05x06 - To Save a Life
Posted: 07/29/21 08:58
NEWSMAN [OVER RADIO]:
And at least eight dead
at the We Are All from Somewhere Else...
- Can we go any faster?
- I'm doing my best, ma'am.
...after a gunman opened fire
with an a*t*matic w*apon.
In addition to the dead,
we're receiving reports
of as many as people injured.
Okay, hang on a second! Hang on.
Rapid track! Trauma Bay Four!
Walking wounded needs to be
escorted to Station One!
Dr. Kinsey!
I got here as fast as I could.
Dr. Park could really
use you in Bay One.
PARK: Kinsey, you made it!
I'm taking this one up to the OR.
I need you to jump on
this fellow behind me.
- What do we have?
- Ryan Watkins.
Male, lower abdominal g*nsh*t wound.
Next OR should open in ten minutes.
Get started on him as soon as you can.
Will do.
Oh, man, not a lot left
to put back together.
Like a river.
How is his pulse?
Last I checked, thready. Barely there.
[WOMAN GASPING]Dr. Kinsey?
We're losing this patient.
Her oxygen is in the toilet.
She's not getting any air.
Looks like a pneumothorax.
Oh, no. Sounds like
she's got blood in her lungs.
Potential hemopneumo.
How long has she been like this?
How long has she not been breathing?
I called you the moment I noticed.
Just got a text. The OR is ready.
We got to get going on this guy
or might as well just send him
directly to the morgue.
Doctor, we got to go.
You know what a REBOA is?
Heard of it. Never seen it done.
I want to give him one. It'll stop
his bleeding for , minutes.
That'll give me a chance to work on her.
That way maybe we can save them both.
Isn't that kind of
the definition of a Hail Mary?
I don't know, I'm not into football,
and I don't go to church.
I need a REBOA and
some chest tubes, stat.
NURSE: You're really
going to use a REBOA?
But Dr. Park told you
to operate on him now.
I know. But I'm not even sure
we can save him.
In fact, the only thing
I'm certain of is,
we take the time to get him
over to the OR,
we're absolutely losing her.
But what if it doesn't work?
What if we lose them both?
It's going to work.
I think I need to have
a quick chat with Dr. Park.
Walk away from that patient,
don't bother coming back.
TECHNICIAN: Here's your
REBOA and your chest tubes.
Great. Let's make some miracles.
Let's hail some Marys.
Hey.
Ah...
I can't lie.
Feel pretty strange about this.
No. Bull's right.
You need your own office.
I've been a lawyer
for a minute and a half.
I can work in the conference room.
I'm happy to work
in the conference room.
But you're Benjamin Colón.
Hell, rumor has it
that you're running for D.A.
of the greatest city in the world.
[SIGHS]
You need a place of your own, man.
You need an office where
you can hang that law degree
up on the wall.
Well, you've got a law degree.
I certainly do.
And now I'm working towards
a wall to hang it on.
Sorry to break up this legal convention,
but the big guy is waiting for you
in the conference room.
I had just finished
my rounds at the hospital
about two and a half hours earlier.
I was climbing out of the shower
when one of the ER nurses called,
and said they were expecting...
I thought she said hundreds of patients.
But then I thought I must have misheard.
But then she said there was some kind of
mass casualty situation
and they were calling in every
off-duty doctor in the area.
It was all hands on deck.
Hmm. How many patients
did Mercy actually receive that night?
Over .
All with penetrating g*nsh*t wounds.
And the deceased... Uh, Ryan Watkins...
He was your first patient?
He was supposed to be.
Soon as I got there,
I conferred with Dr. Park,
the chief trauma surgeon.
And he was taking
another patient up to the OR,
so he told me to get started
on Mr. Watkins.
Was there any special reason
why Dr. Park wanted you
to operate on Watkins first?
I mean, it sounds like
there were plenty of people
needing immediate care.
No. I think Dr. Park just considered
his injuries the most critical.
But then I saw this woman.
And to my eye,
she was in as equally bad shape
as Mr. Watkins.
She had a lot of blood
and air in her chest.
Struggling to breathe.
I needed to drain that blood
and air fast or we'd lose her.
But if I had operated on him first,
that woman absolutely would have died
while waiting for treatment.
Whereas if I could just keep
Mr. Watkins alive
for a half hour,
I could definitely save her
and maybe save him, too.
You know, one way, I'm staring at
a likely lose-lose situation.
The other, I was certain
at least one of them was going to live.
That's why you used this REBOA thing?
I'm sorry. What is a REBOA?
It stands for
Resuscitative Endovascular
Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta.
It's a kind of internal tourniquet.
A balloon catheter that you position
in a person's aorta to
prevent them from bleeding out.
It buys you time.
Which was what I needed.
But it didn't work.
Well, the other patient
needed chest tubes.
That should have taken minutes, tops.
But once I got in there,
it was more complicated
than I had anticipated.
And by the time I got her stable
and got back to Mr. Watkins,
, minutes had gone by.
And he-he didn't make it.
I tried, but...
CHUNK: So, the plaintiff,
Mr. Watkins' mother, is saying
that the REBOA
should never have been used.
Especially not for minutes.
They are arguing that the REBOA
is not even considered
an acceptable standard of care.
I'm not denying it's a
controversial technique.
I mean, usually it's
only a stop-gap measure
to buy you the ten, minutes it takes
to get a patient
into the OR and opened up.
For what it's worth, I've
personally made the REBOA work
for up to an hour.
Before I went into trauma,
I was a military medic in Afghanistan,
and I used it there all the time.
Well, it'd be great
if we could get someone in
to testify to that... Other than you.
You know, I didn't see
your picture on the website.
Ex-Excuse me?
When I was researching
the Trial Analysis Corporation.
I remember reading about a lawyer,
but I don't think he was you.
Mr. Palmer has been with the firm
for over five years
in a variety of capacities.
He's handled several cases on his own,
but he did just officially
pass the bar this last summer.
But do you have any experience
in medical malpractice?
This firm has handled hundreds
of medical malpractice cases,
and I personally
have super... But Mr. Palmer?
This will be my first.
There's another attorney here.
And he has lots of experience
in medical...
No. I'm the trial scientist.
I'm the tactician.
And I am telling you
he's the one to plead this case.
Now,
if you don't agree with that,
there are plenty
of other companies
I'm sure you can go to
that would be happy to take your money.
But, Dr. Kinsey, this is a jury trial.
It's six people.
And they're going to decide
whether you're innocent or guilty.
They are going to decide
whether you live the rest of your life
in relative comfort
or all-consuming debt.
They're gonna decide
whether you get to use
the salutation "Doctor" in front
of your name ever again.
The other side is going to bring
all kinds of sage, old men
who will offer intimidating
and confusing medical testimony.
They'll try and bully
their way to a verdict.
Now, here's what I know.
You give people a choice
between something they understand
and something they don't understand,
they will almost always lean
in the direction of
the thing they understand.
This case isn't about medicine.
It's about being able
to talk to six people.
Being able to put them in your shoes
when you had to make
the decisions you had to make.
And I'm telling you,
this is the man for the job.
Now...
are we going to court or not?
I appreciate your confidence in me.
It's no big deal.
I meant what I said.
I think you're
the right man for the job.
I think the jurors
are going to appreciate
being talked to by someone like them.
Someone who doesn't
eat, sleep and drink
medical malpractice.
Someone who's just trying to
figure out what really happened here.
So, voir dire.
You have any thoughts?
So, in a perfect world,
we would love to be talking to people
who are at least willing
to entertain the idea
that Dr. Kinsey, finding herself
in an impossible situation,
made the best decisions she could...
if not to save every life,
then to save most lives.
It really is a case study
in lifeboat ethics.
It is funny.
Not one press report I've read
mentions that Dr. Kinsey saved
five other lives that day.
Truth is, our client's a hero.
The jury needs to hear that.
And they need to hear it
during voir dire.
Everybody here know who
Sully Sullenberger is?
Yeah.
He's the pilot who landed
the plane on the Hudson River.
That's him.
Man behind the "Miracle on the Hudson."
A hero. Right?
Anybody remember why he had
to land that plane on the river?
Yes.
The plane hit some birds, I think.
Yes, it did.
And it put that man
in an impossible situation.
Air traffic control had already
ordered him back to the airport.
He was convinced he wouldn't make it.
So he improvised
and decided to attempt a water landing.
Didn't ask for permission.
No time.
He just did it.
And managed to save
every passenger on that plane.
A hero... right?
Juror .
It says here that
you were a police officer.
How do you feel about that?
The man was given an order
and he defied it.
