Everyone keeps asking about Luka's "defining" moment, and I've been thinking about it. He's been defined in a lot of ways; he's a guy who'll cook dinner for you AND wash the dishes. He'll stay past his shift, even though he's already exhausted, to help a med student get through a hard day. He's quiet, doesn't talk much about himself, doesn't complain. When he does decide to open up, he goes all the way. But there's another side, too. We saw it when he didn't want the organ transplant patient to receive the kidney because he didn't "deserve" it. SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER. We'll see it again tomorrow night when he and Peter argue over who gets first priority on the Medivac helicopter, the seriously injured shooter or one of his victims. Again, Luka is reserving for himself the right to decide who deserves medical treatment; ultimately, who lives and who dies. That's not up the doctor; he's crossed over to playing God. I hope they deal with this trait, and soon. It's dangerous.

-- Felicity (felicity08@juno.com), May 17, 2000

Answers

I do agree that it is not up to Luka to decide who deserves treatment or not. The way I took his actions for tomorrow's ep were. . .he has lived through a war. His family died as a result of it. He probably has a different view of how the 'enemy' or the 'guilty' should be treated as opposed to the innocent or the victims. Does this make any sense? Luka has seen a lot of lives wasted and cut short, and this, IMHO, affects how he treats patients. Not excusable, I know, but where I think the character is coming from in regards to this.

-- Michelle (michw_316@yahoo.com), May 18, 2000.

I think an episode like this is going to hit Luka too close to home. I love Luka, he is my favorite 'new' character. I think he's sweet, nice, and damn attractive. His family was killed in war, probably in a situation similar to the one he is going to be put into. He most likely has some inner torment, and he is NOT going to want to save the life of a murderer. I thought way back when we first found out about Luka, how hard it must be for him to be a doctor, saving people who hurt others or watching people die. I think that tonight's episode may capitalize on that.

-- Joanne (bucklind@hotmail.com), May 18, 2000.

I don't really think it is fair to say that Luka is "playing God". I think he is an excellent doctor. He does have a different view on life than others because of his background. I will have to wait and see tonight's epi, but I doubt Luka is the only doctor on earth who would rather treat a victim first over the perpetrator of the crime. Remember when Mark treated the white GSW before the black GSW mistakenly assuming that the black GSW was in a gang or something and it turned out the white guy was the bad guy? And the kidney transplant...I would have much rather given the kidney to a deserving patient than a druggie who destroyed his own kidneys and would probably do it again. They did the right thing in giving it to him since nobody else was available and not to let the organ go to waste. In the end I don't think Luka would EVER deny anyone medical treatment.

-- amanda (amanda.rehm@home.com), May 18, 2000.

And Amanda, remember when Carter gave a bad guy his own blood (the guy's). He didn't want to waste new blood for this guy in case somebody deserving it would show up and they had used all the blood for him (i don,t remember why they had so little blood that day). Anna and Carter had an argument over this and he admitted he wanted the guy to die or someting like this. This must be a hard choice to make for doctors, Luka included.

-- Manon (brault@saglac.qc.ca), May 18, 2000.

And let's not forget that Doug Ross did this sort of thing on a regular basis!

-- Barbara (goodbabs@zdnetonebox.com), May 18, 2000.

We'll find out tonight. Luka playing "God?" Maybe all physicians do to some extent at some point in their careers. From previews I've seen, it sounds like Luka's patient has a serious wound, as does Benton's. I wonder if it's possible for two physicians to agree in a situation like this. Benton would surely want his patient transported first, as would Luka. I think that the writers will create one of those "doctor dilemmas" that will have us questioning, and deciding for ourselves, who was right. However, knowing Luka's background and given his comment, it will make it a little more complicated. I still wonder about Vukovar and the discrepencies in Luka's story. What if he took his wife and children to the hospital after the shelling? Knowing what happened to the hospital in Vukovar, it's possible that Luka's wife and children had to forego treatment in favor of a wounded enemy soldier. This incident would certainly cause Luka to relive this moment, and attempt to gain more control over this particular situation (recall the blessing in "Last Rites"). All speculation, obviously, but I'm still wondering how the writers are going to tie together all the cleverly given clues about Luka that they've been giving us all season. My opinion is that they've developed this character with great care and sublety.

-- Marlie (Marliemarie@aol.com), May 18, 2000.