As I watched "May Day" for the third or fourth time, I was struck by the fact that Luka faced a similar situation with the young boy as Doug did in "Hell and High Water." Both decided against every one else's better judgement to transport an injured child via helicopter to County because eventhough Mercy Hospital was closer by ground, they didn't have pediatric trauma facilities. And when Luka called the boy "Buddy", it was an echo of Doug calling all those kids "Buddy." Coincidence? What do you think?

-- Christine (cmniekamp@aol.com), May 29, 2000

Answers

There was one glaring difference: There wasn't another patient in "Hell and HIgh Water" that was more critical. Had there been a more critical patient, and had Doug taken the boy over a more critical patient, Doug would have been just as wrong as Luka was in his decision.

-- Phyl (erfan@flash.net), May 29, 2000.

I thought there was something more in "Hell and High Water" that made Doug bringing the child to County more controversial, like a closer hospital or another child or something along those lines. If anyone remembers, let me know!

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), May 29, 2000.

If I remember correctly, the thing that made Doug's story controversial was that there was another hospital that was closer, OR either it was that he did not wait for the paramedics to arrive and he took him to the hospital on a TV news chopper that did not have all the medical equipment on it.

-- Melanie (msintn@hotmail.com), May 29, 2000.

I believe that they were going to take the boy to Mercy (?) because it was closer, but Doug argued that they didn't have the facilities that County had that the boy would need (I'm not sure, but maybe it was that Mercy didn't have a peds ICU)

Anyways, Christine, I see your point, though the situation is pretty different. Awhile ago we compared Luka's situation with the girl in Be Patient (his "defining" moment) to Doug's with the boy in the strom drain. Either way, Christine is right, Luka has been acting fairly "Doug-ish". Though, with the situation at the school shooting, Luka's decision and Benton's anger over it reminded me more of the epi Carter's Choice, where Carter auto-transfused a serial rapist (instead of giving him the last of the available blood) because they were low on O neg and Anna got mad at him, though later they had a heart to heart and she agreed that it was a tough call.

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 30, 2000.