Inheritance

**Inheritance** is the fifteenth episode of Season 1 of *Chicago Med*. It aired on April 26, 2016.

## Summary

Dr. Choi deals with a surrogate mother who is 32 weeks pregnant and refuses emergency surgery. Dr. Halstead treats a family friend. Dr. Manning and Dr. Charles treat a patient with severe stomach pains. April gets annoyed when she catches her brother running an enterprise side-business without a license. Dr. Rhodes avoids seeing his sister to discuss family issues.

## 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

* D.W. Moffett as Cornelius Rhodes
* Christina Brucato as Claire Rhodes
* Roland Buck III as Dr. Noah Sexton
* Deron J. Powell as Tate Jenkins
* Karen Aldridge as Dr. Kendra Perrington
* Mace Montgomery Miskel as Eric Jenkins
* Lorena Diaz as Nurse Doris
* Amy J. Carle as Dr. Olga Patchefsky

### Guest Cast

* Justin McCarthy as Mr. Newman
* Vanessa Martinez as Neela Desai
* Robert Eli as Brian Tucker
* Taylor Marie Blim as Ellie Newman
* Walter Briggs as Andrew Tucker
* Jeanne T. Arrigo as Ms. Allen
* Aurora Adachi-Winter as Margaret
* Adrian Jumaane Hill as Basketball Player
* Michael-Andre Smith as Tate's Friend
* Deverin Deonte as Tate's Friend #2

## Plot

The episode begins with April Sexton attending a party with Tate Jenkins, and meeting his NFL friends. April and Tate talk about how April does not know anything about football, just as Tate doesn't know anything about her work as a nurse. April sees her brother Noah Sexton at the party, setting up IV drips (banana bags) for the athletes in exchange for payment, to ensure that they don't suffer hangovers which will affect their practice the next day. Upset, April leaves the party.

In the E.R., a patient, Ellie Newman, comes in with her father. She is dressed up, as she was trying on her prom dress for later, and is suffering from abdominal pain, which is causing her to vomit. Her father, accompanying her, doesn't seem to know anything about her medical history. Dr. Natalie Manning and Dr. Connor Rhodes attend to her, but Ellie refuses to accept any pain medication. Ellie's father tells them it's because he is a junkie, and Ellie doesn't not want to end up like him. Ellie tells them she experienced something similar the previous year, but the doctor that she consulted couldn't find anything and referred her to a psychologist. Dr. Natalie Manning and Dr. Connor Rhodes bring in Dr. Daniel Charles, who tells them that while Ellie's issue could be psychological or physical, they need to be careful, given the history of drug addiction in the family, and avoid giving her pain medication. Dr. Daniel Charles suggests that if they do have to conduct invasive tests, like putting a scope in Ellie's stomach, they could try offering a topical pain medication as she refuses any kind of other pain medicine, including non-narcotics.

Dr. Manning and Dr. Rhodes attempt to put a scope in her stomach using topical medicines, but it causes too much discomfort for Ellie. Dr. Manning asks Ellie's father to consent to administering pain medication to her as Ellie is a minor, so they can do an endoscopy and he reluctantly agrees, as he and Ellie have an understanding that he doesn't interfere with her decisions. Dr. Manning administers the pain medication to Ellie, who is very distraught, and the endoscopy reveals that there is nothing wrong internally. Dr. Daniel Charles asks her if the endoscopy was worth it, given that they agreed that Ellie should not be given narcotics. He questions whether it was the right call and asks Dr. Manning if Ellie's father was sober when he gave consent. Dr. Manning discusses it with Dr. Will Halstead, who points out going against the patient's wishes is something she would have criticized him for. Later, Ellie starts panicking and has a psychotic episode, hallucinating, and Dr. Manning tells Dr. Daniel Charles that she regrets administering the medicine, and that it might be psychological. Dr. Daniel Charles asks her what kind of medication they gave, and on confirming that it was an opiate, suggests that he thinks it might be physiological. Dr. Daniel Charles talks to Ellie's father, and finds out about his drug history. When Ellie wakes up, Dr. Charles and Dr. Manning ask Ellie if she changed her diet before experiencing the vomiting, and when she confirms it, they tell her that she has a condition called AIP (acute intermittent porphyria), a genetic condition that caused both the stomach pain and psychosis, and that her change in diet caused a flare-up. Ellie reluctantly agrees to manage the condition with mild opiates, and Dr. Daniel Charles tells her that AIP is a genetic condition that probably contributed to her father's drug use, as he self-medicated to manage the pain without proper help. Later, Dr. Daniel Charles speaks with Ellie's father about using alternative rehabs to help him kick his cocaine habit, but Ellie's father declines.

Sarah Reese and Dr. Halstead attend to a patient who is from Canaryville, where Halstead grew up. The patient is Brian Tucker, who is with his brother, Andrew, with both revealing they knew Will from high school, and they mock him, jokingly asking for a 'real doctor', calling him 'Ginger Spice', reminding him of the many times that they fought him, and asking him if he now lives on the Gold Coast. Dr. Reese defends Will, telling the Tuckers that he is an excellent doctor, but Will tells her that they are just teasing around. After they leave the patient's room, Dr. Reese asks Will if the Tuckers were always like this, and Halstead tells her that in school, the Tuckers were popular kids who were not always kind to other people, like himself. Brian, a trucker, is experiencing pain in his leg and Will orders several tests for him. After the tests come back, Reese and Will tell Andrew Tucker and his brother, that his leg pain is caused by deep vein thrombosis, but that they cannot administer the normal treatment - blood thinners - because of Tucker's history of head injuries, caused by Brian's past and current physical altercations. Halstead tells them that the best way forward at the moment is to wait and see, but the Tuckers are not happy about this, and berate him. Later, Brian Tucker begins to experience difficulty breathing and as Will intubates him, Andrew berates him again, telling Will that he should have given blood thinners before. Will tells him that the clot in Brian's leg has moved to his lungs, and Andrew accuses Will of doing this to his brother, declaring that he wants a new doctor, a "good one". Will tells him again that with Brian's medical history, administering blood thinners is too dangerous, but tells him that if they want a new doctor, they can have one. Dr. Perrington takes over the case and decides to bust the clot, and Reese tells Will that if he is right about Tucker's medical history, a clot buster would be even worse than the blood thinners. Watching the Tuckers enter the elevator, Will tells her it is out of his hands now.

