Vertigo

Season 2, Episode 14

Mario and Ethan risk their lives treating two brothers

**Vertigo** is the fourteenth episode of the second season and the 32nd overall episode of **Code Black**.

## Short Summary

After pulling a double shift, Mario risks his own life when he follows Willis to a construction site where two brothers are trapped on a crane 300 feet above the ground. Also, Leanne treats the wife of an orthopedist from Angels Memorial who is brought into the ER with mysterious injuries.

## Full Summary

Elliot prepares to lance a boil on a woman's neck while Angus tries to decode the text Kelly sent him. Angus misunderstood the emojis she used and sent a reply different from what he intended. Elliot steps in to help.

Will tells Ethan about a call that came in for a doctor on site. Mario says he's free as backup.

An ambulance brings in Emma Easton, who had pepper spray in her eyes from a "prank" at her school. The next victim, Olivia Jones, was trampled and has a broken leg.

Ethan and Mario arrive at the scene and learn that their patients are trapped on a crane. They're trapped by the same cable on opposite ends of the crane. They get on the elevator to go the 40 stories up to where the brothers are.

The doctors work on the pepper sprayed high schoolers. Angus sends Elliot to get him a can of soda. They have to reduce Olivia's leg in the ER using traction. Angus uses the soda to soothe the burn. Paramedics bring in the teacher, who has asthma and is having trouble breathing.

Ethan and Mario make their way to the brothers. They're hooked to the crane so they won't fall. They tend to Robbie first, and Robbie's worried about Jorge. When Ethan sees Mario struggling, he asks how many shifts he's done. Mario says he's good even though he's worked two in a row. They make their way down to Jorge, who is pinned. Ethan sends Mario back to Robbie and tells him to work quickly.

Mr. Hazelton is still struggling to breathe. They have to intubate him. Emma's worried about him and they take her out of Center Stage. They get Mr. Hazelton stabilized and move him to sides.

They're still working to free Robbie and Jorge. Jorge asks to talk to Robbie. Jorge asks Robbie why he's there when he wasn't supposed to be. Robbie then passes out, so Ethan leaves to go tend to him. His pulse is weak, so they decide to amputate his arm to free him, so they can then free Jorge.

Judith Blackwell comes into the ER. She fell down the stairs and was found by her housekeeper. She smelled heavily of alcohol, so they suspected that's why she fell. They have to stop the bleeding to her head. As they work, Will brings in Ross Blackwell, Judith's husband, who is an orthopedist.

Angus tells Emma the pain in her eyes will subside and the mask will help her breathe. Emma and Olivia tell Angus and Jesse what happened. Someone put pepper spray in the HVAC and it reacted with the heat, which made the reaction worse. Everyone rushed to get out, but Mr. Hazelton collapsed. They think someone did it because Mr. Hazelton is awful. He gives them a lot of homework and read their texts out loud to the class. They're worried about him being okay, but Angus can't tell them anything.

Ethan prepares to amputate the arm and tells Mario it's the only option.

Judith says she took percocet for her arthritis before the fall. Their daughter Lily, comes in and asks what happened. Leanne says she needs x-rays before she can be realized. Lily says she wants to stay with her mother. Dr. Blackwell pulls Leanne and Will aside and says he'd rather take her home and watch her himself. He says it's not the first time. She's been to counseling and rehab. It's just a relapse. He wants to protect his family. Will maintains that she can't be discharged and Leanne promises to maintain their privacy.

Brianna Hazelton, Mr. Hazelton's daughter, thinks that what happened to her father was assault. Brianna sees Olivia and Emma and goes to confront them about what happened to her father. Olivia starts to feel guilty, but Emma brushes it off.

Jorge is declining, so they rush to work harder to get Robbie's arm off. Mario accidentally drops his flashlight. He has the idea to go underneath to get the angle he needs to finish the mutation. As he goes to move, he slips and is left hanging.

