Jackson Han

Jackson Han
Biographical Information
Status:	Alive
Profession:	Neonatal Cardiac Surgeon Chief of Surgery (formerly)
Workplace:	San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital (formerly)
Title(s):	M.D. F.A.C.S.
Appearances
Portrayed by:	Daniel Dae Kim
First appeared:	"Risk and Reward"
Last appeared:	"Trampoline"

Dr. Jackson Han was a former Chief of Surgery at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital after Dr. Andrews was forced to give up the job when he was promoted to President.

History

Before the show

Dr. Han is a world-renowned surgeon, having created the arterial switch technique. He also used to once know someone who had autism, who possibly familiarized him with the condition and had died, the circumstances concerning which he did not mention. This made him have somewhat of a prejudiced view of autistic people.

Season 2

Han was soon hired by Dr. Marcus Andrews, the President of St. Bonaventure Hospital as the new Chief of Surgery and helped take on the case of a baby with severe birth defects. Han immediately clashed with Dr. Shaun Murphy, a doctor and resident at the hospital also with autism who told the baby's mother that her anti-depressants possibly caused her condition, while having attending surgeon Neil Melendez do a check-up on a rich CEO who had come in. Despite being frustrated with Shaun, Han was still impressed with his diagnostic skills which saved the baby at the last minute. Believing Shaun would not make a good surgeon due to his poor communication skills, Han decided to transfer Shaun to pathology against his wishes.

While Shaun's friends fellow resident Dr. Claire Browne and attending surgeon Dr. Audrey Lim attempted to get Han to change his mind (without success), Han helped out on the case of Sadie Barns but got annoyed when he discovered Shaun in Sadie's room. Shaun stated that he believed Sadie had a parasite, which Han agreed to test and was correct. Han publicly gave Shaun credit as the pathologist that saved Sadie's life, but refused to transfer him back to surgery as he took what Shaun was able to do then as proof that Shaun belonged in pathology.

Han soon found out that the medical board wished to suspend Shaun, Lim and Neil due to actions the three had taken during a hospital quarantine, but was able to get them out of trouble. Unfortunately, he still refused to return Shaun to his former position (much to Lim's protests) while taking on the complicated case of a man with a 200-pound tumor that the hospital was attempting to remove. Neil tried to argue that Shaun be allowed to help as Shaun was familiar with dealing with a complication they were facing during it. Han refused, but agreed to a compromise where Shaun was brought in to consult only and he successfully helped them. In the aftermath, Shaun confronted Han and tried to demand his job back, leading to an emotional breakdown which led to Han firing him.

Han defended Shaun's firing to Andrews who objected to it, though Han pointed out the amount of money Andrews paid for him and stated that Andrews would've made himself look bad before the board if he fired Han. He especially thought he was right when Shaun became hospitalized over an incident which he didn't tell anyone about. While Shaun was recovering, the board, including Shaun's father-figure and the former President Dr. Aaron Glassman, met to discuss Shaun's firing and Han refused to relent, even when Glassman pointed out that Shaun inspired Claire to figure out for herself what was wrong with a patient Shaun believed was misdiagnosed, making her a better doctor. Han instead told the board that to rehire Shaun, they had to fire him, confident that they would refuse. To everyone's shock, Andrews chose to use his power as President to fire Han rather than accept his way of doing things despite the damage it would possibly do to Andrews' own career. Following this, Han was replaced by Doctor Lim as Chief of Surgery while Shaun was rehired.

Post-Season 2

Andrews got fired as a result of going against Han, while the Presidency of the hospital was given back to Glassman. Although Andrews considered getting another job elsewhere, Lim convinced to otherwise and he came back as an attending.

Despite the naysayers claiming otherwise, Shaun would soon complete his residency and eventually become an attending. Unfortunately, he tended to not be understanding to his residents, including his more difficult ones, even though he was once in their position. This was especially with Charlotte Lukaitis, who also has autism and whom Shaun thought was better suited for pathology, even though Han tried the same thing with Shaun.

Personality

Neil called Han "direct, charming, sure of himself and egotistical", which Morgan defended considering the surgical technique Han invented which is widely used. He still had some good moments as he appeared to care about his patients and even got Lim, Neil and Shaun out of trouble when the medical board wanted them suspended for their actions during the hospital quarantine. However, his stance concerning Shaun was rather controversial; on the one hand, Han had genuine concerns about Shaun as Han had already known someone with autism who died and was possibly worried about the same happening concerning Shaun. He also did respect Shaun, gave him credit when it was due and commended him for being able to stand up to him (which Han wondered if Shaun would have been able to do).

On the other hand, Han appeared to base all of his knowledge concerning autism on one person he used to know and who possibly was in a different league of autism about Shaun. Han even believed that he was the best thing for Shaun for having "challenged" him and believed that his friends (including Claire and Lim) had problems because they couldn't properly see him since he is their friend.

Trivia

• The actor of Jackson Han, Daniel Dae Kim, was also an executive producer of The Good Doctor. He was also the one who bought the rights for the original Korean version for his production company and had it transformed into the American version of the show.

Appearances

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Gallery

Episode Stills

Season 2