Waiting

"Waiting"

Episode Information

Season 4

Episode 15

Overall 71

Airdate:

April 26, 2021

Viewers:

3.78^[1] million

Writer:

Oren Gottfried

Director:

Gary Hawes

Episode Chronology

Preceded by:	Followed by:
"Gender Reveal"	"Dr. Ted"

"Waiting"^[2] is the fifteenth episode of Season 4 of The Good Doctor. It is the seventy-first episode overall and aired on April 26, 2021.

Synopsis[]

After a political protest turns violent, the team races to save two young gunshot victims.^[3]

Plot[]

9-year-old Mason and his mother are participating in a rally somewhere in town.

At San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, Shaun, walks into the hospital's lounge to find Lea. She tells him to look at the TV, and the parents to be find out there was a shooting at a protest that is very close to the hospital. Just then, Shaun is called to the ER stat. All the surgeons are waiting in the ER, when Mason comes in as he has been shot. They start working on him right away and when they finally have a regular heartbeat, he is taken to the ER. Not long after, another child, 8-year-old Ethan comes in with a gunshot wound, and he is swiftly taken to the OR as well.

Both mothers are in the lounge where Lea is, and she turns off the TV when she sees the two of them with blood all over their clothes. A nurse comes in to see Mrs. Wilkie and Mrs. Bardo as she wants them to fill out forms. Lea offers to help the two women with the forms while their children are in surgery. Mrs. Wilkie sees a yellow band on the other mother’s wrist and says she is one of them, then tells her to get away from her.

Asher and Claire come out to speak to Mrs. Bardo, and tell her that they fixed two holes in her son’s ventricle, removed his spleen, and repaired his liver, but he is still in surgery. Her son lost a lot of blood, and they are giving him transfusions, but the blood loss may have caused damage to his brain. They cannot accurately assess brain function in the OR, so they will have to wake him up and do a traditional neuro exam. She tells them to wake him up, and asks if she can be there. Claire says she can, but he will be confused and his belly will be opened. She says her husband died in a car accident and she didn’t get to say goodbye.

All three leave the room and Mrs. Wilkie asks Lea why she hasn’t heard anything. Lea goes into the OR observation room for the other child and tells the surgeons that someone has to let the mother know how her child is. Shaun and Alex come out, then Shaun tells her that they have successfully removed half of her son’s skull to reduce brain pressure. They have removed blood clots and bullet fragments, but they are still working on him to find the bullet deep in his brain. She asks if she can see him. Shaun says no because he is in surgery. They just wanted to let her know his current status. Alex tells her he is sorry.

Meanwhile, Mason is with his mother and Claire, and he is now awake. Claire does a neuro exam on him and tells him that he is doing very well on the test.

Mrs. Wilkie is speaking to Lea about how Ethan wanted friends over and she had said no. She says he will die hating her. Shaun and Alex then come in to tell the child's mother that they found the second bullet and believe they should leave it there, because it is too risky to take it out.

Mrs. Bardo is back in the waiting room, she tells Lea they are doing more tests, but she knows he will be fine. She tells Lea a little bit about Mason, and how he kept her going after her husband died. Mrs. Wilkie speaks up and she says she is a single mom too. She explains how they divorced two years ago and it was not amicable. She knows it is not the same though. They do get into an argument because they are different sides of the rally and Mrs. Bardo says you can’t compare divorce to your husband dying.

Shaun and Claire then come into the room. Claire tells Mrs. Bardo they don’t think there is any brain damage, so they are going to take her son back to the OR. Shaun tells Ethan’s mom that they have to leave his skull off until his brain swelling has gone down, which can take a few days or months, and that they've moved him to intensive care and she can see him now. Lea tries to make the two moms feel better and tell them they are dealing with the best surgeons she knows.

While at Ethan's bedside his eyes shift to the left and he squeezes her hand. She thinks it is a good sign but Shaun says it is a seizure. The bullet must have shifted, and he realizes it was a mistake to leave it in. Unfortunately, this means he is going back in the ER.

Lea gets her test results, and she finds out that all is good. But in spending time with the two mothers whose sons' lives are on the line, she admiteddly feels guilty at feeling happy for her baby. Mrs. Bardo tells her she gave birth on Christmas Eve and it was magical. Mrs. Wilkie then says she gave birth in a hotel room. Shaun goes to see Aaron and shows him Ethan’s test results. Shaun is worried he missed something, but Aaron tells him he missed nothing, to which Shaun says Ethan is probably going to die. Shaun says he has lost children before. Shaun is very upset, as he came to his mentor to get neuro advice on Ethan and he is just giving him emotional advice.

Elsewhere, Morgan goes to see Alex, but he talks about his son and a jersey that he loves. His son spilled grape juice on it and he got angry at him. He thinks that Shaun and Lim can handle it without him. She tells him she knows it is brutal on him, but it is brutal on them too.

Asher and Claire are taking Mason out of surgery, when he notices that his left foot is cold and without a pulse. Claire thinks he has a clot and if they don’t do something quick, he will lose a leg at best.

Shaun and Alex got to see Ethan’s mom and tell her that his seizures were caused by a different fragment that migrated to the left side of his brain. They were not wrong about leaving the other fragment in. The new fragment isn’t stable and will almost definitely continue to cause damage. It is too deep to remove though. Alex says they will keep him on anti-seizure meds and monitor him. Mrs. Wilkie pushes back and almost knocks Lea over. Shaun runs to her aid and Mrs. Wilkie realizes they are a couple. She says she made a decision about her son’s life based on Lea's boyfriend and walks out.

Mrs. Bardo tells Lea to go home, since she has her test results. Claire comes in and says Mason is hanging on but they are running out of A-negative blood, and they have ordered some, but it may take a few hours, and they are hoping that he will last that long. Mrs. Wilkie speaks up, informing them she is A-negative.

Alex and Shaun are together when Claire walks in and says that they got a lot of blood, and Mason needed every bit of it. Alex was doing some research and tells the others that he has an idea. He goes to see Lim and tells Shaun to go with him because he has a way that might save Ethan.

Lea is talking to Mrs. Wilkie who tells her that the way she has treated them, she is going to be a great mother. Claire comes into the room and tells Mrs. Bardo that Mason made it, thanks to Mrs. Wilkie. Shaun then tells Mrs. Wilkie that Ethan made it, thanks to Dr. Park. The two moms hug each other. The boys are in the ICU and they want to see their moms.

Later, Morgan sees Alex in the locker room. He says he was ready to walk out and didn’t because of her, and that she saved Ethan’s life. She asks him if he wants to go back to her place. He says he thinks they should stop seeing each other. She is good for him, but just sleeping with her isn’t. He wants to give Heather a chance. She says that's good for him.

Shaun and Lea are outside the hospital. She tells him how she feels lucky. He says he feels tired and lucky. He holds both her hands, and she collapses on the ground as Shaun yells for help.