Doctor John Episode 9-10 Recap
It is a bright sunny day as Si Young is rock climbing with her father. As she fastens her climbing rope to the carabiner, her father talks about the intern interviews that took place the previous day. She asks him why do ask interns ‘why they choose to be doctors?’ despite knowing they will get cheesy answers. He says everyone gives the same answer that ‘they want to save lives’. She says it is true but they can’t save all patients. He says there is a way for doctors to save lives all the time and he will tell her once they reach the top.
Her father climbs a little and as he fastens his carabiner, the bolt comes off and he falls. Si Young shrieks as he hits the rocks below. She rushes down to search for him and slips, as the hill is very steep. She holds a branch to stop the fall and finds her father lying nearby motionless by the trees.
She runs over to him and turns him over. He groans in pain as he has a severe wound in his abdomen. As he starts bleeding, she presses down on the wound and he screams in pain. She holds a towel down on his wound. She is frantic as she picks up her phone to call for help. She finds out that her phone has broken when she fell and she acts as if she is placing a call. Seeing that he is still losing blood she removes her jacket and places it on top of his wound. She asks him to remain conscious as help is on the way.
As evening falls, she covers him up with another layer of clothing. She tries to move her father as it starts snowing but he requests her to stop. She doesn’t agree but he says help is on the way and they should wait here. She tells him that no one is coming as her phone is broken and she couldn’t call for help.
She cries as she says she thought someone would pass by and help them. He goes still as she tries to move him. She is worried as she calls out his name and notices tears trickling down his eyes. He says it hurts.
Just then, news comes through the radio that a search operation is on for a missing person in mount Sumon. She realises that her mother must have reported them missing. The news says that due to a blizzard, the police have stopped the search for the time being.
Her father starts to shiver in the cold, as the snowfall becomes heavier. He learns from Si Young that its 6:20 p.m. He says he won’t be able to last another hour like this but it is 12 hours to morning. He says he will suffer from hypothermia and shock.
He tells her to explain his state using a Visual Analog Scale (Pain Measurement Scale). She cries as she lists compound fractures, pelvic fracture, massive bleeding and hypothermia. She calculates VAS to be 8. Then she says 9. She cries harder as she says 10. He says she is right according to how she was taught but he says it is incorrect. He says the moment you feel most pain is when you realise you won’t get better and lose hope.
He asks her to remove her hand and she cries asking him not to say that. He tells her that she is not killing him but making him feel at ease and she starts sobbing. He tells her that he will now tell her how a doctor can save lives always.
He says they have to only take care of patients who won’t die. He says that is the only way. He asks her to let go of his hand and tries to push her hand away. She continues to cry as this time she allows him to move her hand away. She cries out his name as he loses consciousness. She starts crying harder as she hears the helicopter .
At present, Si Young sees tears trickle down her father’s eyes and she asks her mother to stop giving him the chest compressions. She says her father is in pain. Her mother stops it.
Mi Rae rushes in and starts giving chest compressions. She slaps Si Young’s hand away as she tries to stop Mi Rae. Everyone is surprised as she gets the pulse back. They plug the ventilator back in.
Mi Rae slaps Si Young and everyone is shocked. She asks why Si Young asked them to stop. She asks if once was not enough and that now Si Young is trying to kill their father once again.
Yo han walks out of the room and the other doctors follow. He overhears other doctors discuss that they should have stopped the life-prolonging treatment a long time ago. They say they had to consider his inheritance and succession so they aren’t doing it. They wonder if the board should discuss it.
Back in the father’s room, Yi-Moon tells Si Young off for what she did. Chief Min closes her eyes and stands silently. Joo Kyung says that though her dad is in pain they can still detect brain activity so he isn’t brain dead. Chief Min says that the chances of him recovering is also very low. Mi Rae is shocked as she asks if Min suggests removing the ventilator. Mi Rae says she won’t allow it and starts yelling at SI Young again.
Si Young says he didn’t get better but Mi Rae says she doesn’t care. She says she wants him by her side even if he is bedridden. She asks if his hands that are still warm mean nothing. Si Young says that their father feels everything, including the pain. She says they are prolonging his pain and not his life. Mi Rae points out that Si Young will struggle more if their father wakes up at this stage and can’t live a normal life. She says Si Young is saying this to make herself feel at ease. She walks out saying she won’t give up on him.
Later, Dr Kwon Suk tells Yi Moon that others have started questioning the life-prolonging treatment of the Chairman Kang Yi-Soo (Si-Young’s father). Yi Moon says that if Chief Min decides to end the medical treatment then legal issues would arise.