The cable is cutting off circulation to Mario's leg. Ethan wants to come down to him, but Mario tells him he has to stay up. Ethan reaches down to grab Mario. They're able to get a cable down to him and pull him back up. They have to hurry to save Robbie and Jorge.

Olivia's mom is given her discharge instructions. Olivia then notices that Emma's mom hasn't arrived. Olivia's mom offers her a ride, but Emma says her mom is on her way. Once they're gone, Emma admits her mom's at a party and it'll be a few hours.

Noa looks at Judith's CT, which shows multiple old fractures. Leanne sees a spiral fracture, a sign of abuse.

Angus asks Elliot about Kelly. He thinks Elliot's messed it up, but Elliot says she's just playing it cool. Ira backs Elliot up from a nearby bed.

Brianna calls for help for her father. He's crashing. They take him to Center Stage. Emma watches Brianna start crying.

They finish amputating Robbie's arm and hand him over to the crew to get him down to the ground and then move over to Jorge, who is barely breathing. They get him freed.

Judith makes excuses for her previous injuries, saying she's fine. They know she's being abused and think it's her husband. Ross and Lily come back to her bed and Ross insists on taking Judith home until Leanne stop him. Leanne confronts him about Judith's previous injuries and says she doesn't feel safe letting Judith go home.

They are working on Mr. Hazelton. They get him back into sinus rhythm.

On the way to the hospital, Robbie has an air embolism. They put him on his side. Jorge sees Robbie's amputated arm and says Robbie has to live.

Lily asks Noa if she always wanted to be a doctor. She says her father always wanted her to be a doctor. She tried, but she was never good enough. And then her mom checked out. He's controlling. Noa says Lily can tell her about it. Lily says no one knows what he's really like. Leanne says she needs to tell them if her father has hurt her mother. Ross comes by and tells Lily to stop, causing Lily to leave quickly.

Emma is still at the hospital waiting. She asks Jesse about Mr. Hazelton. She says she's sure whoever did it didn't mean to hurt him. They didn't think this is what would happen. Jesse tells her Mr. Hazelton will be fine. Emma thinks he'll really hate them now. Jesse asks her how she feels about herself. She says she feels fine. Jesse says he sees a nice girl named Emma in the battle of her life, with the Emma she doesn't like very much. He thinks she can beat her, but she has to decide who she wants to be.

Leanne shows Will the scans. Will isn't sure because he's know Ross for 20 years and trusts him. Noa comes in and tells them Dr. Blackwell is having an emergency.

Ross has had a carotid artery dissection. He has bruising all over his chest. He was pummeled and that's what caused the dissection. They take him to get TPA at the site. There's no way Judith could have fought back against him hard enough to beat him that badly.

Ethan and Mario bring in Robbie and Jorge. Angus helps them aspirate the air embolism. Mario's hand start shaking, so Ethan sends him away and tells him to go to bed. Mario leaves as they get him stabilized.

Lily comes back and is surprised to see her mother's been moved. Noa says she can't tell Lily where she is.

Will shows Ross and Judith the security footage they have of Lily attacking her mother. They defend her, saying they indulged her.

Outside the room, security is keeping Lily out. Leanne says they know Lily's been hurting them.

Will says the hospital's lawyer will help them get a restraining order.

Security takes Lily away as she cries out for her mother. In the room, Judith cries as Ross says they can't live like this anymore.

Ethan takes Jorge to see Robbie. Jorge regrets letting Robbie get up on the crane. Ethan says it's nobody's fault. Jorge and Robbie talk about when they first started working with their father. He bragged about them and took everyone for beers. He forgot his wallet, so the two sons had to cover the cost and they split it. Jorge says they can work it out together, even with Robbie missing an arm. Robbie holds his hand and says he's with Jorge.

