Darrien McCurdy

Darrien McCurdy is an ex-convict who served time with Thirteen when Thirteen was in prison. She acted as Thirteen's mentor and protector. She comes to Thirteen for help when she is stabbed in the episode After Hours. She was portrayed by actress Amy Landecker.
==Medical History==
Darrien has a long history of substance abuse and has hepatitis C. She is on interferon.
==Case History==
Darrien was stabbed by her boyfriend when the police raided a crack house in an attempt to distract the police. Instead, the police called an ambulance for Darrien and chased after the boyfriend. Darrien, who was on parole, feared being sent back to jail and instead left the scene, stole a car, and made her way to the apartment of Dr. Hadley, whom she had met when they were both in prison.
Dr. Hadley wanted to take Darrien to a hospital for treatment, but Darrien just wanted sutures to close the wound. However, Dr. Hadley told her that the damage was more serious than that. Darrien refused to got to the hospital because if the police found her there she would surely be sent back to prison. Dr. Hadley reminded her that she would most likely go to jail herself if the police found Darrien in her apartment, and would most likely face manslaughter charges if Darrien died. Darrien went to leave, but Dr. Hadley told her she would bleed to death if she tried to go somewhere else. Darrien agreed to stay if Dr. Hadley agreed not to take her to hospital. Dr. Hadley agreed.
Dr. Hadley examined the wound, but could do nothing for Darrien’s pain. Luckily, the knife had not pierced the small intestine or damaged the superior vena cava. The wound appeared to be clotting properly and the bleeding was diminishing. There did not appear to be any sign of internal bleeding. She took Darrien’s blood pressure and planned on doing so every two minutes. If the high reading dropped below 90, it would most likely mean there was internal bleeding. Darrien admitted that she had started using drugs again. Dr. Hadley took her blood pressure again, but there was no reading at all. She barely had a pulse. However, Darien was breathing normally and responsive. When Dr. Hadley took the blood pressure again on Darrien’s right arm instead of the left as usual, it was normal, as was her pulse. Dr. Hadley realized something was preventing blood from reaching Darrien’s left side.
Dr. Hadley called Dr. Chase on the pretext she needed a portable ultrasound machine to check her plumbing. Dr. Chase agreed and soon arrived with the portable machine. However, he noticed Dr. Hadley wasn’t wet and realized that she wanted the ultrasound for a medical purpose. He offered to help.
Dr. Hadley did the ultrasound to look for an aortic arch aneurysm. She warned Dr. Chase to use gloves because of the danger of infection with hepatitis. Dr. Chase noted her left hand fingers were cyanotic. He asked her to move them, but Darrien complained they felt numb. Dr. Hadley found the aortic arch was clear, ruling out an aneurysm. Dr. Chase thought it might be her axillary arteries and did an ultrasound under Darrien’s left arm. They found a gooey mass about 5cm across. It wasn’t a clot, so Dr. Hadley suggested a lipoma. It may have swollen when she lost blood. Dr. Hadley took a syringe to draw some if it out. However, the contents of the syringe were bloody. Dr. Hadley drew out five syringes full before circulation was restored to the left arm. Dr. Chase reminded her they had no idea what had caused the problem. Dr. Hadley said it couldn’t be drugs because there was no kidney failure or heart involvement. Dr. Chase suggested a complication of the hepatitis - partial liver failure, but Dr. Hadley noted that if that were the case, her whole body would be swollen, not just her arm. Dr. Chase wanted to do an environmental scan, but Dr. Hadley told him that was too dangerous. Dr. Hadley told him it couldn’t be a toxin or virus because the problem only presented after the stabbing. She surmised that her body ran out of clotting factors dealing with the stab wound and all she needed was more clotting factor. Dr. Chase agreed it was a possibility - it explained the bloody mass. However, if that were the case, Darrien could start bleeding anywhere, including her brain. He wanted to get her to the hospital, but Darrien refused. Dr. Hadley reminded Dr. Chase that all the hospital would do was put her in a bed with intravenous clotting factor. She wanted to treat Darrien on site. She went to call in an order to the pharmacy and asked Dr. Chase to go and pick it up.
Dr. Hadley got Darrien into bed. She asked Darrien about her return to drug use, but Darrien refused to discuss it.
Darrien fell asleep, but then started to have a hallucination. Dr. Hadley heard Darrien warn someone to put the gun down. When she reached Darrien, Darrien was crying and saying “I’m sorry” over and over again.
Dr. Chase returned and Dr. Hadley told him about the hallucination. She wanted to send Dr. Chase back for more clotting factor, but Dr. Chase was adamant that given the brain involvement, Darrien needed a CT Scan to locate the bleeding and a burr hole to relieve the pressure if she had any chance of surviving. After a short altercation, Dr. Chase subdued Dr. Hadley, who tried to keep him from removing Darrien. He picked her up and took her to his car, and Dr. Hadley followed.
Darrien was resigned to being arrested, but Dr. Chase planned to find a dying patient and run tests under that other name so no-one would know Darrien had ever been in the hospital. Dr. Hadley made sure Darrien stayed conscious. As they talked, they found out Darrien had been a police officer. She had hid it from Dr. Hadley and everyone else in prison. Her problems with drugs started after she shot a 19-year-old boy who had threatened her with a gun. However, Darrien soon lost consciousness. Dr. Chase started driving faster.
Dr. Chase and Dr. Hadley did the CT Scan while they discussed the ethics of what Dr. Hadley tried to do. However, they found no sign of bleeding in the brain. However, they realized she was shivering and had developed a fever. Dr. Hadley realized she could not have developed a fever from an infection so quickly and it still had to be related to the stabbing.
Darrien was in a coma. Dr. Hadley called Dr. House, who agreed to help. Dr. Hadley told him she was on interferon and likely had hepatitis C for at least ten years given prison treatment protocols. He suggested kidney cancer, throwing clots, but her urinalysis was normal. After hearing the patient’s history, Dr. House suggested they find out when the patient had shot the teenager - he didn’t think she had developed hepatitis that long ago.
Dr. Hadley searched the news databases. She finally found an entry from 2008 with the same first name but a different last name. Dr. Hadley realized that Darrien never told her how long she had been in jail. However, the prison would not have given her interferon unless the hepatitis C was chronic, and that takes more than three years. Dr. Hadley realized that hepatitis C would make her susceptible to parasites and a parasite would speed up liver damage, making her hepatitis C look like the cause. Dr. Chase realized the stab wound could have ruptured a parasitoma, letting the parasites into the bloodstream. Darrien only needed metronidazole for a few hours.
Dr. Chase administered the mitronitozol, and Darrien improved rapidly and soon came out of her coma. Dr. Hadley explained what had happened to her. However, the police had found her and she was handcuffed to the gurney.
Character page at IMDB
Category:Females
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Category:Characters
Category:Season 7
Category:Minor characters