Oh, I think everything worked out
the way it was supposed to.
The man was declared a hero.
They made a movie out of it.
He was played by Tom Hanks.
[LAUGHING]: I don't think
it gets any better than that.
Ground control to Major Tom?
Diana Merrick.
Former NYPD.
Took an early retirement
after getting injured on the job.
BULL: Injured how?
Suspect stabbed her during an arrest
and then she apparently took him
down with a fire extinguisher.
Hit him with it.
A woman of action.
That's our kind of girl.
Your Honor, juror
is acceptable to the defense.
Nice work, Counselor.
We make a pretty good team.
Well, all I'm doing is
following your lead.
Like I said, we make a pretty good team.
[CHUCKLES]
♪
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
BENNY: There he is.
Oh, hustler, hustler. [LAUGHS]
Survived your first day
on the medical malpractice beat?
Other side threw in the towel. Gave up.
Offered to pay us money to go away.
- Ooh. You are knee-deep now.
- Yeah.
- Keep shoveling.
- [LAUGHS]
Bull know you're here?
Nah, but so what?
Actually, I came by
to tell you I think I'm good.
Okay.
So tell me about tomorrow.
Opening statements.
Plaintiffs are gonna say that
my client made a bad decision
she had no right to make,
and I'm gonna tell them about a woman
who found herself in the middle
of a perfect storm,
made the best choices she could,
and saved five lives.
- First witness?
- Dr. Park.
Now, he's gonna testify
that he told her to operate
on the plaintiff first.
I'm gonna try to imply
that it was actually he
who was derelict,
since he clearly didn't
consider thoroughly
the conditions of the other
patients in the trauma bay.
Sounds smart.
Why, thank you, sir. [CHUCKLES]
I'm gonna go.
Just beware of the bank shot.
Come again?
- Damn.
- No, no.
Oh, yeah.
The bank shot.
So you think you know why the plaintiff
is calling a witness,
and y-you may be right.
But a lot of the time, the other side
will call a witness with
a whole other purpose entirely.
The witness will say everything
you expect him to say, but then,
just at the last minute, boom,
he'll throw a whole new
fact pattern out there.
Bank shot.
- So what do I do?
- Two things.
One, do your best.
Two, stop saying you're good.
You shouldn't be good
until this is all over.
And then, only if you've won.
Stay scared, Chunk.
Bank sh*ts can come out of nowhere.
GROSSMAN: Let's talk about
the evening of the sh**ting.
How soon after you got the call
did you have someone
reach out to Dr. Kinsey
and ask her to return to the hospital?
I believe it was within minutes.
GROSSMAN: And when she arrived,
did you tell Dr. Kinsey to take
Mr. Watkins up to the OR for surgery
as soon as a room became available?
- I did.
- And even though
she received that directive
from you, her superior,
that's not what Dr. Kinsey did, is it?
- PARK: No.
- Now, you mentioned
that Dr. Kinsey decided to deploy
a REBOA.
Had you been consulted, would
you have approved of this decision?
No, I would not.
In my years, I've actually
never used a REBOA.
As far as I know,
the mainstream medical community
has still not reached a decision
as to when, where or even if
the REBOA should be used.
It comes with a slew of complications
and high mortality rates.
Are you surprised
the use of the REBOA resulted
in Ryan Watkins' death?
- No.
- No further questions
for this witness, Your Honor.
I'm not a doctor, but I sense
we're bleeding out here.
Before I begin my questioning,
I'd just like to thank you, Dr. Park,
you and the entire Mercy Hospital team,
for all of your hard work
during that awful night.
Thank you.
Now, you testified that
mere minutes after receiving
the call about the mass sh**ting,
you directed someone to call Dr. Kinsey
and see if she'd be able
to come back to work.
- Yes.
- Even though she just finished
a -hour shift.
Yes.
You must hold her in pretty high regard,
wouldn't you say?
I suppose so.
In fact, you hired her, didn't you?
I was among the people on the committee
that weighed in on her hiring, yes.
I think it stands to reason
that at some point
you had a high degree of faith
in Dr. Kinsey's decision-making.
Wouldn't you say?
And it's Chunk Palmer on the .
I'm waiting for an answer, Dr. Park.
GROSSMAN: Objection,
Your Honor. Relevance.
This trial is not about
why Dr. Kinsey was hired.
It is about why she did what she did
after being given specific
instructions by her superior.
Objection sustained. Ask
another question, Counselor.
Situations like this, a-a mass sh**ting,
are fast-moving
- and fluid, aren't they?
- Of course.
And so, as patients are moved from EMS
to emergency room doctors
to trauma surgeons,
quite often their condition
changes rapidly, doesn't it?
That's correct.
And am I safe in assuming that, ideally,
you would want them to be
reassessed as often as possible?
- Of course.
- So,
the night that you decided
that Mr. Watkins
should be operated on
prior to anyone else,
isn't it possible that while
that was the right decision
when you made it, it might not
have been the right decision
five or ten minutes later?
And isn't it possible
that on Dr. Kinsey's subsequent,
more thorough examination,
and faced with two
critically wounded patients,
she could reasonably disagree
with your assessment?
She lost a patient.
If she had done what you told
her, she could have lost two.
- Bingo.
- GROSSMAN: Objection, Your Honor.
- Counsel is testifying.
- [GAVEL BANGS]
Objection sustained.
The jury will disregard
counsel's last statement.
It's already forever burned
in their brains.
RAND: Mr. Palmer?
You do know the difference
between a question
- and a statement, don't you?
- You bet he does.
I do, Your Honor, and I apologize
to the court and to the jury
and the witness.
Your apology's accepted.
You get one, Mr. Palmer.
Any more questions for this witness?
Not at this time, Your Honor.
GROSSMAN: Permission to redirect?
RAND: Go ahead, Ms. Grossman.
GROSSMAN: Now, Dr. Park,
this isn't the first time
that Dr. Kinsey has gone rogue
while on your watch, is it?
No, it is not.
GROSSMAN: Could you elaborate for us,
please?
PARK: It was three months or so
after Dr. Kinsey joined our staff.
We had a patient, a car crash victim.
Upon examination we realized she
had cirrhosis... liver disease...
And had developed ascites,
essentially an accumulation
of fluid in the abdomen
which can cause kidney or
liver failure if left untreated.
And you had Dr. Kinsey
work on this patient?
Yes. A common procedure
is to drain the fluid
through what's called
therapeutic paracentesis.
You have to very carefully hold a needle
while the fluid drains.
If the patient moves
or if the needle slips,
it could puncture the liver,
causing internal bleeding.
And so you had Dr. Kinsey
perform this procedure?
That's correct.
But apparently, there was
an urgent situation down the hall,
and instead of stopping the procedure
and pulling the needle out
to go and attend to the problem,
Dr. Kinsey decided to tape
the needle in place,
I suppose hoping
that it would auto-drain
while she was off
assisting down the hall.
GROSSMAN: Is that
something that's recommended
while performing this procedure?
No. Absolutely not.
You never leave a sharp instrument
sticking out of a patient unattended.
Luckily, I came by
to check on the procedure.
I pulled the needle,
preserving the patient's safety,
and had a very long talk
with Dr. Kinsey.
The thing is, it was clever,
but not responsible medicine.
GROSSMAN: So,
it appears that Dr. Kinsey has a history
of maverick medical procedures
that risk patient health.
Objection. Counsel is testifying.
Rephrase, Ms. Grossman.
I'll withdraw the statement.
No further questions.
BULL: Where the hell did that come from?
CHUNK: Bank shot.
KINSEY: You have to
understand. From my perspective,
it was a nonevent.
The woman's abdomen was draining
just fine
and I was attending to another patient.
Dr. Park came by,
and I wasn't doing it
the way he would do it,
but that doesn't mean
I was doing it improperly.
I don't mean to cast aspersions,
but Park, he's the kind of guy
who's gonna keep making his bed
until it's absolutely perfect,
even when the house is on fire.
Be that as it may,
the plaintiff's attorney
has already planted it
in the jury's mind
that you're some kind of rebel doctor,
willing to compromise
your patient's well-being
for the satisfaction
of doing it your way.
CHUNK: Do you know a Dr. Kendra Collier?
Name rings a bell.
Uh, maybe the military?
Maybe Afghanistan?
CHUNK: Well,
she's on this revised witness list
and is first up to testify tomorrow.
Sorry.
In case it jogs your memory,
she is a critical care physician
out of San Antonio?
Never been to San Antonio.
TAYLOR: Okay,
how's this? From to ,
she worked at Landstuhl Regional
Medical Facility in Germany.
