Claire Browne

Dr. **Claire Browne** is a former surgical resident at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. She is also a main character in the first four seasons of the show. Her emotional intelligence (shown through her kindness and unmatched caring for her patients) and quick thinking earn her recognition and respect from the team working under Dr. Neil Melendez (whom she is implied to be attracted to). These traits allow her to communicate the most effectively with patients and especially with Dr. Shaun Murphy who, due to his autism, has a difficulty learning professional social cues. But regardless of her caring and warm nature, Claire keeps intimate relationships she has at a distance which can be seen in her strictly sexual relationship with Dr. Jared Kalu, another surgical resident. This may be due to her upbringing with her abusive mother. However, even with all her emotional and physical trauma, Dr. Browne continues to demonstrate that your past does not define who you will be in the future.

After her mother died in a drunk driving accident in "Claire", Claire started to have trouble processing her grief, even getting frustrated at a woman's faith in her husband in "First Case, Second Base". She stops believing in people, believing that hope killed her mother and that no one can change. However, she eventually resumes displaying more compassion towards her patients over time and eventually starts seeing a psychiatrist, as seen in "Friends and Family."

At the end of the fourth season, Claire decides to remain in Guatemala in order to continue helping provide much needed medical care to the less fortunate. She is seen at the end of Season 5 as a guest star, when she tells her friends she has been offered the job of Chief of Surgery in Guatemala. In The Lea Show, she reveals to have accepted it.

## History

### Early life

Claire's early life was one filled with emotional abuse. Her mother, Breeze Browne, was a drug addict who attempted to kill her multiple times, and there was no mention of a father to prevent this behavior. When she was in high school, Claire volunteered at a shelter for runaway teens. Whilst attempting to save money for a laptop through babysitting, Claire's mother took that money only to waste it, on top of leaving Claire alone for several days at a time. After leaving her abusive mother when she turned 18, Claire worked two jobs whilst living with multiple roommates at a time until she finally became a surgical resident.

### Season 1

In "Burnt Food, Claire Browne tries to prove herself to her overconfident superior Dr. Neil Melendez. When Claire meets Shaun Murphy, she initially takes him to be some weird guy, but gives credence to his suggestion of performing an echocardiogram on their young patient. When the patient's condition worsens, Claire gets Melendez to hear Shaun out and she and Shaun are able to diagnosis the problem together.

In "Mount Rushmore," Claire promises a worried patient awaiting a risky surgery that she is going to be okay. Dr. Melendez informs Claire that it is not wise to make promises like that to someone, especially if you don’t know what the outcome is going to be. He also warns her that if the patient were to die, then Claire would have to live with what she said to them. Claire is also upset at Jared for taking credit for one of Shaun’s ideas. During the operation, the patient almost doesn’t make it, but luckily she does. Before the patient wakes up, Melendez tells Claire that it is her responsibility to tell the patient about the operation. When the patient wakes up, Claire informs her that she almost died. The patient however thanks Claire. Later, Shaun and have another exchange when she sits across from Shaun in the same table. As she tries to get to know him, Shaun reminds Claire of how rude she was before. He asks her why it is that she’s now trying to be nice to him. Claire tells him she feels bad about how she treated him. Shaun gets up and walks off.

In "Oliver," Shaun and Claire go to San Francisco in a helicopter to retrieve the organ. Dr. Melendez, who assigned the two this task reminds them the liver only has eight hours before it will no longer be viable. While riding in the helicopter, Claire reveals that Chuck was her very first patient, and she wishes she could have given him the good news instead of doing "pizza delivery." Shaun doesn't answer her, becoming fascinated with the way the helicopter rotors work. Upon arriving at SF Municipal Hospital, she grows frustrated at being unable to properly communicate with Shaun. However, later Claire realizes his aversion to direct questions and begins to work around it.

In "Pipes," Claire and Jared Kalu have sex and discuss why an eighteen-year-old would do porn. Later, Shaun, Kalu, and Claire go out and celebrate their successes.

In "Point Three Percent," Claire and Jared have a patient who has bad abdominal pain. They think it's pancreatitis but Neil Melendez disagrees. Shaun eventually goes to Claire and asks her to lie for him when dealing with Evan Gallico. Later, Kalu and Claire's patient has an allergic reaction while in surgery. Melendez tells them to look for cysts. Claire tells Kalu that the cysts are filled with tapeworms. Claire while being part of the surgical team finds lesions on Evan's ribs which proves that the cancer has spread to his chest cavity.