Later, Andrew comes back to Will, and tells him that he shouldn't have accepted their wish to see another doctor because Andrew is not a professional and tells Will that he is the smartest person he knows. He reveals that no matter how many times he and brother beat him when he was young, he always got back up and defended himself, admitting that he and Brian actually respected him, as Will tells him they had an odd way of showing it. Tucker calls him a standup guy and he could not believe that Halstead would back down, especially when his patient was taken. With that, Will attempts to prevent Dr. Perrington from going ahead with the procedure, which upsets her. Dr. Perrington disagrees with Will, telling Andrew Tucker that Halstead is a resident in training while she is a board-certified attending, but Tucker goes with Will's opinion, and stops the procedure. Andrew stabilizes with Halstead's course of treatment. Later, Dr. Perrington later asks Will if he is planning on applying for a job at the hospital after his residency. When he confirms that he is, Dr. Perrington tells him she is on the hiring committee, and that he should look at other hospitals.

Dr. Choi attends to a woman, Neela Desai, who comes to the hospital while pregnant, along with her two young sons. She is in pain and bleeding, and Dr. Choi tells her she has a placental abruption, and needs to have the baby right away or it will endanger both her and the baby's life. Neela Desai tells them she can't have the baby at the time, as she is a surrogate and her payment from the baby's biological parents depends on her carrying the baby to term, which is two months away. She tells them that she spent the last year in a shelter and just got out, and she needs the money, as she won't make her two sons go through another Chicago winter in a shelter again. Dr. Choi asks Dr. Charles for a psych evaluation, and Dr. Charles tells them that she is competent and stable to refuse the delivery, and that she likely has no emotional connection with the baby, which isn't biologically hers. Dr. Choi expresses concern, telling Dr. Charles and Sharon Goodwin that he cannot remain inactive while the patient risks death. Sharon Goodwin discusses the matter with the lawyer of the biological parents of the baby that Neela Desai is carrying, and the lawyer tells them that Desai was offered a financial incentive for carrying the baby to term. The lawyer refuses to compromise on this, despite Sharon Goodwin's requests, and tells her that if the baby is not carried to term, the biological parents will also not be obliged to take care of it, leaving Desai with the responsibility for the child. Dr. Choi asks Dr. Manning if she is willing to speak with Neela Desai as a mother. Dr. Manning talks her about the delivery of her son, and Dr. Manning convinces her to deliver the baby so that she can be there for her two sons, rather than risking her life. Desai delivers a baby girl, who is premature but healthy, but can't look at it and asks them to take the baby away. The baby's biological parents inform Dr. Choi and Sharon Goodwin through their lawyer that the baby will not be adopted, but that she will attempt to find other adoptive parents instead. Sharon Goodwin tells the lawyer that what they are doing is technically legal, but also exploitative and unethical, and compares it to human trafficking.

Later at the hospital, April tells Maggie Lockwood that Maggie was right to warn her against dating athletes. Tate Jenkins comes to the hospital with his son later, for a checkup and to check in on her, as she left the party abruptly. Maggie tells him she doesn't know if dating him is a good idea and that the NFL party crowd is not her scene. Tate tells her it isn't his scene anymore, and that he just wanted her to meet some friends. Maggie leaves the conversation unresolved, returning to work. After talking with Maggie again, she tells Tate that she is not upset with him, but with her brother, and that she likes him. They go out with Tate's son, for ice-cream. Maggie also confronts her brother, Noah Sexton, telling him that she and their family worked hard to help him become a doctor, and that she is disappointed at his illegal moonlighting for NFL athletes. She doesn't accept Noah's excuse that he's trying to make money to repay them, and tells him that they just want him to be a good doctor and that she doesn't expect repayment from him. Maggie and Sharon Goodwin also continue to discuss Sharon's husband, Bert's retirement plans and his efforts to get Sharon to retire as well. Sharon asks Maggie if she knows of a good contractor, as she is considering redoing the basement for Bert as a way of putting off his goals of having both of them retire and travel to the Maldives for a few months. Maggie offers to give Sharon the number of her cousin, who is a contractor.

During the episode, in the E.R., Maggie tells Connor that his sister, Claire Rhodes, is on the phone for him, but Connor asks her to tell his sister he will have to reschedule. Maggie asks Connor if he is really going to reschedule on his sister again, the way he did the previous week, and Connor snaps at her that he is. Maggie tells Connor's sister that he is unavailable and will have to reschedule. Later, Claire Rhodes comes to the hospital and accuses Dr. Connor Rhodes of avoiding her because she doesn't share his hatred of their father, Cornelius Rhodes. She tells Connor that he is wrong to blame Cornelius Rhodes for their mother's suicide, and that he doesn't remember the problems that their mother experienced or their father's efforts to shield them. She tells Connor to call her, when he is ready. At the end of the episode, Dr. Connor Rhodes goes to the department store owned by his father, and meets his sister, Claire Rhodes, and asks her to join him for dinner. She agrees. He also sees his father, Cornelius Rhodes, and they nod at each other but don't speak.

The episode ends with Will at Molly's, where he bumps into Brian Tucker. Brian buys him a beer, and calls Halstead his friend.