Okay. Military doctor,
I got that part right,
but I never served in Germany.
MARISSA: So you have no clue
why they're calling her to testify?
Uh, San Antonio to New York City
is a pretty pricy plane ticket.
There's got to be a reason
that they're willing
to go to so much trouble.
I'm sorry. I don't know who she is.
Well, I guess we will
all find out tomorrow.
[BRAKES SQUEAKING]
We making a stop?
I asked Benny to join us.
He's gonna sit with me in the gallery.
I need an extra set of eyes and ears.
[GRUNTS]
Morning, fellas.
Well, isn't this a nice surprise?
I was just reading about
you in the newspaper here.
At least I think it's you.
The way they spelled
your name made it sound
like you're a part of
somebody's digestive system.
"Benny Colon."
[LAUGHS]
Seriously, man, congratulations.
You got my vote.
Yeah, that's just 'cause
you want your old office back.
So you made the announcement last night?
Not me, personally, but yeah.
It's finally out there.
I think they were afraid
if they didn't announce it soon,
- I was going to change my mind.
- [GAVEL BANGS]
GROSSMAN: Dr. Collier,
the defendant, Dr. Kinsey,
in her deposition, claims
that she successfully deployed
a REBOA for over one hour
in a Colonel Mark Winston during
her service in Afghanistan.
Now, you were part of the
treatment team at Landstuhl
- for that same soldier, correct?
- Correct.
Can you tell us about
Colonel Winston's injuries?
Winston's unit was hit with
an improvised expl*sive device
in Afghanistan.
He suffered massive abdominal wounds
and had to be transferred to
the Kandahar base for surgery,
and then to us in Landstuhl
for further treatment.
He survived the transports,
but died in our care
eight days later.
Oh, no...
GROSSMAN: Were his wounds
just too severe?
His wounds were very severe.
But that's not what k*lled him.
Well, then, what did?
Well, as you mentioned, the medical team
who performed the initial
transport in Afghanistan,
the one supervised by Dr. Kinsey,
used a REBOA to keep the colonel
from hemorrhaging during flight.
Unfortunately,
the transport took an hour,
and that's a long time to
cut off someone's blood supply.
So you're saying it was the REBOA
that led to Colonel Winston's death?
Essentially, yes.
The REBOA pretty much k*lled his legs,
and Winston ultimately died of sepsis.
GROSSMAN: But this didn't happen
in the case of Ryan Watkins, did it?
Same cause, different complication.
In Mr. Watkins' case,
it wasn't his legs,
but the end result was the same.
So, in your professional
opinion, was it reasonable
for Dr. Kinsey to assume that
she could successfully deploy
a REBOA for such
a lengthy period of time
in either Colonel Winston or,
for that matter,
in the case of Ryan Watkins?
No.
You just can't keep it in
that long and expect it to work.
GROSSMAN: No further questions.
Your witness, Mr. Palmer.
Ask the judge for a short recess.
I think the two of us
should confer with Benny.
I got this.
Okay, I just listened
to your testimony, Dr. Collier,
and I have to tell you
I'm a little confused.
Let me see if I can't help you, then.
CHUNK: Great. So,
let's start back at the beginning.
A patient like Colonel Winston,
all these abdominal wounds...
There any way he's gonna survive
a -minute transport
without some sort of hemorrhage control?
- No.
- And without some sort
of hemorrhage control,
how quickly is someone
in the colonel's condition
likely to bleed out? minutes?
minutes?
Would he have even lasted five minutes?
Less than five minutes.
CHUNK: So the options were either
let the patient die on the helicopter,
or deploy this REBOA
and get him to a facility
where he could be treated
and possibly saved?
Isn't that correct?
- Basically, yes.
- So the REBOA
bought him time.
In fact, it bought him
eight days, didn't it?
Because had it not been used,
he would have died on day one.
Isn't that correct?
Yes, that would be correct.
So let me ask you a question.
During the time that you were
treating the colonel in Landstuhl,
did his family come to see him?
His wife, his son?
Yes, I believe they did.
So the REBOA, the dreaded REBOA,
actually allowed the colonel
to have eight more days
to spend with his family
and to say goodbye to them?
Isn't that correct?
Yes.
I suppose it did.
Sounds like Dr. Kinsey
- made the right choice to me.
- GROSSMAN: Objection!
Counsel is testifying.
RAND: Objection sustained.
The jury will ignore
counsel's last question.
I do apologize, Your Honor.
No further questions.
Gosh, I knew him when he used to
tell clients what color shirts
to wear to their depositions.
Very impressive cross-examination,
Chunk.
Thank you.
I'm glad you think so, Counselor.
Mr. Palmer, the next time I tell
you to ask for a short recess,
ask for a short recess.
Bull, the man did great.
And then we will go out into the hall,
you will share your thoughts,
I will share my thoughts,
and Mr. Colón, who is not yet
the city's D.A.,
will offer his point of view,
and then I will decide
what we are going to do.
Do we all understand each other?
Well, I understand what you're saying,
but I don't know why you're saying it.
Because you got lucky, Chunk.
We walked into court today
knowing very little
about that doctor.
We didn't even know why
she was testifying.
She could have just as easily
answered your question
that it was her medical skill
that kept that man alive
for eight days,
and it would have been
had our client not used a REBOA.
But she didn't say any of that, did she?
Don't confuse luck with skill.
I'm not confused.
I took a shot and it paid off.
Well, we don't take sh*ts
with other people's lives
and livelihoods,
and we don't ask questions
we don't know the answers to.
And we certainly don't
ignore the opportunity
to compare notes with two people
whose combined experience
equals almost as much time
as you've been on the planet.
He's running for office,
you're going rogue.
Believe me, I'd go to court
and ask the questions myself if I could.
[SCOFFS]
Sorry. Sorry, sorry.
I couldn't get a cab.
I ended up taking the subway.
And forgive me, I never got a chance
to tell you how impressive
you were yesterday,
cross-examining that doctor
from San Antonio.
Thank you. Just got lucky.
KINSEY: Whatever. It worked.
So, what does today hold?
That's what we're here to ask you.
The first witness up today
is Nurse Darna Bautista.
Now, she worked with you
the night that Mr. Watkins died.
Any idea what she's gonna say?
[SCOFFS]
That I'm a b*tch.
She idolizes Dr. Park.
When I said I wasn't gonna do things
in exactly the way...
in exactly the order
that Dr. Park indicated,
she looked like she was
gonna have a stroke.
When you say she idolizes Dr. Park,
what does that mean?
They were friends? Lovers?
No, I don't think so.
I just know she thinks
he walks on water.
Nurse Bautista,
you were one of the ER nurses
working at Mercy
the evening of the sh**ting?
Yes, I was.
I was providing care for Ryan Watkins.
First under the supervision of Dr. Park,
and then under the supervision
of Dr. Kinsey.
And did you have occasion
to tell Dr. Kinsey
anything about her patient?
I did.
I'm guessing you're talking
about normal medical information
that a doctor might
expect a nurse to provide.
Yes.
But I also shared
something else with her.
Something I shouldn't have shared.
Something that wasn't true,
although I didn't know it at the time.
What did she say to you?
I honestly don't know.
Nothing beyond the usual.
GROSSMAN: And what was that?
You have to understand,
it was chaos that night.
There was all kinds of
misinformation flying around.
At one point we heard
there were three gunmen.
At another point, somebody wrote a tweet
that the sh**ting was
a t*rror1st operation.
We understand how stressful
this situation
must have been for you, Ms. Bautista,
but what is it you said to Dr. Kinsey?
When EMS brought in Mr. Watkins
into the ER that night...
I was led to believe that he,
um, Mr. Watkins...
was the sh**t.
And you shared that with Dr. Kinsey?
Yes, I did.
Obviously, I don't know if that
had anything to do
with Dr. Kinsey's decision,
but I know it would have affected me
if I had been in her shoes.
Objection. The witness is speculating,
offering her opinion.
Sustained. Jury will ignore.
GROSSMAN: So, Nurse Bautista,
in a situation like this,
is it a doctor's job to determine
whose life is more valuable,
who deserves to be saved?
Your Honor, opposing counsel is
soliciting the witness's opinion
using different phrasing.
Sustained. Ms. Grossman,
the ice is paper-thin
where you're standing.
You understand me?
I do, Your Honor,
and I withdraw the question.
No further questions.
I promise you, I have no
recollection of anyone saying
that any of the people
we were trying to save
that night might have been the sh**t.
I know, I know.
Ask for a short recess.
Okay, we basically have two choices.
We can go back in there and say we have
no more questions for the nurse
and start our case by
putting on Dr. Kinsey.
