I remember it started with a "p" but I just wondered what it was and how serious it is for him to be taking that one, if anybody happens to know. My line of the week was when Mark said "It's Carter. Your mind just doesn't go there."

I think the direction they went with Carter this week (drug addiction instead of bipolar) is more believable & a better way to go. He has a family history of drug use (at least, with his cousin. I don't know if there were any others.) If they had done bipolar, that probably would have to be a permanent thing with his character. There was a story in our newspaper about a local doctor who was about to be indicted for many counts of prescription fraud, and the morning he was to appear in court, one of the other doctors found him in his office and he had tried to overdose on some kind of medicine he had injected into himself. The last I heard he was in the hospital recovering. A sad story, but I think the whole thing of doctors abusing drugs is believable, since they would know exactly what kind to use and how to get it. (Not that all doctors do that, but I'm just saying!)

-- Melanie (msintn@hotmail.com), May 18, 2000

Answers

Fentanyl, a narcotic.

-- Chava (ChavaW68@aol.com), May 19, 2000.

It's been said that doctors and lawyers have the worst alcohol/drug addiction rates of all professional fields. Each time I read the Bar Journal I look at the "sanctions" section where attorneys who have drug and alcohol problems are sanctioned or disbarred and it's amazing how many there are.

HMO's are full of "recovering" physicians. I think HMOs seek them out because they are cheap (because they're seen on the outside as damaged goods or as a problem).

I'm just grateful that they are trying to keep Carter's problem as "unofficial" as possible because it would be a black mark on what would otherwise be a brilliant career.

BTW, I'm not advocating that doctors or attorneys are "damaged goods" if they've had an addiction - I'm married to a recovering alcoholic/prescription drug addict (12 yrs sober), so I'm the last one to make that distinction. However, there are many in both fields who wouldn't touch a recovering doctor or attorney with the proverbial ten-foot pole.

-- Laura (llivingston@fulbright.com), May 19, 2000.

I might have misunderstood, but did Carter take 1/4 of the shot that was intended for the patient? Was that before he kicked him? I'll have to go back and look but if he did, then would that have been the reason the guy was still able to feel such pain? Though I understand that Carter was involved in his addiction, I found it sad that the patient did not (or might not have) received all the medication he should have. Just wondering if anyone caught this and knew. I also found it interesting that if some medicine (narcotics, I assume) are discarded, there is supposed to be a witness. There are a lot of precautions in the hospital designed to make it difficult to get drugs and yet doctors and nurses do everyday.

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), May 19, 2000.

Diana, actually, I remember hearing Carter telling Haleh to give a little more of something to the patient, but that wasn't what he took, was it? They were both calling out what and how much they were giving. Anways, I guess that's not a good answer, but I don't *think* he would not give the patient enough drugs.

The thing that got to me was when Carter was injecting the needle...I don't know anything about these things, but I was actually afraid that since Abby came in, Carter freaked out and, while trying to hide what he was doing, kept it inserted in his wrist too long with drugs. I know that he could stop the flow of the drugs, but maybe he was freaking out too much. I thought he would OD or something!

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 19, 2000.

I also hope he wouldn't do that, Elaine, but I know that addicts will do almost anything for their drug of choice and thought he might rationalize that he gave him 3/4 of it (150 mm or something like that out of 200) or maybe he ordered/drew too much so there'd be "left overs." I know a guy (he's in recovery) who now admits that he used to drink people's perfume/aftershave when he went to their bathrooms if he really needed a drink. Yuck, huh! I'm still a bit confused by that scene and want to watch it again to see if I get any clarity.

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), May 19, 2000.

i think the way nurses do it, is they draw up the drug, and dont give all of it to the patient. another way is to draw up the drug, then draw up some normal saline, and give the saline to the patient, and pocket the med, hell they can even take the syringe home and use it later!

-- ALexis Springer (lexicat1@webtv.net), May 20, 2000.

Did Carter use the same syringe and needle on himself that had been injected in the patient? I know he put it in his pocket and used it later, but is there a way to change the needle so there is no contamination? If he used the same needle, it speaks volumes about how desperate he was, risking infection and blood borne diseases just to control his pain or to get his fix. Ouch, poor Carter.

-- Annie (GoldenLaur@aol.com), May 20, 2000.

Carter drew up 200 (CCs?) and then announced he was giving the patient 150. He stopped (supposedly) because the nurses were also giving the patient another type of painkliller, then pocketed the extra 50. The inplication is no one would have ever noticed if they didn't know to check up on him.

-- joy (joygirl01@yahoo.com), May 20, 2000.

Yeah, Carter used the leftovers. Remember when Mark and Kerry confronted him the first time he was asked what happened to the rest of the stuff and he said he must have wasted it down the sink? Eww, that's nasty!

Another thing, this is about Abby. I've already made a comment that Abby finally did something right about reporting what she saw. But here's two things that she did wrong, one of which turned out to be the blessing in disguise.

I watched the ep again (and again, and again!)and during the punting scene I noticed this: The reason Carter got punted across the trauma room was because the hip was not going in right, which would have been agonizing for the patient. Reason? Abby wasn't pushing down hard enough on the guys pelvis for Carter to snap his hip back into place.

The other thing she did wrong was leave the chart in the room which necessitated her going back in to the trauma room, thereby catching Carter in the act. A blessing in disguise.

-- S. Trelles (trelles@ix.netcom.com), May 20, 2000.

Regarding Carter using the same needle as was injected into the patient, there are two different scenarios. I'm not sure of the scene, I missed it but I think Carter injected it into his vein, right?? This would be an IV push med. This may have been given through a saline lock, in which case the needle would have never touched the patient. Saline locks are frequently placed in the ER to prevent repeated sticking of the veins. If it was injected directly into the patients vein, changing the needle would be a two second job with easily obtained supplies, and I would assume that even the most desparate doctor would do that if possible.

-- anonymous (no1girl@hotmail.com), May 20, 2000.

I think the point was that the syring had been used to inject into the IV bag/another line...I'm no medic so I don't really know. I don't want to think that he'd be so desperate he'd inject with a dirty needle.

-- Rosie (happymoron@hotmail.com), June 18, 2000.