Si Young walks to the stairwell and notices her tied shoelaces. She remembers Yo han saying that some people think he shouldn’t be a doctor again.
In the flashback after tying her shoelace, he holds out his hand and she takes it slowly. He says he doesn’t care about those people, but he cares about the patients. He says he hopes she also thinks that way.
Si Young heads down the stairs.
(Episode 9 – 21 g, the weight of a soul)
Joo Kyung and Mi Rae are at the hospital’s cafe. She tells Mi Rae that Mi Rae is being emotional. She says Mi Rae isn’t angry at Si Young but is afraid to lose her father. Mi Rae doesn’t respond.
Back at the meeting room, the residents and Yoo Joon (who has bought coffee) try to cheer Si Oung up. Si Young smiles as she takes it but Mi Rae refuses as she goes back to her seat.
Privately, Lawyer Han tells Chief Min that the chairman’s case is complicated. It needs a full family’s approval and the ethics council will discuss what to do. He says a brainwave test will show that he isn’t brain dead. He says it’s not legal to remove the ventilator now. He says it will be called death with dignity (an end-of-life option that allows certain terminally ill people to voluntarily and legally request and receive prescription medication from their physician to hasten their death). She is quiet as he asks her if that’s what she wants to do.
It’s raining as Lawyer Han enters a restaurant. The news telecast is going on about a robbery and homicide accused, who hadn’t got the capital punishment. It says Prosecutor Son demanded that the robber get life imprisonment and not capital punishment. Lawyer Han stops at the mention of Son’s name. Prosecutor Son tells the reporters that Korea hasn’t executed anyone for the past 20 years. He says it will be a waste of the prosecutional power if he asks for the death penalty. When asked if crimes will increase because of this, he says that capital punishment is murder too. He says any action that takes away life is murder. He says he won’t respond to murder with murder.
Yo Han and Lawyer Han have a drink in a secluded part of the restaurant. Lawyer Han says that Son repeated the same words he said three years ago, except the part where he said euthanasia is the same thing as murder.
In a flashback, we see Yo Han’s trial. Son says that Cha Yo han had ended the meaningless life-prolonging treatment of the patient. He says that the constitution states that every citizen has a right to live but Yo han took away that right. He says Yo han cant claim to have protected a person’s dignity after killing the person. He is angry as he says a doctor’s duty is to save patients. He says a doctor who kills the patient and says he did his duty, shouldn’t exist even if it was due to malpractice, disease or euthanasia.
At present, they have dinner as Han says Prosecutor Son might be the reason behind the protest yesterday. The waitress serves the broth cold as Yo han asked. Han says Chief Min has asked for mercy killing (the chairman) and it’ll be a highly controversial issue.
Lawyer Han says that Prosecutor Son will interfere if this matter goes to court. He says Son had no medical knowledge at first, but he read up enough in two weeks to rival a med student. Han tells Yo Han that a mercy killing case involving his resident’s (Si Young) father would mean Son will try to stitch both up together. He says having met Si Young at the prison will add to it too.
Han warns Yo Han not to get dragged into it. He tells Yo Han to pretend he doesn’t know about the chairman’s condition and not give advice. Yo han puts down his spoon.
As they leave the restaurant, it is raining. Yo han walks with his umbrella, as his voiceover narrates that the day Seong Kyu died, an insect was stuck inside his office.
Meanwhile, we see a montage of Si Young in an office room with tears in her eyes. She notices an insect inside the room.
Yo Han’s voiceover continues that if it was any other day he would’ve killed the insect without a second thought, but he couldn’t kill it that day. He says he felt the weight of life in his hands.
Si Young goes through the SMS conversations (with her dad) and sees a picture with her father and herself at a restaurant. She runs her finger over her father’s image and rushes out. The insect flies out through the open window.
Yo han sits at a bench as his voiceover narrates that he wasn’t related to Seong Kyu (who was a killer). He says as he injected the lethal dose, he was afraid and his heart felt heavy.
Si Young doesn’t notice him as she runs past him. His voiceover continues to say that in Si Young’s case, it was her father and she had stopped his heart with her own hands.
Si Young runs into a restaurant and comes out of it after seeing that it isn’t the one in the picture. Yo han follows her as she continues to go in and out of the restaurants with her phone in her hand. She comes out of another restaurant with a defeated look.
She is surprised when she hears Yo Han’s voice asking if she is looking for a restaurant. He says he knows a place that closes late and asks to go there.
Si Young tells that she doesn’t remember the restaurant. She says her father and she used to eat somewhere around here after work sometimes. She says she can’t remember however hard she thinks.