In "Not Fake," Claire along with Jared and Shaun are working the graveyard shift when a mass casualty is directed to St. Bonaventure. Controlled chaos erupts in the waiting room when the ambulances arrive, and it's all hands on deck to treat patients. She initially has a difficult start to the evening, including freezing up several times during triage. But Claire does speak to Shaun about Marco's leg. She suggests 3D printing a femur out of titanium to replace Marco's shattered one. Naomi, Claire's patient, wakes from surgery and immediately asks about her wife Jenna's condition. Claire checks, but is unable to locate anyone named Jenna in the hospital. She realizes Jenna must have been ejected from the bus and never brought to the hospital. Several emergency vehicles make it back to the crash site, where Claire locates Jenna. She administers first aid before they hurry back to St. Bonaventure. Jenna undergoes a long surgery, but is ultimately pronounced dead. Dr. Aaron Glassman calls Claire over to reveal the true reason Jenna died: a fatal mistake during intubation. He reassures her it was an honest mistake, but gives her strict instructions not to speak to anyone outside the hospital, or Naomi, about what happened.

In "22 Steps," Dr. Glassman makes an appointment with a grief counselor for Claire, who eventually tells her that she needs to talk to someone about her feelings. Later, Claire and Kalu talk about the patients they lost.

In "Apple," Dr. Claire Browne and Dr. Lim deal with the shooter who is rushed into surgery. But Claire finds herself not being in the operating room for very long though as she makes it clear that she is not comfortable helping the shooter, especially when they notice his tattoo advertising that he is a Nazi. She speaks disrespectfully to Dr. Lim who subsequently asks Claire to leave the OR and send in a replacement. Claire’s Nazi patient also gets through the surgery and Dr. Lim puts Claire on babysitting duties, much to her displeasure. Claire's patient is revealed to be an opiate addict, and consequently, the hospital pain meds are not managing his discomfort. He complains that his neck hurts and asks that Claire give him fentanyl, but she refuses. He states that she is punishing him for being a Nazi by refusing to treat his pain; she disagrees, and he suggests that she doesn't like addicts, theorizing that this is because her mother might have been an addict. Claire becomes angry and leaves his bedside to demand that Dr. Lim let her stop babysitting him, arguing that a nurse could monitor him and that Dr. Lim is punishing her for disagreeing. Dr. Lim, who is being assisted by two nurses as she works on another patient, points out that this insubordination in front of two nurses is undermining her authority, something she has had male colleagues do to her throughout her career. "We shouldn't do it to each other," she says, and tells Claire to continue monitoring her Nazi patient.

Her patient appears to be having difficulty breathing and when she removes the bandage from his neck she is greeted by the sight of his neck being three times bigger than normal. Claire pages for Dr. Lim but action needs to be taken now, she gets a suture kit and prepares to perform surgery there and then. Claire has no choice, her patient is dying and Dr. Lim has not arrived; she grabs a scalpel from the suture tray and prepares to make an emergency incision. The extreme swelling is obscuring the patient's Adam's apple, and Claire is therefore unsure of where to place the incision. Claire works out where to cut and makes the call. Just as she finishes up Dr. Lim walks in, taken aback by the events she has walked in on but pleased it all went well. She asks for him to be taken to the OR where they can finish up and makes a point of telling Claire that this is why you watch the patient for the first 24 hours. Claire walks into the OR where Dr. Lim is performing and makes a public apology for her behavior earlier. Dr. Lim accepts Claire’s apology, and quips, "I know you needed this victory. I'm glad you saved a life today....too bad it was a Nazi!" Claire smiles and hastily leaves.

In "Intangibles," Claire helps Shaun by teaching him how to flirt. The lab misplaced Elizabeth's specimen so Claire is assigned to look for it and performs a frantic search with Dr. Carly Lever. Claire can't find the lost specimen so Jessica Preston comes to tell Elizabeth. Elizabeth chooses surgery but right before they operate Claire has an epiphany. She finds the specimen in a mislabeled container. Elizabeth is cancer free but decides to sue the hospital so that something like that doesn't happen again.

In "Sacrifice," Claire (who did not get a chance to work on Ato's case), runs into an uncomfortable situation with a new doctor, Dr. Matt Coyle, who seems far too friendly. However, when she requests to switch with Jared and Shaun, Jared tells her that she is blowing the whole thing out of proportion. When Dr. Coyle makes unwanted sexual advances toward her, Claire refuses and later yells at Jared for not supporting her and downplaying the issue.

