Did anyone else think it was odd that Benton told Luka that HE calls HIS patients for follow ups, so Luka should too. And I was thinking -okay, when have we ever seen Benton call any of his patients for a follow up? He's a surgeon! I can't even remember that many times when he would go visit one of his patients after a surgery.

It also contrasted with something Carol said in last night's TNT rerun. She was talking to Jeanie about the Schizophrenic guy, and she said "Well, we just have to treat em and street em!" Anyway, I thought Peter was being a bit of a jerk, especially since Luka said he *had* made an appointment for the man with the vascular doctor, and it's probably true that they can't always hold the patient's hand & make sure they go to their follow up appointments!

-- Melanie S. (msintn@hotmail.com), May 05, 2000

Answers

No kidding! Just when I was really starting to like Peter he pulls his holier than thou attitude. I read somwhere in a spoiler that he and Luka are going to clash again.

-- Lisa (lisayas@yahoo.com), May 05, 2000.

In any case, I really think "treat em and street 'em" is the nature of emergency medicine, regardless of whether. When I walk out of an emergency room I never expect to see anyone who treated me there ever again. I figure I'm lucky if they keep the records that I was ever there.

Proper care requires a partnership between patient and doctor. In an ongoing patient/doctor relationship, the doctor can play an ongoing, practive role in that partnership role. But emergency medicine, by its very nature, doesn't involve ongoing relationships. (Is that wrong? I'm not a medical professional, so please correct me if I'm off-base on the facts.)

Sometimes doctors on this show go way above and beyond the call of duty. Sometimes we generally approve, as in "The Good Fight." But other times we criticize them for it if we think they go beyond what's appropriate -- as Abby keeps doing and Corday sort of did yesterday. It's very subjective, and every doctor (or nurse)'s decision criteria for when or whether to go beyond just doing his/her job are different.

However, I think there was a major sub-text of cultural misunderstanding/miscommunication between Peter and Luka. Peter seems to be implying that he treats African-American men extra- aggressively because they're often not treated aggressively enough. That's fine, but it's unreasonable to expect every other doctor in the ER to use the same aggressive criteria as he does -- particularly doctors who did not grow up in the U.S. social context, and therefore possess a completely different set of social/racial paradigms.

-- Elizabeth (ebs42@yahoo.com), May 05, 2000.

I'm glad you posted this thread. I was bewildered by just what Peter Benton expected Luka to do. It seems that Luka did exactly what he should have -- referred the patient for follow-up care and made the appointment. Was he supposed to pick the guy up, drive him to the doctor and pack his lunch, too? Unless we're being set up for a conflict between Benton and Luka, this incident seemed kind of lame.

-- Chessie King (chessieking@hotmail.com), May 05, 2000.

I loved the way Luka held his own with Peter, just said his peace and walked away. Peter is used to having his way and bullying people. I liked seeing him be set straight. I too wondered what else Luka was supposed to do if he set up the appointment with the vascular doctor and the guy didn't go. I've never had an ER doctor set up an appmt for me or anyone I know, just make a referral, let alone make sure I went. That's the nature of their biz.

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), May 05, 2000.

I fell off the dang couch when I heard Benton say that the ER is more than emergency treatment! From the guy who used to tell Carter that he spends too much time with patients! From the guy who hung around the ER WAITING for surgical cases!

No way!

Mike, et al should choose that conversation for all it's irony as the "Line of the Week".

-- AmyE (roamyn@aol.com), May 05, 2000.