He looks at the picture and she explains that it was the last place she had dinner with her dad. He offers to look around the place together.
As they walk together in his umbrella, he asks if her father drinks. She says he drank Soju. He comments that they must have been close. She says she ignored her father’s call to often eat with her friends. He watches her as she says she used to lie that she had already eaten. She says he used to keep asking her to eat and she used to say she felt full. Yo han eyebrows draw together, as he looks at her.
She stops in her tracks as they finally find the restaurant.
Si Young remembers her father asking her to eat and she refusing saying she doesn’t eat shrimp.
At present, Si-young starts crying as she tells Yo han that she should’ve enjoyed the meal. She says she would’ve enjoyed the meal if she had known it would be their last meal together.
Yo han suggests that they go in and eat. Seeing that she isn’t moving, he picks up her hand and wraps it over the umbrella and walks in. He stands inside and calls her in to eat. He says her dad wouldn’t want her to starve. He walks in and sits at the table with a smile. Si Young follows him and sits across the table.
The rain has stopped as they head out of the restaurant. She bows to him and says she enjoyed the meal. Yo Han says he did too. He says that if he were in her place, he would’ve gone to a place further than Madagascar and might not have returned. She says that is a huge compliment as it means she is far better than him.
He disagrees saying it is a compliment to himself as he is glad he prevented her from running away. Si Young smiles and he returns her smile.
The next day, as he is heading for work, Yoo Joon finds an elderly woman looking for the ICU. He escorts her.
Mi Rae enters the elevator and closes the door but Yoo Joon yells out for her to stop and gets in with the lady. The woman thanks him and gets off on the third floor along with the others. He tells her to eat well as she should take care of her health. Mi Rae and Yoo Joon are the only people in the elevator as the elevator door closes.
Yoo Joon asks how she managed to feed the cat on a rainy day. She says you have to place dry food in a plastic bag and the cat knows how to eat. He says he will feed the cat today if she doesn’t mind. She doesn’t reply.
As they enter the meeting room, Heo Joon runs in with huge news. He says Dr Cha Yo han is now a famed doctor. Si Young smiles as they see articles on Joo Hyung Wyu‘s (Mixed Martial Arts Fighter) interview saying he owes his hope for a future to Cha Yo Han. It mentions that Yo han cures cripples and heals the blind. They walk into the elevator as Heo Joon wonders how Yo han went from being Grim Reaper to Saviour in one day.
As the doors open to the floor, on which the pain management Center is on, they see a crowd of people. As they see the nurses standing behind the glass doors smiling nervously, the residents wonder if they should go home.
Heo Joon walks up to the crowd and they catch him thinking he is the doctor they are searching for. Yo Han and Yoo Joon walk down the stairs to see Heo Joon stuck with the crowd while the other residents slip into the Centre quietly.
Cha Yo Han understands what is happening and both Yoo Joon and he smile at each other and look away immediately. Yo Han continues to smile as Yoo Joon tries to keep his expression serious.
(Episode 10 – CRPS and CIPA)
Nurse Na is having a difficult time managing the crowd who seems to have self-diagnosed their illness. Yo Han smiles as he tells the residents and fellows to do preliminary exams.
He mentions that most of the patients are thinking that they have myasthenia gravis. He asks them to do a thorough check, as it is hard to diagnose. He tells them to transfer to neurology if required. and to sort patients by symptoms before briefing him.
Yo han asks Yoo Joon to prepare the operating room. He says patients would have failed to get the diagnosis at many hospitals before this. He states that there is no pain without cause but only pain with an unknown cause. Yoo Joon notes this down and Si Young smiles.
Heo Joon calls for a group cheer and Yo Han joins in.
As they get to work, Heo Joon has a patient (an elderly woman) who claims she has a pain scale of 10. He doesn’t believe her. He walks out after he hears a commotion in the hall.
Heo Joon finds a man who seems to be in a lot of pain, arguing with another patient. He says it hurts even if someone touches him. He tells Heo Joon that he has CRPS (chronic pain in a particular limb) and calls out for Yo Han.
Yo Han walks out asking who wanted to see him so urgently. He calmly tells the patient that they won’t be able to work if he screams. The man gets down on his knees and begs Yo han to either save him or kill him.
Yo Han bends and places his hand on the man’s shoulder when the man howls in pain yelling, “its CRPS!” Yo Han and the others jump back.
Just then, a woman comes in screaming along with her son who is bleeding heavily from his arm. Heo Joon tells her that the ER is upstairs. The boy removes the object from his wound and tells her that he is fine. The boy asks to go home but Yo han stops him.