In "Islands: Part One," Melendez and Claire encounter some issues during the transplant of the twins. Katie changed her mind and tells Claire that she doesn't want to do the surgery anymore. Melendez and the doctors try to find a way to convince the girls to go through with the surgery. They elect Claire to talk to them. Later, Melendez asks Claire if she wants kids after confiding in her about Jessica Preston not wanting kids. Claire also confronts the doctor who sexually assaulted her.

In "Islands: Part Two," Claire and Shaun do an angiogram on Katie trying to find out why she's in a coma. Claire asks Shaun about his road trip. Claire talks to Dr. Glassman about Shaun. She says that Shaun thinks that he's mad at him. She suggests he signs the letter since it shows that Dr. Glassman believes in him. Claire wants to put the twins back in the same room so that Jenny can see that Katie really is gone. Claire asks Shaun if the reason he's moving to Pennsylvania because of Lea. He says that she makes him happy. Claire tells him that she'll miss him.

In "Seven Reasons," Claire is assisting in a surgery on a stroke patient who had an aneurysm with Dr. Lim. She learns that the doctor that harassed her not only got a new job but also got a raise. Claire goes to the director and asks why they didn't fire the doctor. She learns it's because their stories didn't match. Doctor Lim tells the stroke patients family that he's going to be okay but then Claire comes and tells her that they've found another aneurysm. Claire and Shaun have breakfast together. They discuss Claire's patient and Shaun says that if you love someone you'd do anything to prevent their death.

In "Heartfelt," Claire, Alex, and Jared Kalu's patient is a young boy who is in need of a new liver after rejecting the first one. Claire finds a new liver online but the catch is that the donor is in prison for seven murders. Claire, Alex, and Kalu get approval to use the convict’s liver. Claire and Kalu show up together at the Gala. Kalu gets mad when Claire doesn’t recognize the song playing as the one that they had their first kiss too. They break up.

In "Smile," Morgan and Claire treat a patient named Lucy, who has a post-op infection. After receiving a prescription, she flees the ER, but Claire soon hears she has returned. It is revealed the woman they treated was not really Lucy, but an imposter who stole her identity. The real Lucy shows up at St. Bonaventure complaining of shingles and asks for pain medicine. Later, the imposter returns, having gone into septic shock. Her condition worsens rapidly, and she eventually reveals her true identity to Claire. When the imposter dies, Morgan and Claire ultimately elect not to try and revive her, feeling there is "nothing left to save."

### Season 2

In "Quarantine" and "Quarantine: Part Two," Claire works with Melendez to treat a patient whose bone marrow donor is trapped in a viral quarantine in the ER. After the patient codes, Claire reluctantly helps Melendez to revive him in spite of the man's DNR. With the help of Andrews, they come up with a plan to successfully perform the transplant.

In "Aftermath," Claire is blackmailed by Morgan into spending the day with her. Though Claire tries to abandon Morgan to help her mother, Morgan eventually admits that she's still struggling with the death of an EMT named Tyler during the quarantine who Morgan was close to and doesn't want to be alone, causing Claire to relent. After learning that Claire's mother apparently has an abusive boyfriend, the two doctors confront him, only to learn that her mother was having cold feet over a possible engagement. The experience gives Claire new insight into and respect for Morgan.

After Shaun is transferred to pathology in "Risk and Reward" by new Chief of Surgery Dr. Jackson Han, Claire fights for her friend to get his job back without success. In "Breakdown," after Shaun is called in to consult on a complicated surgery, Claire helps him come up with a way to successfully complete it. After Shaun is fired by Han, Claire finds him having an emotional breakdown in the locker room and sits beside Shaun, unsure of how to help him.

In "Trampoline," Claire is surprised when Shaun returns to the hospital with Zack Cordell, a man who collapsed in a bar after assaulting Shaun. Though Shaun lies about the circumstances behind finding Zack, Claire quickly figures it out for herself. Claire comforts Shaun over losing his job as best she can and coaches Shaun through asking someone out which later allows Shaun to ask out Dr. Carly Lever successfully. Following Shaun's collapse from his injuries, Claire learns from Zack that Shaun was acting weird before claiming that Zack had been misdiagnosed and collapsing. Recognizing the signs of Shaun figuring a patient's condition out in his head, Claire alerts Lim who is dubious until Zack begins crashing. Unable to wake Shaun up without endangering his life, Claire attempts to replicate his thought processes by replicating the conditions Shaun figured it out under, including getting a stool to stand on due to their height difference. Claire succeeds in figuring it out and saves Zack's life. When Shaun wakes up, Claire reassures him that Zack is fine thanks him.