That's a horrible choice.
Or we go back in there and
say we have no questions
for the nurse and rest our case as well,
and stake everything
on closing arguments.
Oh, my God, so we're just... giving up?
With all due respect, Dr. Bull,
but why wouldn't you want me
to go back in there
and grill that nurse?
Get her to admit that
she never said those things.
And how are you gonna do that?
How are you going to prove
someone didn't say something?
How are you gonna prove a negative?
It's just gonna be
her word against ours,
and no one is accusing her of
having allowed someone to die.
But we can't let that jury think that
what that nurse said is the truth.
That's why we're gonna put
Dr. Kinsey on the stand.
You can deny having heard it.
And, yes, it will still be your
word against the nurse's,
but at least we will have
answered the accusation.
It will be on the record.
And then we will get you off the stand
as quickly as possible and
move on to closing arguments.
So, wait, there are no other witnesses?
What about the people
I saved that night?
- Their family members.
- BULL: No.
The second we swear them in,
opposing counsel will challenge
on the basis of relevance,
and we will lose.
Because your ability to help them
isn't relevant to the question
of whether you were reckless
in your treatment of Mr. Watkins.
I'm sorry, it just isn't.
CHUNK: Dr. Kinsey,
do you recall Nurse Bautista telling you
that Ryan Watkins, the man whose
life you were trying to save,
was in fact the man who k*lled people
at the "We Are All from
Somewhere Else" demonstration?
No. I have no recollection
of that. None.
And for what it's worth,
had she told me,
it would have made no difference
in my decision-making
with regard to Mr. Watkins'
care that night.
It's my job to help people,
not to judge them.
So tell us, why'd you do what you did?
Why'd you defy your superior
and decide to work
on someone else first?
Once Dr. Park left
and I had a chance to examine
Mr. Watkins for myself,
I realized, he was really far gone.
The likelihood of us saving him
that night in the OR was slim at best.
It was also clear to me
that whatever we did,
it was going to take hours.
So when I saw that young woman,
and realized with about a half an hour
I could get her to a place
where she could pull through...
I... I had no choice.
And what did Dr. Park say
later on that night
when he found out that
Mr. Watkins didn't make it?
I actually didn't see Dr. Park
the rest of the night.
I mean, there were literally
hundreds of people
seeking treatment;
I was pretty much on my own.
So working on your own,
without any supervision,
how many people did you
personally save that night?
I... I'm not really sure
how you would define "saved."
How many people would have died
that night
without you having treated them?
At least five that I'm aware of.
CHUNK: Five.
No further questions, Your Honor.
RAND: Very well.
Does the plaintiff have
any questions for the witness?
I do, Your Honor.
Just one.
So...
you believe that you
saved five lives that night?
And how many do you believe you lost?
CHUNK: Objection!
Asked and answered.
Never mind. I withdraw the question.
On August th, as hundreds of people
prepared to defy the COVID virus
and stage a mass protest
of our government's
policies towards people
born in other countries
who dream of better lives in America...
I think you're gonna turn the jury off.
These images are so disturbing,
I can't even hear what Chunk is saying.
CHUNK: ...on these shores... Chunk.
Marissa is worried that
the images are too violent,
that they're gonna turn the jury off.
Well, I disagree.
The more graphic, the more
in your face, the better.
See, you're trying to
make the jury understand
what it must have been
like for Dr. Kinsey,
standing in the middle of all that,
trying to save as many lives
as possible.
Do you do what you're told
or do you do what you know is right?
- I second that.
- Yeah, but you're ex-law enforcement.
You've seen a lot of blood and guts
in your life. I mean, we've got
a nursery school teacher
on the jury. A seminary student...
Wait a minute.
[CLEARS THROAT]
Taylor, back it up about seconds.
Okay, okay. Stop it right there.
Isn't this the guy who
testified against our client?
Told our client to operate
on Ryan Watkins first?
Her direct superior?
Yeah, that's him. That's Dr. Park.
Watch what he does. Unfreeze it, Taylor.
BULL: Oh, freeze that.
Weird thing to do. Especially
in the middle of COVID.
He knows her.
CHUNK: : in the evening.
About ten minutes
after Dr. Kinsey arrived.
And this is the patient that
Dr. Park took to the OR
when he told Dr. Kinsey
to take care of Ryan.
DANNY: Okay. I'm-I'm lost.
That's two of us.
What are you guys getting at?
Well, we always said this was
a case about lifeboat ethics,
we just didn't know there was
a whole other boat involved.
[SCOFFS]
Between now and tomorrow morning,
I need you to find out
everything that you can
about that woman on the gurney.
I'll be damned if I go back
into that courtroom
and ask a question I don't
already know the answer to.
Your Honor,
with your permission... I know
that we already rested our case...
But before we begin closing arguments,
the defense would like
to call one last witness.
Actually, we would like to recall
one last witness.
If Dr. Park could take the stand.
Dr. Park, I appreciate you
coming in last minute
to testify in court today.
Now, I have to be honest with you,
I need your help.
I've actually never served on a
medical malpractice case before.
And I'd be dishonest with
you if I told you that I had
any understanding
whatsoever of medical ethics.
How it all works.
What it means. Now, you,
as the head surgeon at Mercy Hospital,
this is something you know
a lot about, am I right?
Actually, I've written
a number of papers,
presided over a number of
seminars on the topic, yes.
CHUNK: So...
baseline question.
What happens when doctors
let their personal feelings
get in the way of treating a patient?
Well, all kinds of
bad things can happen.
Physicians have been known to freeze,
to second-guess themselves.
But I guess the biggest concern
you see and hear about
is doctors making bad calls
because they're not thinking clearly.
They're not thinking critically.
Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Park.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Oh.
Actually, just one last thing.
[SIGHS]
When they brought
Ryan Watkins in that night,
how many patients did they
bring in with him?
Including Ryan, three.
- He and two others.
- Okay.
So we know that you told Dr. Kinsey
to operate on Ryan Watkins first.
Now, that person she
actually chose to treat,
did she come in with Ryan?
Yes.
And what about the third?
Did we ever hear about
what happened to the third?
I took her up to the OR
for immediate surgery.
I see.
And-and what was the extent
of her injuries?
She had been shot in the shoulder.
CHUNK: And would you
say that her injuries were
more urgent than
the abdominal g*nsh*t wound
suffered by Ryan Watkins?
Or the hemopneumothorax
that Dr. Kinsey treated?
Dr. Park?
I need you to answer the question.
No. I would not say her injuries
were more urgent than those sustained
by the two patients you asked me about.
That's odd.
So if her injuries were
less than severe,
why did you decide
to operate on her first?
Dr. Park, did you know
the patient that you worked on?
Yes.
Personally?
Yes.
She's Nurse Bautista's
-year-old daughter.
My goddaughter.
So is that why you treated her first?
If you had not known that patient,
if you had not let this affect you,
who would you have taken up
to that operating room?
[VOICE BREAKING]: Ryan Watkins.
CHUNK: So if there was
an error in judgment that night,
it was not Dr. Kinsey's,
was it?
No. It was not.
[WHISPERS]: I told you he was
the right man for the job.
CHUNK: Can you stop all that racket?
Some of us are in the midst of
our own private euphorias
and you're ruining it with the
sound of all this manual labor.
Well, well, well.
- If it isn't Clarence Darrow.
- [CHUNK CHUCKLES]
Hey. Congratulations again.
You k*lled it today.
[LAUGHS] I did.
BENNY: Yeah.
What brings you out on this
cold and wintery night?
Couldn't sleep.
I'd close my eyes and I'd keep seeing
the jury handing down that verdict.
That look of satisfaction
and pride on Bull's face. [CHUCKLES]
The gratitude on Dr. Kinsey's.
I'm a grown man and it is
embarrassing to be this much
in love with what you do
for a living, you know?
Anyway, I, uh, I got out, took a walk.
Tried to clear my head.
Walked across the bridge
when suddenly I realized,
I might die of frostbite
and I'm in desperate need
of a clean bathroom.
Mention my name, you get a good seat.
I already did.
[LAUGHS]
You know, the other night in Bull's SUV?
I was ready to quit.
Mm. I figured.
I've been ready to quit
about a half a dozen times
over the years.
Really?
What stopped you?
I don't know.
I get one foot out the door,
and then I realize he was mostly right
about whatever it was he was
saying or talking about.
Plus, I think we make
each other smarter.
Better.
He's a really, really smart dude, Chunk.
And I don't think he would
want you around
if he didn't think
you were a smart dude, too.
Congratulations again, Chunk.
Now, if you'll excuse me,
I got to finish my interior decorating
so I can go home and get some sleep.