He closely watches the boy who also has a scar on his face. The boy doesn’t complain of any pain and seems calm. Yo Han takes the boy’s hand and presses the wound hard but the boy still doesn’t complain of pain. He calls Yoo Joon and asks him to make the bed ready for the boy. He says he won’t send him to the ER, as he is their patient.
The residents watch in shock as Yo Han stitches up the deep cut without giving the boy anaesthetics. They notice that the boy isn’t complaining of pain. Yo han asks the boy if he did it to prove his illness.
The woman asks how Yo Han knows this and explains that the boy’s brother got beaten up. She says the boy asked the boys to beat him up since he felt no pain. She says he cut himself to prove it since they didn’t believe him. She tells the boy that Yo Han is a famous doctor and he may be able to treat the condition. The boy says he doesn’t want to get treated as the condition is incurable.
Yo Han asks them to check if the boy can sense temperature. He asks the residents to check for secondary symptoms due to Analgesia (inability to feel pain) and Anhidrosis (inability to sweat normally). Yoo Joon says that it is a 0.0000001 % probability but Yo han says he is sure of it. He says there was just one other case in Korea which was diagnosed with it.
Cha Yo Han says that the boy can get hurt and even rupture his organs but he won’t feel pain. He flatly says the boy is a Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA) (rare autosomal recessive disorder of the nervous system) patient.
Yo han splits the residents into teams. He tells Yoo Joon, Heo Joon, and Won Hee to check the symptoms of Lee Gi Seok, the possible CIPA patient. He puts Si Young and Mi Rae in charge of the man, Choi Sung Joon with a possibility of CRPS. They note that both diseases are the exact opposite.
Yo Han is silent and he doesn’t respond as he stares out the window. Heo Joon asks if it is true that the boy can have the legendary illness where the patient can’t sense pain or temperature. Si Young notices him as he holds his hand over his eyes and says that they will know after tests.
As he treats Ji Seok, Yo Han tells the boy that it is important not to catch infections. The boy says that a doctor told him that he is like a ticking time bomb that could blow up any minute as he won’t even know if his appendix bursts.
Yo Han asks if he wants to die and Ji Seok says he will anyways die before he turns 20. Yo Han says it depends upon the patient. The boy says he doesn’t want to live long as he can’t live a normal life. Yo Han has a grim look on his face as he asks for an ANI (checking pain level through ECG) and temperature sensing ability. He seems angry as he walks out.
Meanwhile Si Young and Mi Rae are trying to get a test done on Sung Joon (CRPS patient) who says he feels pain even if the wind blows. Si Young says they have to do the tests to find the cause. He asks them what will happen if they don’t find out the cause even after the painful tests. Mi Rae says that they will find the cause and treat it even if they have to do a surgery. He asks if they will help him die in peace if all the tests fail. Seeing them silent, he asks them why they turn away when a patient would rather die than feel pain. Si Young assures him that they won’t turn away from his pain. Mi Rae calls Si Young outside.
Once outside, she tells Si Young to stop responding to nonsense. Si-young says that Sung Joon is scared that he won’t recover and doesn’t want to die. Mi Rae asks her to focus on the symptoms rather than his emotions. She says empathising with patients is harmful.
Later, Heo Joon and Won Hee bring Gi Seok’s gurney into the room not knowing that Sung Joon’s exam isn’t over. Gi Seok tells Sung Joon that he doesn’t feel pain. They take Gi Seok out.
Mi Rae and Si Young are back to examine Sung Joon when he passes a diary to Si Young. It has a detailed record of his pains and when he got them. He asks if she can promise to read his diary until the end. She promises to do so
Later on, Si Young presents Sung Joon’s medical history. She says he had broken his arm a year ago and he had felt pain in his chest. He reported that he felt like a knife cut through his chest and a strong burn. She reports that the heart and lung tests are normal. She says Sung Joon doesn’t meet the criteria for CRPS. Yo Han asks for Sung Joon to be transferred to Neurology along with his diary. He praises everyone for their work and asks them to leave.
Si Young notices that Yo han has Si Geok’s medical record in his hand all the while.
Yo Han is in his office going through a book titled “Patients with CIPA who have died of Septicemia (blood poisoning due to bacteria)”. He leans against the bookcase and we see a flashback.
We see a montage of a needle being injected (by Yo Han) into a butterfly.