Angus tells the Hazeltons he'll be oaky. Jesse brings Emma to talk to Mr. Hazelton. He sends Brianna away so he can talk to her privately. He's glad to see Emma's recovered, but she says he had it worse. She denies knowing who did it, but says she thinks she knows why they might have done it. She thinks he's not nice to the students. She says he doesn't know anything about her. He says she likes Emily Dickenson, but not Wordsworth. He says he's been impressed by her mind. She admits that she did it an apologizes. He says it's okay and quotes one of her book reports back to her.

Elliot shows Angus that Kelly replied and would love to go on a hike with him. Angus says he's not a hiker. It's a disaster.

Ethan sees Mario finally getting ready to go home and tells him he's good, but he's always trying to convince everyone he's great. The difference is knowing your limits. Ethan says Mario's so close to being great, but he needs to try to be less stupid.

Leanne says his to Rollie, who's at the hospital for his last checkup before coming back to work.

A girl comes in and asks Leanne if she remembers her. It's Ariel Braeden, who asks to talk to her. She says she took a bus from New Mexico. Leanne leads her away to talk to her.

Rollie tells Noa about Ariel being in the accident with her father. He doesn't know why she's back at Angels.

## Cast

* Leanne Rorish
* Will Campbell
* Rollie Guthrie
* Angus Leighton
* Mario Savetti
* Jesse Sallander
* Ethan Willis
* Mr. Hazelton
* Elliot Dixon
* Noa Kean
* Ross Blackwell
* Judith Blackwell
* Jorge Delgado
* Emma Easton
* Ariel Braeden
* Robbie Delgado
* Brianna Hazelton
* Lily Blackwell
* Olivia Jones
* Kathryn Jones
* Fire Chief
* Firefighter
* Construction Worker
* Ira
* Medic #1
* Medic #2
* Medic #3
* News Reporter
* Drunk Woman
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### Main Cast

* Marcia Gay Harden as Dr. Leanne Rorish
* Boris Kodjoe as Dr. Will Campbell
* Melanie Chandra as Dr. Malaya Pineda (credit only)
* William Allen Young as Dr. Rollie Guthrie
* Harry Ford as Dr. Angus Leighton
* Benjamin Hollingsworth as Dr. Mario Savetti
* Jillian Murray as Dr. Heather Pinkney (credit only)
* Luis Guzmán as Jesse Sallander
* Rob Lowe as Col. Ethan Willis

### Guest Starring

* John Billingsley as Mr. Hazelton
* Noah Gray-Cabey as Dr. Elliot Dixon
* Emily Tyra as Dr. Noa Kean
* Ned Schmidtke as Dr. Ross Blackwell
* Roxanne Hart as Judith Blackwell
* Mark Adair-Rios as Jorge Delgado
* Brec Bassinger as Emma Easton
* Emily Alyn Lind as Ariel Braeden
* Luis Jose Lopez as Robbie Delgado
* Annamarie Kenoyer as Brianna Hazelton
* Susie Abromeit as Lily Blackwell
* Ashley Boettcher as Olivia Jones

### Co-Starring

* Catherine Christensen as Kathryn Jones
* Jim Garrity as Fire Chief
* Chris Gann as Firefighter
* Justin Paul as Construction Worker
* Elijah Nelson as Ira
* Juan Alfonso as Medic #1
* Aris Mendoza as Medic #2
* Joshua Keller Katz as Medic #3
* Greg Mills as News Reporter
* Adaligiza Chermont as Drunk Women

## Medical Notes

### Drunk Woman

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Boil

* **Doctors:**
	+ Angus Leighton *(ER resident)*
	+ Elliot Dixon *(ER resident)*

* **Treatment:**
	+ Lancing
	+ Antibiotics

A drunk woman was in the ER with a large boil on her neck. Elliot lanced it so it could drain. He also said he'd give her antibiotics and she'd need to get it checked in a couple days.