[EXHALES]
And at least eight dead
at the We Are All from Somewhere Else...
- Can we go any faster?
- I'm doing my best, ma'am.
...after a gunman opened fire
with an a*t*matic w*apon.
In addition to the dead,
we're receiving reports
of as many as people injured.
Okay, hang on a second! Hang on.
Rapid track! Trauma Bay Four!
Walking wounded needs to be
escorted to Station One!
Dr. Kinsey!
I got here as fast as I could.
Dr. Park could really
use you in Bay One.
PARK: Kinsey, you made it!
I'm taking this one up to the OR.
I need you to jump on
this fellow behind me.
- What do we have?
- Ryan Watkins.
Male, lower abdominal g*nsh*t wound.
Next OR should open in ten minutes.
Get started on him as soon as you can.
Will do.
Oh, man, not a lot left
to put back together.
Like a river.
How is his pulse?
Last I checked, thready. Barely there.
[WOMAN GASPING]Dr. Kinsey?
We're losing this patient.
Her oxygen is in the toilet.
She's not getting any air.
Looks like a pneumothorax.
Oh, no. Sounds like
she's got blood in her lungs.
Potential hemopneumo.
How long has she been like this?
How long has she not been breathing?
I called you the moment I noticed.
Just got a text. The OR is ready.
We got to get going on this guy
or might as well just send him
directly to the morgue.
Doctor, we got to go.
You know what a REBOA is?
Heard of it. Never seen it done.
I want to give him one. It'll stop
his bleeding for , minutes.
That'll give me a chance to work on her.
That way maybe we can save them both.
Isn't that kind of
the definition of a Hail Mary?
I don't know, I'm not into football,
and I don't go to church.
I need a REBOA and
some chest tubes, stat.
NURSE: You're really
going to use a REBOA?
But Dr. Park told you
to operate on him now.
I know. But I'm not even sure
we can save him.
In fact, the only thing
I'm certain of is,
we take the time to get him
over to the OR,
we're absolutely losing her.
But what if it doesn't work?
What if we lose them both?
It's going to work.
I think I need to have
a quick chat with Dr. Park.
Walk away from that patient,
don't bother coming back.
TECHNICIAN: Here's your
REBOA and your chest tubes.
Great. Let's make some miracles.
Let's hail some Marys.
Hey.
Ah...
I can't lie.
Feel pretty strange about this.
No. Bull's right.
You need your own office.
I've been a lawyer
for a minute and a half.
I can work in the conference room.
I'm happy to work
in the conference room.
But you're Benjamin Colón.
Hell, rumor has it
that you're running for D.A.
of the greatest city in the world.
[SIGHS]
You need a place of your own, man.
You need an office where
you can hang that law degree
up on the wall.
Well, you've got a law degree.
I certainly do.
And now I'm working towards
a wall to hang it on.
Sorry to break up this legal convention,
but the big guy is waiting for you
in the conference room.
I had just finished
my rounds at the hospital
about two and a half hours earlier.
I was climbing out of the shower
when one of the ER nurses called,
and said they were expecting...
I thought she said hundreds of patients.
But then I thought I must have misheard.
But then she said there was some kind of
mass casualty situation
and they were calling in every
off-duty doctor in the area.
It was all hands on deck.
Hmm. How many patients
did Mercy actually receive that night?
Over .
All with penetrating g*nsh*t wounds.
And the deceased... Uh, Ryan Watkins...
He was your first patient?
He was supposed to be.
Soon as I got there,
I conferred with Dr. Park,
the chief trauma surgeon.
And he was taking
another patient up to the OR,
so he told me to get started
on Mr. Watkins.
Was there any special reason
why Dr. Park wanted you
to operate on Watkins first?
I mean, it sounds like
there were plenty of people
needing immediate care.
No. I think Dr. Park just considered
his injuries the most critical.
But then I saw this woman.
And to my eye,
she was in as equally bad shape
as Mr. Watkins.
She had a lot of blood
and air in her chest.
Struggling to breathe.
I needed to drain that blood
and air fast or we'd lose her.
But if I had operated on him first,
that woman absolutely would have died
while waiting for treatment.
Whereas if I could just keep
Mr. Watkins alive
for a half hour,
I could definitely save her
and maybe save him, too.
You know, one way, I'm staring at
a likely lose-lose situation.
The other, I was certain
at least one of them was going to live.
That's why you used this REBOA thing?
I'm sorry. What is a REBOA?
It stands for
Resuscitative Endovascular
Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta.
It's a kind of internal tourniquet.
A balloon catheter that you position
in a person's aorta to
prevent them from bleeding out.
It buys you time.
Which was what I needed.
But it didn't work.
Well, the other patient
needed chest tubes.
That should have taken minutes, tops.
But once I got in there,
it was more complicated
than I had anticipated.
And by the time I got her stable
and got back to Mr. Watkins,
, minutes had gone by.
And he-he didn't make it.
I tried, but...
CHUNK: So, the plaintiff,
Mr. Watkins' mother, is saying
that the REBOA
should never have been used.
Especially not for minutes.
They are arguing that the REBOA
is not even considered
an acceptable standard of care.
I'm not denying it's a
controversial technique.
I mean, usually it's
only a stop-gap measure
to buy you the ten, minutes it takes
to get a patient
into the OR and opened up.
For what it's worth, I've
personally made the REBOA work
for up to an hour.
Before I went into trauma,
I was a military medic in Afghanistan,
and I used it there all the time.
Well, it'd be great
if we could get someone in
to testify to that... Other than you.
You know, I didn't see
your picture on the website.
Ex-Excuse me?
When I was researching
the Trial Analysis Corporation.
I remember reading about a lawyer,
but I don't think he was you.
Mr. Palmer has been with the firm
for over five years
in a variety of capacities.
He's handled several cases on his own,
but he did just officially
pass the bar this last summer.
But do you have any experience
in medical malpractice?
This firm has handled hundreds
of medical malpractice cases,
and I personally
have super... But Mr. Palmer?
This will be my first.
There's another attorney here.
And he has lots of experience
in medical...
No. I'm the trial scientist.
I'm the tactician.
And I am telling you
he's the one to plead this case.
Now,
if you don't agree with that,
there are plenty
of other companies
I'm sure you can go to
that would be happy to take your money.
But, Dr. Kinsey, this is a jury trial.
It's six people.
And they're going to decide
whether you're innocent or guilty.
They are going to decide
whether you live the rest of your life
in relative comfort
or all-consuming debt.
They're gonna decide
whether you get to use
the salutation "Doctor" in front
of your name ever again.
The other side is going to bring
all kinds of sage, old men
who will offer intimidating
and confusing medical testimony.
They'll try and bully
their way to a verdict.
Now, here's what I know.
You give people a choice
between something they understand
and something they don't understand,
they will almost always lean
in the direction of
the thing they understand.
This case isn't about medicine.
It's about being able
to talk to six people.
Being able to put them in your shoes
when you had to make
the decisions you had to make.
And I'm telling you,
this is the man for the job.
Now...
are we going to court or not?
I appreciate your confidence in me.
It's no big deal.
I meant what I said.
I think you're
the right man for the job.
I think the jurors
are going to appreciate
being talked to by someone like them.
Someone who doesn't
eat, sleep and drink
medical malpractice.
Someone who's just trying to
figure out what really happened here.
So, voir dire.
You have any thoughts?
So, in a perfect world,
we would love to be talking to people
who are at least willing
to entertain the idea
that Dr. Kinsey, finding herself
in an impossible situation,
made the best decisions she could...
if not to save every life,
then to save most lives.
It really is a case study
in lifeboat ethics.
It is funny.
Not one press report I've read
mentions that Dr. Kinsey saved
five other lives that day.
Truth is, our client's a hero.
The jury needs to hear that.
And they need to hear it
during voir dire.
Everybody here know who
Sully Sullenberger is?
Yeah.
He's the pilot who landed
the plane on the Hudson River.
That's him.
Man behind the "Miracle on the Hudson."
A hero. Right?
Anybody remember why he had
to land that plane on the river?
Yes.
The plane hit some birds, I think.
Yes, it did.
And it put that man
in an impossible situation.
Air traffic control had already
ordered him back to the airport.
He was convinced he wouldn't make it.
So he improvised
and decided to attempt a water landing.
Didn't ask for permission.
No time.
He just did it.
And managed to save
every passenger on that plane.
A hero... right?
Juror .
It says here that
you were a police officer.
How do you feel about that?
The man was given an order
and he defied it.
Oh, I think everything worked out
the way it was supposed to.
The man was declared a hero.