A child (Cha Yo Han) is reading, as his father walks in with a drink tray. He coughs blood and collapses on the floor. Yo Han runs to him. His father coughs and blood splatters on Yo Han’s face. His father is calm as he asks Yo Han to call 911.
As he calls 911 and informs them, the operator asks him where his father is hurting. Yo Han keeps asking them to hurry and says he doesn’t know where his dad is hurting. He yells into the phone saying that his dad doesn’t know where it hurts even if he asks.
At present Yo Han places the book on the table and connects a hard disk to his computer. He opens a folder titled “NO NAME”. It has numerous folders with dates on them (years). He sees an X-ray of a fractured wrist. There are also many X-rays, which show broken bones and the metal rods and screws holding the bones together.
He checks the file where he records his temperature and pulse rate and notes that he is running a slight fever for the past few days. He sits in his office as the X-rays run past in a slideshow.
Lee won Gil (Former Minister of Health and Welfare) listens to record player at his office/residence. Lee is in a wheelchair. Lawyer Han walks in and greets him and Lee says he has been waiting.
At the hospital, Si Young bumps into Prosecutor Son. He asks to see Cha Yo han and she leads him to the elevator.
Lawyer Han spots them from afar and tips off Yo Han through a phone call.
Si-young gets serious when Son gives her his business card. He says some people may not change in 3 years so he had asked for 10 years.
Meanwhile, Yo Han walks out of his room asking Han why Son was with Si Young. Han says he isn’t sure whether Son is here for Si Young or Yo Han. He calls doctors as double-edged swords as they can save lives and take them away.
Si Young asks why he is telling her all this. Son says he is familiar with Yo Han from three years ago. but she knows Cha Yo Han now as she is his trainee. He asks if he has changed over the three years.
Yo Han who is walking on the floor above spots the two by the elevator on the floor below him.
Son asks Si Young if Yo Han has attempted to repeat what he did three years ago. He asks if she would turn a blind eye or report it. If it’s neither, he asks if she would agree with Yo Han. Si Young stares at him wordlessly.
Just then, she receives a call from Yo Han. At the same time, Prosecutor Son also receives a call and he takes it. Si Young is shocked when he says into the phone, “It has been a while, Dr Cha.”
Cha Yo Han says, “It has been Prosecutor Cha. Are you here to see me?”
Prosecutor Son starts to speak but stops short and asks YoHan to repeat what he just said. He starts to look around while holding the call. Both of them spot YoHan watching them from the floor above.
Cha Yo Han says, “Step away right now… From my trainee”
Si Young watches as Yo Han looks at Son venomously.
Image Courtesy- SBS
Review
This episode was filled with crucial content concerning the plot.
The scene with Si Young’s father’s accident was well-made. The scene conveyed her traumatic experience without it seeming too lengthy.
Mi Rae’s reaction differing from Si Young might probably be because she wasn’t with her father during the incident and so Si Young understands the situation better. Mi Rae seems to be bent upon being a stark contrast to her sister and is also cold towards the patients.
Si Young’s relationship with her father was well portrayed in just a few lines as one can empathise with her. The scene with Si Young and Yo Han searching for the restaurant showed his comforting and supporting side and it was a good watch.
As before, the medical cases in this drama are well-made. The symptoms and diagnosis are explained crisply but not too rushed.
Pain is always considered as a bad thing by everyone, but this episode shows how important it is to feel pain and how dangerous a life without pain would be.
It looks like Yo Han stitching his wound without anaesthetics at the penitentiary, checking his vitals every day having cold food and tapping his finger till it turned black were subtle hints of his condition – Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis (inability to feel pain).
I’m guess the X-rays in the hard disk belong to Cha Yo Han.The CIPA patients don’t seem to live over 20 years of age but Yo Han’s father and Yo Han have crossed that age limit. It looks like he is handling it quite well up to now despite the multiple fractures. Yo Han’s past is distressing as he must have had a rough time growing up.
Ironically, Yo Han who doesn’t feel pain is the most sought after and respected doctor in the pain management field. He also seems to understand a patient’s pain well and the patient’s inability to feel pain even more.
I wonder if Prosecutor Son has figured out that Yo Han has CIPA disease (since his father had the same) and its impact on Cha Yo Han’s euthanasia case. It looks like Prosecutors Son has no other business other than coming after Cha Yo Han. Prosecutors are supposed to be extremely busy with cases and yet Son is spending most of his time on a person who has finished serving his term.
There are a lot of things going on now with one existing case, another possible one with the chairman’s mercy killing case and Yo Han’s illness. I hope the next episode is as interesting as this one.
– By Soul Sword-
Doctor John Episode 11-12 Recap
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