Natural History

**Natural History** is the third episode of Season 2 of *Chicago Med*. It aired on October 6, 2016.

## Summary

Dr. Manning and fourth-year medical student Jeff Clarke try to figure out a mystery illness when an Indonesian man who doesn't speak English arrives at the hospital. Maggie takes Dr. Halstead to her family reunion where he meets her sibling Denise and uncovers deep-rooted family secrets. Dr. Rhodes takes on a complicated heart surgery without consulting Dr. Latham, and Dr. Reese and Dr. Charles encounter a woman experiencing an unusual pregnancy.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Nick Gehlfuss as Dr. Will Halstead
* Yaya DaCosta as April Sexton
* Torrey DeVitto as Dr. Natalie Manning
* Rachel DiPillo as Dr. Sarah Reese
* Colin Donnell as Dr. Connor Rhodes
* Brian Tee as Dr. Ethan Choi
* Marlyne Barrett as Maggie Lockwood
* S. Epatha Merkerson as Sharon Goodwin
* Oliver Platt as Dr. Daniel Charles

### Recurring Cast

* Ato Essandoh as Dr. Isidore Latham
* Jeff Hephner as Jeff Clarke
* Patti Murin as Dr. Nina Shore
* Alexandra Grey as Denise Lockwood
* Shay Rose Aljadeff as Dr. Leah Bardovi
* Cesar Jaime as Paramedic Cesar
* Tosin Morohunfola as Dr. Allen Vorspan

### Guest Cast

* Marie Weiss as Amanda Kendrick-Dobbs
* Brian Grey as Mr. Dobbs
* Kanya Iwana as Farah
* Susie McMonagle as Elaine Simon
* James Houton as Glenn Simon
* Reggie Luis Ruivivar as Patient / Pitopang
* Norman Garcy Yap as Translator
* Audrey Morgan as Grandma Rose
* Herb Porter as Uncle Miles

## Plot

The episode begins with a cook-out hosted by Maggie Lockwood's family. Maggie has brought along Dr. Will Halstead, and is pleased to see her sister, Denise Lockwood, who is visiting from Dallas. Maggie introduces Will to Denise, and asks Denise to spend time with her, but Denise tells Maggie that she will be having a short visit and also seems unreceptive to Maggie's idea that she should come to visit her in Dallas. As Denise drives away, her car crashes into a polo and when Maggie and Halstead rush over to help her, Denise tells them she can't see.

Dr. Rhodes is filling in as trauma attending, telling Sharon Goodwin that they haven't had many elective cardio surgeries since Dr. Downey died. Goodwin tells Rhodes that it will take time for Gaffney Med to regain its reputation as a destination for cardio-thoracic surgery after Downey's death, but that he should be patient, as they have a good team. In the E.R., Dr. Ethan Choi, and Dr. Connor Rhodes attend to a man, Glenn Simon, who was knocked off a horse while playing polo. While they are treating Mr. Simon for his injuries, he tells them he should have listened to his wife who recommended golf instead of polo. Simon starts slurring while he is speaking and has a stroke. Mrs. Simon arrives at the hospital, but Glenn can't speak to her after his stroke. Dr. Rhodes tells Mrs. Simon that her husband has a clot that traveled from his leg through his heart and into his brain, and that he would like to operate on Simon to address it. Mrs. Simon tells Rhodes that she wants a second opinion, but Rhodes convinces her to go ahead with the operation, telling her that waiting puts Simon at risk. He tells Mrs. Simon that they have a great team at Gaffney, and she consents to the operation.

At the surgery, Dr. Leah Bardovi introduces herself to Dr. Rhodes, telling her that she joined Gaffney to work with Dr. David Downey, and is honored to work Rhodes, his protege, after Downey's death. In surgery, they freeze the patient, temporarily stopping his heart while they operate. While the patient is slowly cooling down, Dr. Rhodes updates Mrs. Simon, telling them that they should be able to operate in an hour. Sharon Goodman tells Dr. Rhodes that Mrs. Simon was impressed with his confidence. Sharon Goodman takes Dr. Rhodes aside and asks him why he hasn't paged Dr. Latham. Dr. Rhodes tells her that it is the Sabbath and he didn't want to disturb Dr. Latham, who is an Orthodox Jew. Sharon Goodman tells Dr. Rhodes that he was earlier concerned about the reputation of the department, but still went ahead with a very risky surgery without consulting his attending. She tells Rhodes that the patient, Glenn Simon is very well-connected, and advises him to page Dr. Latham.