They made a movie out of it.
He was played by Tom Hanks.
[LAUGHING]: I don't think
it gets any better than that.
Ground control to Major Tom?
Diana Merrick.
Former NYPD.
Took an early retirement
after getting injured on the job.
BULL: Injured how?
Suspect stabbed her during an arrest
and then she apparently took him
down with a fire extinguisher.
Hit him with it.
A woman of action.
That's our kind of girl.
Your Honor, juror
is acceptable to the defense.
Nice work, Counselor.
We make a pretty good team.
Well, all I'm doing is
following your lead.
Like I said, we make a pretty good team.
[CHUCKLES]
♪
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
BENNY: There he is.
Oh, hustler, hustler. [LAUGHS]
Survived your first day
on the medical malpractice beat?
Other side threw in the towel. Gave up.
Offered to pay us money to go away.
- Ooh. You are knee-deep now.
- Yeah.
- Keep shoveling.
- [LAUGHS]
Bull know you're here?
Nah, but so what?
Actually, I came by
to tell you I think I'm good.
Okay.
So tell me about tomorrow.
Opening statements.
Plaintiffs are gonna say that
my client made a bad decision
she had no right to make,
and I'm gonna tell them about a woman
who found herself in the middle
of a perfect storm,
made the best choices she could,
and saved five lives.
- First witness?
- Dr. Park.
Now, he's gonna testify
that he told her to operate
on the plaintiff first.
I'm gonna try to imply
that it was actually he
who was derelict,
since he clearly didn't
consider thoroughly
the conditions of the other
patients in the trauma bay.
Sounds smart.
Why, thank you, sir. [CHUCKLES]
I'm gonna go.
Just beware of the bank shot.
Come again?
- Damn.
- No, no.
Oh, yeah.
The bank shot.
So you think you know why the plaintiff
is calling a witness,
and y-you may be right.
But a lot of the time, the other side
will call a witness with
a whole other purpose entirely.
The witness will say everything
you expect him to say, but then,
just at the last minute, boom,
he'll throw a whole new
fact pattern out there.
Bank shot.
- So what do I do?
- Two things.
One, do your best.
Two, stop saying you're good.
You shouldn't be good
until this is all over.
And then, only if you've won.
Stay scared, Chunk.
Bank sh*ts can come out of nowhere.
GROSSMAN: Let's talk about
the evening of the sh**ting.
How soon after you got the call
did you have someone
reach out to Dr. Kinsey
and ask her to return to the hospital?
I believe it was within minutes.
GROSSMAN: And when she arrived,
did you tell Dr. Kinsey to take
Mr. Watkins up to the OR for surgery
as soon as a room became available?
- I did.
- And even though
she received that directive
from you, her superior,
that's not what Dr. Kinsey did, is it?
- PARK: No.
- Now, you mentioned
that Dr. Kinsey decided to deploy
a REBOA.
Had you been consulted, would
you have approved of this decision?
No, I would not.
In my years, I've actually
never used a REBOA.
As far as I know,
the mainstream medical community
has still not reached a decision
as to when, where or even if
the REBOA should be used.
It comes with a slew of complications
and high mortality rates.
Are you surprised
the use of the REBOA resulted
in Ryan Watkins' death?
- No.
- No further questions
for this witness, Your Honor.
I'm not a doctor, but I sense
we're bleeding out here.
Before I begin my questioning,
I'd just like to thank you, Dr. Park,
you and the entire Mercy Hospital team,
for all of your hard work
during that awful night.
Thank you.
Now, you testified that
mere minutes after receiving
the call about the mass sh**ting,
you directed someone to call Dr. Kinsey
and see if she'd be able
to come back to work.
- Yes.
- Even though she just finished
a -hour shift.
Yes.
You must hold her in pretty high regard,
wouldn't you say?
I suppose so.
In fact, you hired her, didn't you?
I was among the people on the committee
that weighed in on her hiring, yes.
I think it stands to reason
that at some point
you had a high degree of faith
in Dr. Kinsey's decision-making.
Wouldn't you say?
And it's Chunk Palmer on the .
I'm waiting for an answer, Dr. Park.
GROSSMAN: Objection,
Your Honor. Relevance.
This trial is not about
why Dr. Kinsey was hired.
It is about why she did what she did
after being given specific
instructions by her superior.
Objection sustained. Ask
another question, Counselor.
Situations like this, a-a mass sh**ting,
are fast-moving
- and fluid, aren't they?
- Of course.
And so, as patients are moved from EMS
to emergency room doctors
to trauma surgeons,
quite often their condition
changes rapidly, doesn't it?
That's correct.
And am I safe in assuming that, ideally,
you would want them to be
reassessed as often as possible?
- Of course.
- So,
the night that you decided
that Mr. Watkins
should be operated on
prior to anyone else,
isn't it possible that while
that was the right decision
when you made it, it might not
have been the right decision
five or ten minutes later?
And isn't it possible
that on Dr. Kinsey's subsequent,
more thorough examination,
and faced with two
critically wounded patients,
she could reasonably disagree
with your assessment?
She lost a patient.
If she had done what you told
her, she could have lost two.
- Bingo.
- GROSSMAN: Objection, Your Honor.
- Counsel is testifying.
- [GAVEL BANGS]
Objection sustained.
The jury will disregard
counsel's last statement.
It's already forever burned
in their brains.
RAND: Mr. Palmer?
You do know the difference
between a question
- and a statement, don't you?
- You bet he does.
I do, Your Honor, and I apologize
to the court and to the jury
and the witness.
Your apology's accepted.
You get one, Mr. Palmer.
Any more questions for this witness?
Not at this time, Your Honor.
GROSSMAN: Permission to redirect?
RAND: Go ahead, Ms. Grossman.
GROSSMAN: Now, Dr. Park,
this isn't the first time
that Dr. Kinsey has gone rogue
while on your watch, is it?
No, it is not.
GROSSMAN: Could you elaborate for us,
please?
PARK: It was three months or so
after Dr. Kinsey joined our staff.
We had a patient, a car crash victim.
Upon examination we realized she
had cirrhosis... liver disease...
And had developed ascites,
essentially an accumulation
of fluid in the abdomen
which can cause kidney or
liver failure if left untreated.
And you had Dr. Kinsey
work on this patient?
Yes. A common procedure
is to drain the fluid
through what's called
therapeutic paracentesis.
You have to very carefully hold a needle
while the fluid drains.
If the patient moves
or if the needle slips,
it could puncture the liver,
causing internal bleeding.
And so you had Dr. Kinsey
perform this procedure?
That's correct.
But apparently, there was
an urgent situation down the hall,
and instead of stopping the procedure
and pulling the needle out
to go and attend to the problem,
Dr. Kinsey decided to tape
the needle in place,
I suppose hoping
that it would auto-drain
while she was off
assisting down the hall.
GROSSMAN: Is that
something that's recommended
while performing this procedure?
No. Absolutely not.
You never leave a sharp instrument
sticking out of a patient unattended.
Luckily, I came by
to check on the procedure.
I pulled the needle,
preserving the patient's safety,
and had a very long talk
with Dr. Kinsey.
The thing is, it was clever,
but not responsible medicine.
GROSSMAN: So,
it appears that Dr. Kinsey has a history
of maverick medical procedures
that risk patient health.
Objection. Counsel is testifying.
Rephrase, Ms. Grossman.
I'll withdraw the statement.
No further questions.
BULL: Where the hell did that come from?
CHUNK: Bank shot.
KINSEY: You have to
understand. From my perspective,
it was a nonevent.
The woman's abdomen was draining
just fine
and I was attending to another patient.
Dr. Park came by,
and I wasn't doing it
the way he would do it,
but that doesn't mean
I was doing it improperly.
I don't mean to cast aspersions,
but Park, he's the kind of guy
who's gonna keep making his bed
until it's absolutely perfect,
even when the house is on fire.
Be that as it may,
the plaintiff's attorney
has already planted it
in the jury's mind
that you're some kind of rebel doctor,
willing to compromise
your patient's well-being
for the satisfaction
of doing it your way.
CHUNK: Do you know a Dr. Kendra Collier?
Name rings a bell.
Uh, maybe the military?
Maybe Afghanistan?
CHUNK: Well,
she's on this revised witness list
and is first up to testify tomorrow.
Sorry.
In case it jogs your memory,
she is a critical care physician
out of San Antonio?
Never been to San Antonio.
TAYLOR: Okay,
how's this? From to ,
she worked at Landstuhl Regional
Medical Facility in Germany.
Okay. Military doctor,
I got that part right,
but I never served in Germany.
