokes.

Shaun tells Park that the forehead operation would be cosmetic and expensive. Park argues that it would save his life which Shaun sees is the guard's job, which leads to Park realizing Shaun has no empathy as Shaun sees that it is a bad reason to help someone since he sees that it can be unfair. Morgan and Claire confront George about not having hyperplasia and they need to know the truth. He admits he is not transitioning, nor hyperplasia. He has problems with his sex drive and can't have a life; only those meds are making life remotely tolerable.

Aoki meets with Dr. Andrews, telling him to spend more time with his attendings and scheduled his announcement in two days to reveal who he is making Chief of Surgery. Meanwhile, Claire learns from Morgan that George has checked himself out, she did some research and realized the medication he is on is only prescribed to deviants and they both worry they might have released a child molester. They watch as George leaves on the bus, but cannot call the police because they have no evidence of a crime.

In the lunch area, the residents bet on who is going to be Chief of Surgery. Shaun wants to know if empathy is needed to be a good doctor. Claire states that she thinks it can get in the way of decision-making, but Morgan thinks empathy is of the utmost importance when dealing with patients. Shaun explains his condition and makes it very difficult to switch places with people he is treating (despite Claire's attempts to reassure him).

George is brought back into the ER, where he is severely bleeding from the scrotum; EMTs believe it is a hate crime but Claire knows he did this to himself. George says he is not a monster and never touched a child, though his sister was his best friend and now she has children; if he can't keep taking the drugs, this is his only option. Despite the damage done, his testicles are unscathed while he begs them to finish the job. Morgan and Claire meet with Neil and Andrews concerning George. Morgan wants to castrate him but Claire feels he should be put on medications and have a psych evaluation. Neil tells him to patch him up and set his referrals.

Park talks to Billy about his time in juvenile corrections to demonstrate how talking to the patient is keeping him calm. However, Shaun shows that he is short of breath because his diaphragm is now in his stomach and Billy needs emergency surgery. Dr. Lim joins them in the OR, where they comment on the damage Billy suffered. Park still tries to argue to help Billy, only for Lim to side with Shaun for his reasons. However, she sees that empathy is a good thing to have.

George tells Morgan that he hates himself for having these thoughts but he cannot stop them and he is afraid what he could do. Claire promises they will start the process immediately, though he refuses treatment and tells them to let them rot. Shaun soon sits beside Glassman, attempting to talk about they both don't have a driver's license. Unfortunately, Glassman is angered that it was taken away from him, especially by a friend. Glassman talks about how he loves the independence his car, but now that has been taken away from him. Shaun tries to be understanding, but Glassman states that he doesn't expect Shaun to do so.

Lim is bothered by Andrews "stalking" them and suggests to Neil they tell him to back off. He says the last thing he is going to do is confront Andrews when he is the front runner, though she sees otherwise as she's in the lead. Neil says that's because they don't know she has double the mortality rate, to which she retorts that that is like comparing apples to asshats (which he jokingly resents). While Billy is recovering, Park tells him that they cannot fix his forehead. Billy accepts this, having not expected it, while saying his father caused his injuries as a baseball fan. George continues to refuse any medication as Morgan and Claire both hate the situation.

Shaun is considering getting a driver's license to better understand Glassman, having passed the written test and is in the driver's seat with Lea. Neil sees that Lim is right and tries to reason with Andrews, who just smirks and leaves the room. Lea tries to help Shaun, but his attempts to stick to the rules of the road while driving leads to him driving slow and he thinks the other drivers aren't following the rules. Lea tries to get him to focus and to not worry about the other cars, though he just freezes and stalls on the motorway.

Claire soon agrees to signing off on the documentation and do the castration, but Neil tells her to wait until George's testicles are completely beyond repair. He also orders them to put him somewhere else if he is keeping other patients awake. During the second surgery for Billy, Park still tries to advocate for his forehead. Lim wonders if he sent some kids to juvvie when he was a police officer, and that is why he feels guilty. Shaun suggests they implant a breast implant in his forehead and if they do it now, it won't require any additional surgery and very economical and Lim agrees.

Morgan and Claire watch George pass out in the morgue. Claire checks on him and tells him to book an OR which Neil comes into, where they reveal they have a strong case for castration now. Lim walks in and calls out Neil for not backing her up and yet he too opposed Andrews. She also says this is one reason she will never want to work under him because he wants it for the pretty title and angrily leaves. Just before they start George's surgery, his stats drop and they realize he is septic and become worried if he will die due to bleeding.

Lim, Park and Shaun work on Billy's forehead, where they tell her the odds are in her favor 6-1; she tells him to put $100 on her. Billy's pulse is gone with Lim starting CPR. Meanwhile, Andrews tells Aoki about Neil standing up to him which is something Andrews himself once did. When he is unsure of whom to choose, Aoki says that it's one of his weaknesses and she has hoped he got past that when she made him President. Lim, Park and Shaun are able to save Billy while Lim is determined to get back to the "main event".

George also stabilizes, though Neil states that if they want to save Billy, they need to save his testicles as his body can't handle anymore loss of testosterone right now. Later on, Lea returns home, telling Shaun she knows how to teach him to drive; she thinks of how he can adapt his knowledge of surgery for driving, which he feels confident about. Meanwhile, George wakes up as Claire and Morgan reveal they did the surgery, but his testicles have to stay or he will die. Claire gently tells him they set him up with a psychologist and urologists, and once they get him cleared they can do this the right way. George gets it that if he doesn't do it their way it won't happen.

Shaun is nervous, but Lea is confident that he can do it. He is so far successful, but a kid runs into the street while chasing a soccer ball. Shaun hits garbage cans to avoid hitting the kid, gets out of the car saying he cannot drive. Lea tells him becoming a surgeon is way more than operating; he insists he is very bad at communicating but she says just because something is hard doesn't mean he can't do it. He hit the trash can instead of a pedestrian and he did a great job. Shaun talks about how the ball was like dropping an instrument in the OR and needs to get back up. He says he can drive and gets back in the car.

Andrews has the meeting, where he shares his pride in the surgical unit; there were many worthy candidates but has decided to maintain the title himself. Everyone is shocked except for Shaun who won the Vegas pot. Meanwhile, Billy tears up as he sees his face and Park reveals it was Shaun's idea. Billy laughs that they used a breast implant to save his life. However, Shaun thinks it was a mistake as he almost died and walks out. Claire goes to see George's room and finds he is gone; she and Morgan go outside just in time to find him walk in front of a bus, having committed suicide.

Lim joins Neil at the bar, admitting she was playing him over Andrews. However, Neil says Andrews pitted them against each other and she was right that they need to stand together. She asks where that wisdom was two days ago, and he says in the bottle. Park also realizes that Shaun empathized with Billy, which is how he came up with the idea. Although Shaun still feels like he almost killed Billy, Park reveals a stash of pain meds Billy was keeping and he wasn't lying when he said Shaun saved his life.

Morgan and Claire sit at a table, where Morgan feels this shouldn't have ended this way. However, she isn't so sure the world is a worse place than it was a couple hours ago. Meanwhile, Shaun enjoys the car, but still nervous. He honks outside Glassman's house, saying his next radiation appointment is in 45 minutes and gets Glassman into the back seat. Glassman appreciates Shaun's efforts, though Glassman is more nervous than Shaun who initially goes in reverse.