CHICAGO HOPE: MISSED CONCEPTION (TV)
Summary
One in this series of medical dramas about the personal and professional lives of the staff of the state-of-the-art Chicago Hope Hospital and the ethical dilemmas they face.
In this episode, Hancock helps Professor Marina Giannini prepare for her next round of IVF, while elsewhere Tommy Wilmette informs Watters that he is reclaiming control of the hospital, as they have spent far too much time on "outrageous specialty care." Bone cancer patient Phyllis Church is caught smoking marijuana in her room, and the doctors argue amongst themselves about the efficacy and legality of medicinal pot. Grad tries to suggest more traditional methods, but Phyllis begs her for a "refill." Shutt's pal Dr. David Stockton, who reveals that his wife Ellie, Shutt's ex, has finally left him, learns that his glioblastoma has worsened, leaving him with weeks to live. Marina reunites with close friend Austin and goddaughter Sara, and Austin cautions her that having a child will not "fix things" in her life, including her seemingly tenuous relationship with her husband, Graham, who already has children from another marriage. Shutt requests to try a last-resort gene therapy on Stockton, but Wilmette, aware that the hospital will foot the bill until potential federal grants come arrive, refuses.
Grad points out hard-drinking Kronk's hypocrisy in his disapproval of marijuana, and Graham finally makes a belated appearance as Marina prepares for the time-sensitive procedure. Shutt decides to ignore Wilmette and go ahead with the gene therapy, prompting Wilmette to suspend his OR privileges. Shutt retorts that it is Wilmette, not the groundbreaking doctors, who is "expendable." Wilkes is suspicious when Grad asks for help in scoring pot for Phyllis. Wilmette talks to Stockton, explaining that he does not want to give him a "false sense of hope," as he witnessed with his own parents during his brother's decline and death from leukemia. When Watters confronts him, he demands to know what Chicago Hope "wants to be." Graham finally admits to Marina that the fertility process has been "too difficult on them," and Stockton experiences a hemorrhage and slips into a coma from which he is unlikely to awaken.
Marina sadly admits to Austin that her husband never truly wanted another child, and Austin urges her to consider adopting on her own. Shutt suggests to Watters that they buy the hospital themselves, and get rid of Wilmette in order to run things their way. McNeil has a change of heart and provides Phyllis with her much-needed relief, though a bit of it is sent to Watters as well. Shutt learns from a nurse that Stockton's last words were, naturally, a corny joke, and Austin tries to explain the complicated matter of maternity and personal choice to a curious Sara. Elsewhere, Grad tells Marina about her own adoption and happy life with her parents, and Marina considers her own plans for motherhood. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 30, 1999 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:46:06
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 119586
- GENRE: Drama, medical
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, medical; Cancer; Fertility, human
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1994-2000
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- John Tinker … Executive Producer
- Bill D'Elia … Co-Executive Producer
- James C. Hart … Supervising Producer
- John Heath … Producer
- Rob Corn … Producer
- Dawn Prestwich … Producer
- Nicole Yorkin … Producer
- Tim Kring … Producer
- Dean White … Associate Producer
- Michael Pressman … Director
- Marcelle Clements … Writer
- David E. Kelley … Created by
- Jeff Rona … Music by
- Mark Isham … Theme Music by
- Christine Lahti … Cast, Dr. Kathryn "Kate" Austin
- Adam Arkin … Cast, Dr. Aaron Shutt
- Peter Berg … Cast, Dr. Billy Kronk
- Thomas Gibson … Cast, Dr. Daniel Nyland
- Vondie Curtis-Hall … Cast, Dr. Dennis Hancock
- Jayne Brook … Cast, Dr. Diane Grad
- Rocky Carroll … Cast, Dr. Keith Wilkes
- Mark Harmon … Cast, Dr. Jack McNeil
- Hector Elizondo … Cast, Dr. Phillip Watters
- Ron Silver … Cast, Tommy Wilmette
- Sam McMurray … Cast, Dr. David Stockton
- Jessica Harper … Cast, Phyllis Church
- Mae Whitman … Cast, Sara Wilmette
- Harley Venton … Cast, Graham Beckwith
- Dawn Landon … Cast, Trish Adams R.N.
- Isabelle Rossellini … Cast, Professor Marina Giannini
- Julio Dolce Vita … Cast, Nurse Neil Marcus
- Monique Edwards … Cast, Nurse Laurel Canyon
- Ellen Bry … Cast, O.B. Nurse