MARISSA: So you have no clue
why they're calling her to testify?
Uh, San Antonio to New York City
is a pretty pricy plane ticket.
There's got to be a reason
that they're willing
to go to so much trouble.
I'm sorry. I don't know who she is.
Well, I guess we will
all find out tomorrow.
[BRAKES SQUEAKING]
We making a stop?
I asked Benny to join us.
He's gonna sit with me in the gallery.
I need an extra set of eyes and ears.
[GRUNTS]
Morning, fellas.
Well, isn't this a nice surprise?
I was just reading about
you in the newspaper here.
At least I think it's you.
The way they spelled
your name made it sound
like you're a part of
somebody's digestive system.
"Benny Colon."
[LAUGHS]
Seriously, man, congratulations.
You got my vote.
Yeah, that's just 'cause
you want your old office back.
So you made the announcement last night?
Not me, personally, but yeah.
It's finally out there.
I think they were afraid
if they didn't announce it soon,
- I was going to change my mind.
- [GAVEL BANGS]
GROSSMAN: Dr. Collier,
the defendant, Dr. Kinsey,
in her deposition, claims
that she successfully deployed
a REBOA for over one hour
in a Colonel Mark Winston during
her service in Afghanistan.
Now, you were part of the
treatment team at Landstuhl
- for that same soldier, correct?
- Correct.
Can you tell us about
Colonel Winston's injuries?
Winston's unit was hit with
an improvised expl*sive device
in Afghanistan.
He suffered massive abdominal wounds
and had to be transferred to
the Kandahar base for surgery,
and then to us in Landstuhl
for further treatment.
He survived the transports,
but died in our care
eight days later.
Oh, no...
GROSSMAN: Were his wounds
just too severe?
His wounds were very severe.
But that's not what k*lled him.
Well, then, what did?
Well, as you mentioned, the medical team
who performed the initial
transport in Afghanistan,
the one supervised by Dr. Kinsey,
used a REBOA to keep the colonel
from hemorrhaging during flight.
Unfortunately,
the transport took an hour,
and that's a long time to
cut off someone's blood supply.
So you're saying it was the REBOA
that led to Colonel Winston's death?
Essentially, yes.
The REBOA pretty much k*lled his legs,
and Winston ultimately died of sepsis.
GROSSMAN: But this didn't happen
in the case of Ryan Watkins, did it?
Same cause, different complication.
In Mr. Watkins' case,
it wasn't his legs,
but the end result was the same.
So, in your professional
opinion, was it reasonable
for Dr. Kinsey to assume that
she could successfully deploy
a REBOA for such
a lengthy period of time
in either Colonel Winston or,
for that matter,
in the case of Ryan Watkins?
No.
You just can't keep it in
that long and expect it to work.
GROSSMAN: No further questions.
Your witness, Mr. Palmer.
Ask the judge for a short recess.
I think the two of us
should confer with Benny.
I got this.
Okay, I just listened
to your testimony, Dr. Collier,
and I have to tell you
I'm a little confused.
Let me see if I can't help you, then.
CHUNK: Great. So,
let's start back at the beginning.
A patient like Colonel Winston,
all these abdominal wounds...
There any way he's gonna survive
a -minute transport
without some sort of hemorrhage control?
- No.
- And without some sort
of hemorrhage control,
how quickly is someone
in the colonel's condition
likely to bleed out? minutes?
minutes?
Would he have even lasted five minutes?
Less than five minutes.
CHUNK: So the options were either
let the patient die on the helicopter,
or deploy this REBOA
and get him to a facility
where he could be treated
and possibly saved?
Isn't that correct?
- Basically, yes.
- So the REBOA
bought him time.
In fact, it bought him
eight days, didn't it?
Because had it not been used,
he would have died on day one.
Isn't that correct?
Yes, that would be correct.
So let me ask you a question.
During the time that you were
treating the colonel in Landstuhl,
did his family come to see him?
His wife, his son?
Yes, I believe they did.
So the REBOA, the dreaded REBOA,
actually allowed the colonel
to have eight more days
to spend with his family
and to say goodbye to them?
Isn't that correct?
Yes.
I suppose it did.
Sounds like Dr. Kinsey
- made the right choice to me.
- GROSSMAN: Objection!
Counsel is testifying.
RAND: Objection sustained.
The jury will ignore
counsel's last question.
I do apologize, Your Honor.
No further questions.
Gosh, I knew him when he used to
tell clients what color shirts
to wear to their depositions.
Very impressive cross-examination,
Chunk.
Thank you.
I'm glad you think so, Counselor.
Mr. Palmer, the next time I tell
you to ask for a short recess,
ask for a short recess.
Bull, the man did great.
And then we will go out into the hall,
you will share your thoughts,
I will share my thoughts,
and Mr. Colón, who is not yet
the city's D.A.,
will offer his point of view,
and then I will decide
what we are going to do.
Do we all understand each other?
Well, I understand what you're saying,
but I don't know why you're saying it.
Because you got lucky, Chunk.
We walked into court today
knowing very little
about that doctor.
We didn't even know why
she was testifying.
She could have just as easily
answered your question
that it was her medical skill
that kept that man alive
for eight days,
and it would have been
had our client not used a REBOA.
But she didn't say any of that, did she?
Don't confuse luck with skill.
I'm not confused.
I took a shot and it paid off.
Well, we don't take sh*ts
with other people's lives
and livelihoods,
and we don't ask questions
we don't know the answers to.
And we certainly don't
ignore the opportunity
to compare notes with two people
whose combined experience
equals almost as much time
as you've been on the planet.
He's running for office,
you're going rogue.
Believe me, I'd go to court
and ask the questions myself if I could.
[SCOFFS]
Sorry. Sorry, sorry.
I couldn't get a cab.
I ended up taking the subway.
And forgive me, I never got a chance
to tell you how impressive
you were yesterday,
cross-examining that doctor
from San Antonio.
Thank you. Just got lucky.
KINSEY: Whatever. It worked.
So, what does today hold?
That's what we're here to ask you.
The first witness up today
is Nurse Darna Bautista.
Now, she worked with you
the night that Mr. Watkins died.
Any idea what she's gonna say?
[SCOFFS]
That I'm a b*tch.
She idolizes Dr. Park.
When I said I wasn't gonna do things
in exactly the way...
in exactly the order
that Dr. Park indicated,
she looked like she was
gonna have a stroke.
When you say she idolizes Dr. Park,
what does that mean?
They were friends? Lovers?
No, I don't think so.
I just know she thinks
he walks on water.
Nurse Bautista,
you were one of the ER nurses
working at Mercy
the evening of the sh**ting?
Yes, I was.
I was providing care for Ryan Watkins.
First under the supervision of Dr. Park,
and then under the supervision
of Dr. Kinsey.
And did you have occasion
to tell Dr. Kinsey
anything about her patient?
I did.
I'm guessing you're talking
about normal medical information
that a doctor might
expect a nurse to provide.
Yes.
But I also shared
something else with her.
Something I shouldn't have shared.
Something that wasn't true,
although I didn't know it at the time.
What did she say to you?
I honestly don't know.
Nothing beyond the usual.
GROSSMAN: And what was that?
You have to understand,
it was chaos that night.
There was all kinds of
misinformation flying around.
At one point we heard
there were three gunmen.
At another point, somebody wrote a tweet
that the sh**ting was
a t*rror1st operation.
We understand how stressful
this situation
must have been for you, Ms. Bautista,
but what is it you said to Dr. Kinsey?
When EMS brought in Mr. Watkins
into the ER that night...
I was led to believe that he,
um, Mr. Watkins...
was the sh**t.
And you shared that with Dr. Kinsey?
Yes, I did.
Obviously, I don't know if that
had anything to do
with Dr. Kinsey's decision,
but I know it would have affected me
if I had been in her shoes.
Objection. The witness is speculating,
offering her opinion.
Sustained. Jury will ignore.
GROSSMAN: So, Nurse Bautista,
in a situation like this,
is it a doctor's job to determine
whose life is more valuable,
who deserves to be saved?
Your Honor, opposing counsel is
soliciting the witness's opinion
using different phrasing.
Sustained. Ms. Grossman,
the ice is paper-thin
where you're standing.
You understand me?
I do, Your Honor,
and I withdraw the question.
No further questions.
I promise you, I have no
recollection of anyone saying
that any of the people
we were trying to save
that night might have been the sh**t.
I know, I know.
Ask for a short recess.
Okay, we basically have two choices.
We can go back in there and say we have
no more questions for the nurse
and start our case by
putting on Dr. Kinsey.
That's a horrible choice.