Dr. Rhodes pages Dr. Latham, who comes in. When Dr. Rhodes enters Dr. Latham's room, he is sitting in darkness, and Latham tells Dr. Rhodes that if he wants light, he will have to turn it on himself as Latham is observing the Sabbath. Dr. Rhodes apologises for not paging Latham or consulting him, telling him that he did not want to disturb his observance of the Sabbath. In response, Dr. Latham tells Dr. Rhodes that the principle is 'pikuach nefesh' in Hebrew, which means that a man's life always takes precedence. Dr. Latham tells Dr. Rhodes that the procedure he has planned needs to be completed in thirty minutes, failing which the patient could suffer cognitive deficits. Rhodes understands, but Latham tells him that for an experienced surgeon it could take up to an hour and that he has done surgeries like this while assisting Downey before. Latham tells Rhodes that while a co-pilot sits next to the pilot, their views are significantly different, and that by delaying in calling Dr. Latham for so long, Rhodes has left them with no other surgical options. Dr. Bardovi then tells them the patient has cooled and is ready for surgery.

Dr. Rhodes conducts the surgery, with Dr. Latham observing and advising him as he goes. When Dr. Rhodes cannot finish in the thirty minutes that he had planned, Dr. Latham makes him step aside and takes over, completing the surgery. Dr. Latham says that Downey may have been quick to trust Rhodes, but that Dr. Latham's faith is harder to earn.

At the hospital, April notices that Dr. Natalie Manning looks happy. Dr. Natalie Manning and Jeff Clarke are assigned by Dr. Ethan Choi to treat a patient who doesn't speak English. They speculate that he might be speaking Thai and start looking for a translator, but are having difficulty diagnosing the patient without being able to obtain a history, or speak with him. Manning quizzes Clarke, teaching him the next steps in the treatment. When Maggie asks for an update on their patient, Maggie notices the body language between Jeff and Manning and Manning confirms to her that she and Jeff Clarke have been sleeping together. Manning asks Maggie if it is weird that she is sleeping with someone who used to be her deceased husband's closest friend ,and Maggie tells her while it is a little weird, that she has learned that you have to do what makes you happy, even if some people think it is strange. The patient is revealed to be probably Indonesian, and Manning and Clarke have to recover him after he faces difficulty breathing. April takes over the effort to find a translator in the meantime. While they recover the patient, Jeff Clarke apologises to Dr. Manning for initially questioning her approach before following her instructions.

Dr. Nina Shore and Dr. Will Halstead bump into each other at the vending machines and chat about snacks before being interrupted by Dr. Natalie Manning. Manning asks for Halstead on advice for her non-English speaking patient, and Halstead advises her to retrace her steps and revisit the history. Manning is not impressed by this advice. After consulting with the Health Department, Dr. Manning tells Jeff Clarke that their patient did not bring an exotic foreign disease with him as they had suspected, but is likely to have measles. Manning figures this out by inspecting the patient's clothes, which include a belt that is a souvenir from a roller coaster ride which had seen an outbreak of measles recently. Jeff Clarke tells Dr. Natalie Manning that although he has known her for a long time he now realizes how brilliant she is, and asks her how she thought of looking at the patients clothes. Manning repeats the advice that Dr. Halstead gave her but does not attribute it to him ("When you're in the weeds, always go back to the history.") April is able to track down a cousin of the patient, who can translate for them. The cousin translates for Dr. Manning, and tells them the patient thanks them both, and thinks that Dr. Manning and Jeff Clarke make a great couple.

In the hospital, Dr. Will Halstead and Maggie Lockwood bring in Denise Lockwood, after she has a car crash and suffers vision loss. Denise decides to leave the hospital, as she has regained her vision and routinely suffers from migraines. Maggie convinces her to stay, telling her that if the transient blindness recurs while she is driving, for instance, it could be dangerous. Denise reluctantly agrees to stay. Tests show that Denise's bloodwork shows the possibility of cancer. When Dr. Will Halstead asks Denise for her medical history and if there's anything he should know, Denise says no, and despite Maggie saying her name sharply, says nothing more. Halstead does an ultrasound and initially believes the machine to be faulty as it seems to suggest that Denise has a prostate. Maggie and Denise finally share with Dr. Will Halstead that Denise is a transgender woman, who transitioned about nine years ago. Denise tells Halstead that her surgeon had advised her not to have the prostate removed as it would be a difficult surgery. Halstead tells her that the prostate is enlarged and that they need to run some tests. Maggie tells him to ask another nurse, as she wants to be there as a visitor for her sister, but Halstead tells her she has more sway. When Maggie accompanies him outside, Halstead tells Maggie that she should have told him as it was crucial medical history. Maggie tells Halstead that the decision to tell is not hers, but the patient's, i.e. Denise's. Maggie confides in Will that the transition was hard on their family, but especially on Denise. Halstead praises their acceptance, saying that his family would have disowned Denise, and Maggie, crying, tells Will that it took time and that they had a lot to learn.