At a board meeting about rehiring Shaun, Glassman brings up Claire's actions as proof that Shaun deserves his job back. Glassman tells the board that Shaun made Claire a better doctor because she looked at a problem through Shaun's eyes and saved a life, something that is extraordinary and proof that though Shaun may not communicate as others do, he does communicate and he inspires others. Though Han disagrees, Andrews unexpectedly agrees with Glassman and chooses to fire Han so that Shaun can be rehired.

### Season 3

In "Disaster," Lim, as the new Chief of Surgery, announces that third-year residents can now lead their own surgeries, pleasing Shaun, Claire, Morgan and Park. Claire works with Shaun and Melendez on treating a newlywed bride who is discovered to have extensive cancer. At the same time, Claire avoids phone calls from her mother, not sure if she wants her mother in her life given their past. Claire asks Shaun for advice, admitting that she looks up to him on certain things and Shaun tells her that he doesn't really think about his past. Shaun, after Melendez forces him to give the patient the news, suggests a radical surgery to save her life with the alternative being almost certain death from cancer. When the bride hesitates to make a decision, Claire takes a softer approach than Shaun whose blunt honesty to the couple causes them to face their fears and agree to the surgery. Though it's a success, Claire has to deliver the news that the bride will now require an ileostomy bag for the rest of her life as a result of complications and gets to witness the husband promise to support his wife no matter what.

Throughout the episode, Claire listens to Shaun's story of his eventful first date with Carly Lever and is sympathetic when Shaun reveals that he believes it to be a disaster as he was overwhelmed by the unpredictability he experienced. As the two couples the team treated leave the hospital, Claire gives Shaun a speech about how it is all worth it to find someone who will love you and be there for you no matter what, but Shaun remains uncertain. After everything that she witnessed, Claire finally answers the phone when her mother calls her again.

In "Debts," Claire's mother has moved in with her after getting evicted. With her mother clearly off her medication and drinking again, Claire gives her a week to find a new place before Claire kicks her out and remains inflexible on the matter. At the same time, she works with Shaun and Andrews to treat a young man who had the side of his face destroyed after saving a total stranger from a groping on the subway. Though they are supposed to wire the patient's mouth shut permanently due to the extent of the damage, Andrews refuses to give up on the patient and Shaun devises an experimental surgery to save his face and speech. After the patient accepts despite the immense risks, Andrews, Claire and Shaun perform the surgery together. The patient begins crashing, but the three manage to save him and successfully complete the procedure. Lim later decides that Claire will be the first resident to lead her own surgery and inspired by the case, Claire agrees to let her mother stay longer with the conditions that she not drink, continues to take her meds, and see her doctor. Claire also continues giving Shaun advice on his relationship with Carly, leading Shaun to take inspiration from Claire's description of a more relaxed and informal date to continue his relationship with Carly.

### Season 4

In "Vamos," Claire finds her calling helping patients in Guatemala and is offered a permanent job working at the hospital there. With Lim's encouragement, Claire accepts the job offer. Saying goodbye to her friends, Claire congratulates Park and Morgan on their new romantic relationship, stating that she'd seen it coming and she even shares a hug with Shaun for the first time ever. After the others leave, Claire's first patient proves to be a man who desperately needs a surgery to live, but whom they'd earlier had to pass over due to him getting ill.

### Season 5

In "The Shaun Show," Claire makes a surprise appearance at Shaun and Lea's party to sing for them. The staff is overjoyed to see her again with Shaun even giving Claire two hugs despite his usual aversion to them.

In "*The Lea Show*", Claire announces that she has been offered the job of Chief of Surgery back in Guatemala. Everyone congratulates her, but she seems to be wary of Dr. Lim's opinion. The latter later admits thinking it might be difficult for Claire to be Chief of Surgery because she can get strongly emotionally involved with her patients and that can make her take questionable decissions or risks.

## Trivia

* She likes rocky road and salted caramel ice cream flavours
* She plays the guitar taught by her mother , Breeze Browne.
* She used to do morning runs with Neil Melendez , she stopped after his death in " I Love You,".
* She was diagnosed with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) after the COVID-19 pandemic
* She and Dr. Audrey Lim grew closer because of COVID-19 and the earthquake which killed Dr. Neil Melendez.
* She develops many special friendships, like her and Shaun Murphy where they share their personal lives and give advice to each other. While her and Morgan Reznick are more competitive frenemies.
* Her first surgery where she was a lead surgeon was a Open Cholecystectomy.
* She drives a red SUV
* She uses many types of headbands for work
* Her work hairstyles are a ponytail , side braid , bun and half up half down bun.
* Her work outfits are mostly a patterned botton-down top or a no sleeve solid colour top with unique designs and blouses.