Or we go back in there and
say we have no questions
for the nurse and rest our case as well,
and stake everything
on closing arguments.
Oh, my God, so we're just... giving up?
With all due respect, Dr. Bull,
but why wouldn't you want me
to go back in there
and grill that nurse?
Get her to admit that
she never said those things.
And how are you gonna do that?
How are you going to prove
someone didn't say something?
How are you gonna prove a negative?
It's just gonna be
her word against ours,
and no one is accusing her of
having allowed someone to die.
But we can't let that jury think that
what that nurse said is the truth.
That's why we're gonna put
Dr. Kinsey on the stand.
You can deny having heard it.
And, yes, it will still be your
word against the nurse's,
but at least we will have
answered the accusation.
It will be on the record.
And then we will get you off the stand
as quickly as possible and
move on to closing arguments.
So, wait, there are no other witnesses?
What about the people
I saved that night?
- Their family members.
- BULL: No.
The second we swear them in,
opposing counsel will challenge
on the basis of relevance,
and we will lose.
Because your ability to help them
isn't relevant to the question
of whether you were reckless
in your treatment of Mr. Watkins.
I'm sorry, it just isn't.
CHUNK: Dr. Kinsey,
do you recall Nurse Bautista telling you
that Ryan Watkins, the man whose
life you were trying to save,
was in fact the man who k*lled people
at the "We Are All from
Somewhere Else" demonstration?
No. I have no recollection
of that. None.
And for what it's worth,
had she told me,
it would have made no difference
in my decision-making
with regard to Mr. Watkins'
care that night.
It's my job to help people,
not to judge them.
So tell us, why'd you do what you did?
Why'd you defy your superior
and decide to work
on someone else first?
Once Dr. Park left
and I had a chance to examine
Mr. Watkins for myself,
I realized, he was really far gone.
The likelihood of us saving him
that night in the OR was slim at best.
It was also clear to me
that whatever we did,
it was going to take hours.
So when I saw that young woman,
and realized with about a half an hour
I could get her to a place
where she could pull through...
I... I had no choice.
And what did Dr. Park say
later on that night
when he found out that
Mr. Watkins didn't make it?
I actually didn't see Dr. Park
the rest of the night.
I mean, there were literally
hundreds of people
seeking treatment;
I was pretty much on my own.
So working on your own,
without any supervision,
how many people did you
personally save that night?
I... I'm not really sure
how you would define "saved."
How many people would have died
that night
without you having treated them?
At least five that I'm aware of.
CHUNK: Five.
No further questions, Your Honor.
RAND: Very well.
Does the plaintiff have
any questions for the witness?
I do, Your Honor.
Just one.
So...
you believe that you
saved five lives that night?
And how many do you believe you lost?
CHUNK: Objection!
Asked and answered.
Never mind. I withdraw the question.
On August th, as hundreds of people
prepared to defy the COVID virus
and stage a mass protest
of our government's
policies towards people
born in other countries
who dream of better lives in America...
I think you're gonna turn the jury off.
These images are so disturbing,
I can't even hear what Chunk is saying.
CHUNK: ...on these shores... Chunk.
Marissa is worried that
the images are too violent,
that they're gonna turn the jury off.
Well, I disagree.
The more graphic, the more
in your face, the better.
See, you're trying to
make the jury understand
what it must have been
like for Dr. Kinsey,
standing in the middle of all that,
trying to save as many lives
as possible.
Do you do what you're told
or do you do what you know is right?
- I second that.
- Yeah, but you're ex-law enforcement.
You've seen a lot of blood and guts
in your life. I mean, we've got
a nursery school teacher
on the jury. A seminary student...
Wait a minute.
[CLEARS THROAT]
Taylor, back it up about seconds.
Okay, okay. Stop it right there.
Isn't this the guy who
testified against our client?
Told our client to operate
on Ryan Watkins first?
Her direct superior?
Yeah, that's him. That's Dr. Park.
Watch what he does. Unfreeze it, Taylor.
BULL: Oh, freeze that.
Weird thing to do. Especially
in the middle of COVID.
He knows her.
CHUNK: : in the evening.
About ten minutes
after Dr. Kinsey arrived.
And this is the patient that
Dr. Park took to the OR
when he told Dr. Kinsey
to take care of Ryan.
DANNY: Okay. I'm-I'm lost.
That's two of us.
What are you guys getting at?
Well, we always said this was
a case about lifeboat ethics,
we just didn't know there was
a whole other boat involved.
[SCOFFS]
Between now and tomorrow morning,
I need you to find out
everything that you can
about that woman on the gurney.
I'll be damned if I go back
into that courtroom
and ask a question I don't
already know the answer to.
Your Honor,
with your permission... I know
that we already rested our case...
But before we begin closing arguments,
the defense would like
to call one last witness.
Actually, we would like to recall
one last witness.
If Dr. Park could take the stand.
Dr. Park, I appreciate you
coming in last minute
to testify in court today.
Now, I have to be honest with you,
I need your help.
I've actually never served on a
medical malpractice case before.
And I'd be dishonest with
you if I told you that I had
any understanding
whatsoever of medical ethics.
How it all works.
What it means. Now, you,
as the head surgeon at Mercy Hospital,
this is something you know
a lot about, am I right?
Actually, I've written
a number of papers,
presided over a number of
seminars on the topic, yes.
CHUNK: So...
baseline question.
What happens when doctors
let their personal feelings
get in the way of treating a patient?
Well, all kinds of
bad things can happen.
Physicians have been known to freeze,
to second-guess themselves.
But I guess the biggest concern
you see and hear about
is doctors making bad calls
because they're not thinking clearly.
They're not thinking critically.
Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Park.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Oh.
Actually, just one last thing.
[SIGHS]
When they brought
Ryan Watkins in that night,
how many patients did they
bring in with him?
Including Ryan, three.
- He and two others.
- Okay.
So we know that you told Dr. Kinsey
to operate on Ryan Watkins first.
Now, that person she
actually chose to treat,
did she come in with Ryan?
Yes.
And what about the third?
Did we ever hear about
what happened to the third?
I took her up to the OR
for immediate surgery.
I see.
And-and what was the extent
of her injuries?
She had been shot in the shoulder.
CHUNK: And would you
say that her injuries were
more urgent than
the abdominal g*nsh*t wound
suffered by Ryan Watkins?
Or the hemopneumothorax
that Dr. Kinsey treated?
Dr. Park?
I need you to answer the question.
No. I would not say her injuries
were more urgent than those sustained
by the two patients you asked me about.
That's odd.
So if her injuries were
less than severe,
why did you decide
to operate on her first?
Dr. Park, did you know
the patient that you worked on?
Yes.
Personally?
Yes.
She's Nurse Bautista's
-year-old daughter.
My goddaughter.
So is that why you treated her first?
If you had not known that patient,
if you had not let this affect you,
who would you have taken up
to that operating room?
[VOICE BREAKING]: Ryan Watkins.
CHUNK: So if there was
an error in judgment that night,
it was not Dr. Kinsey's,
was it?
No. It was not.
[WHISPERS]: I told you he was
the right man for the job.
CHUNK: Can you stop all that racket?
Some of us are in the midst of
our own private euphorias
and you're ruining it with the
sound of all this manual labor.
Well, well, well.
- If it isn't Clarence Darrow.
- [CHUNK CHUCKLES]
Hey. Congratulations again.
You k*lled it today.
[LAUGHS] I did.
BENNY: Yeah.
What brings you out on this
cold and wintery night?
Couldn't sleep.
I'd close my eyes and I'd keep seeing
the jury handing down that verdict.
That look of satisfaction
and pride on Bull's face. [CHUCKLES]
The gratitude on Dr. Kinsey's.
I'm a grown man and it is
embarrassing to be this much
in love with what you do
for a living, you know?
Anyway, I, uh, I got out, took a walk.
Tried to clear my head.
Walked across the bridge
when suddenly I realized,
I might die of frostbite
and I'm in desperate need
of a clean bathroom.
Mention my name, you get a good seat.
I already did.
[LAUGHS]
You know, the other night in Bull's SUV?
I was ready to quit.
Mm. I figured.
I've been ready to quit
about a half a dozen times
over the years.
Really?
What stopped you?
I don't know.
I get one foot out the door,
and then I realize he was mostly right
about whatever it was he was
saying or talking about.
Plus, I think we make
each other smarter.
Better.
He's a really, really smart dude, Chunk.
And I don't think he would
want you around
if he didn't think
you were a smart dude, too.
Congratulations again, Chunk.
Now, if you'll excuse me,
I got to finish my interior decorating
so I can go home and get some sleep.
[EXHALES]