### Emma Easton

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Eye irritation
	+ Throat irritation

* **Doctors:**
	+ Leanne Rorish *(ER physician)*
	+ Angus Leighton *(ER resident)*
	+ Elliot Dixon *(ER resident)*

* **Treatment:**
	+ Rinsing
	+ Breathing treatment

Emma, 14, came into the ER after pepper spray was put in the HVAC of the classroom she was in. It burned her eyes and throat. They used soda to relieve the pain in her eyes. She was later told that there was no permanent damage to her eyes and the pain would subside.

### Olivia Jones

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Eye irritation
	+ Broken leg

* **Doctors:**
	+ Leanne Rorish *(ER physician)*
	+ Angus Leighton *(ER resident)*
	+ Noa Kean *(ER resident)*

* **Treatment:**
	+ Traction

Olivia, 14, had burns to her throat after exposure to pepper spray. Her leg was also broken and displaced because she got trampled in the panic. They used traction to reduce her leg back into place. She was told she'd need to use crutches for a few weeks, then she'd need minor surgery.

### Mr. Hazelton

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Respiratory distress
	+ Arrhythmia

* **Doctors:**
	+ Leanne Rorish *(ER physician)*
	+ Angus Leighton *(ER resident)*
	+ Elliot Dixon *(ER resident)*

* **Treatment:**
	+ Continuous breathing treatment

Mr. Hazelton came into the ER in respiratory distress after exposure to pepper spray. He had a history of asthma and the pepper spray exacerbated it. They gave him a breathing treatment and intubated him. He later developed an arrhythmia because of his breathing treatment. They were able to convert his rhythm and shock him back to sinus.

### Jorge Delgado

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Crush injuries

* **Doctors:**
	+ Ethan Willis *(ER physician)*
	+ Mario Savetti *(Er resident)*

* **Treatment:**

Jorge was trapped by a construction drum up on a crane. It was pushing down on his chest, crushing him. They weren't able to move the cable to relieve any of the pressure, so they had to amputate his brother's arm on the other end so they could lift the drum and release him. Then they took him to the hospital.

### Robbie Delgado

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Crushed arm

* **Doctors:**
	+ Ethan Willis *(ER physician)*
	+ Mario Savetti *(ER resident)*
	+ Angus Leighton *(ER resident)*

* **Treatment:**
	+ Amputation

Robbie, 32, was trapped on a construction site. His arm was trapped and bleeding. In order to save Robbie and Jorge, they had to amputate Robbie's arm. Once his arm was amputated, they pulled him out and took him to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, he developed an air embolism, so they moved him onto his side to buy them time to get him to the hospital. He went into arrest before they arrived. In the ER, they ran a catheter into his heart to remove the air. They were successful and he stabilized. He later woke up.

### Judith Blackwell

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Blunt head trauma
	+ Scalp laceration
	+ Arthritis

* **Doctors:**
	+ Leanne Rorish *(ER physician)*
	+ Noa Kean *(ER resident)*

* **Treatment:**
	+ Percocet

Judith, 63, was found unconscious at the bottom of the stairs in her house. She had head trauma and a bleeding scalp laceration. She also smelled heavily of alcohol. She said her hands had hurt from arthritis, so she took a percocet and then had wine with dinner. Her husband asked to take her home quickly, but Leanne insisted on keeping her for tests. Her CT showed several old fractures that indicated abuse. Judith denied any abuse. It later came out that she was being beaten by her daughter.

### Ira

* **Diagnosis:**

* **Doctors:**

* **Treatment:**

Ira was in the hospital after exposure to pepper spray.

### Ross Blackwell

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Carotid artery dissection

* **Doctors:**
	+ Leanne Rorish *(ER physician)*
	+ Will Campbell *(surgeon)*
	+ Noa Kean *(ER resident)*

* **Treatment:**
	+ TPA

Ross had what looked like a stroke in the ER. An ultrasound showed carotid artery dissection. He also had bruising on his chest from being beaten. They had to give him TPA at the site of the clot to break it up. They were able to break up the clot and he recovered.

## Notes and Trivia

* This episode scored 5.68 million viewers.