Later, when Maggie checks in, she finds that Denise is leaving, and refusing treatment. Dr. Halstead tells Maggie that he used the word 'transgender' as a noun, not realising it was offensive, and upsetting Denise, and apologizes. When Maggie speaks to her sister, Denise, she tries to convince Denise to forgive Will, telling her that he might be awkward but is good-hearted. Denise and Maggie argue, and Denise says that she feels judged by Maggie. In return, Maggie tells Denise that she misses her brother, and when Denise says the brother is gone, Maggie tells Denise that he isn't gone to her. Maggie apologizes to Denise, who tells Denise that she is scared. Maggie tells Denise she doesn't want to lose her, and that they are both scared, and they hug. Denise agrees to accept treatment, and tells Maggie that she spent her entire life feeling at war with her gender, and that now it might kill her. Dr. Halstead returns, and tells them that the biopsy shows that Denise has prostate cancer, which will need to be treated in Dallas as soon as she goes home. Dr. Halstead tells Denise there is a second option, which is that she could stay in Chicago and let them take care of her. Maggie tells Denise she would like that, and Denise agrees to stay.

Dr. Ethan Choi and April Sexton treat a pregnant woman, Amanda Dobbs, who is seven months along, and burned her hand while cooking in the kitchen. While treating the burn, Choi notices that she has elevated blood pressure and asks to run some labs and ultrasound. Joy is reluctant, telling them her sister had a miscarrige while having an amniocentesis, so she has been working with a doula to have a home birth. Joy's husband convinces her to take the tests, telling her being cautious is good. The tests reveal that while Joy has all the physical signs of pregnancy, there is no baby, i.e. a hysterical pregnancy. Dr. Choi brings in Sarah Reese and Dr. Daniel Charles to consult. Reese and Dr. Charles have been discussing Charles Darwin, and historical texts that attempt to analyse Darwin's psychological issues. Charles and Reese talk to Amanda, who tells them she has not been working the last year, since they moved to Chicago. Dr. Charles notes to Reese that she does not ask about the test results, suggesting that she might know that she is not actually pregnant. Reese and Charles suggest that psychological issues might have caused her manifest physical signs of pregnancy, and that they need to figure out why.

Charles tells Reese to break the news to Amanda and her husband. Reese struggles with breaking the news clearly, hesitating, and both Amanda and her husband are upset by the news. Amanda initially refuses to believe it, telling them the tests must be incorrect, and then collapses crying. Amanda and her husband decide to go home, discharging her from the hospital against the recommendations of the doctors. Reese asks Dr. Charles if they can hold Amanda on grounds of mental health, but Dr. Charles tells her that they don't qualify for such a measure as a psychological hold. Reese describes a case in which they anesthetized a patient with a similar condition, causing her belly to deflate and convince her that she had a miscarriage. Dr. Charles is surprised that Reese would say this, and tells her she has been working hard and needs some sleep. Reese agrees and leaves. As Reese is exiting the hospital she bumps into Amanda and apologises, telling her that she wished she had done a better job in explaining the problem to her, and that her boss is probably regretting offering her her job. Amanda tells Reese that she is lucky, as she cares about what she does, and tells Reese that before she moved to Chicago, she was an extreme skier, a job that she found her identity in. She asks Reese again if it is true about the baby, and Reese confirms.

At the end of the episode, Dr. Ethan Choi, April and Dr. Halstead are reading a magazine that has featured Dr. Connor Rhodes as a 'rising star under the age of 40' and tease him about it. Rhodes tells them he didn't know anything about it, and answers awkwardly when they ask how the surgery went. Rhodes goes to see Goodwin, and shows her the magazine. He assures her that he didn't know anything about and that he wouldn't have allowed it if he knew. Goodwin tells Rhodes that she approved it, and Goodwin is amused when Rhodes reads out the dramatic language of the article. Rhodes tells Goodwin that Dr. Latham was right about the surgery today and that he made a mistake, thinking he was more ready than he was. Rhodes tells her that maybe the magazine should have featured Latham instead, as Latham is brilliant. Goodwin tells Rhodes that Latham is brilliant, but the magazine wanted someone under 40 years. She tells Rhodes to stay humble, and that his time will come. Rhodes goes to speak with Dr. Latham, who is waiting at the lifts, but cannot push the lift button as it is the Sabbath. Latham tells Rhodes that at Johns Hopkins they have a Shabbath elevator which stops automatically on every floor. Rhodes pushes the button for him, and then the button for his floor as well. He wishes Dr. Latham *Good Shabbos*, and Dr. Latham says *Shabbat Shalom* in response.

At the end of the episode, Dr. Charles finds Reese sitting outside the hospital still reading about Darwin. Reese tells Charles about her conversation with the patient Amanda, and speculates that the loss of her career as a skier resulted in her replacing that with the false pregnancy. Dr. Charles tells Reese that nature abhors a vacuum and on that note, steals some of her food. Dr. Halstead and Maggie Lockwood go out after work to a bar, and Maggie gives Halstead a t-shirt bearing a slogan about her family, telling him he is now an honorary member of the Lockwood tribe. She catches him smiling at the pathologist, Dr. Nina Shore, and encourages to him to go over and talk to her, helping him fix his hair. While doing so, she tells Halstead that she misses Malcolm the most at times like these, revealing Denise's dead-name to him.