This week’s New Amsterdam continues some of the arcs we’ve been seeing. Floyd continues to try to work on his relationship with his father while Iggy tries dating and more!
A Life Without
A man with a serious shoulder injury gets brought into Elizabeth’s OR for surgery. She looks at it and sees the only course of action is amputation. When she tells the patient as much, he begins to panic and refuses the surgery. Elizabeth tries to push due to the surgery being a life-or-death procedure, but he refuses. She ends up calling Iggy down with the intention of having him declare the patient as “not of sound mind” so she can go around his request. Iggy explains to her that the patient in the OR is Canaan Ochoa, the starting pitcher of a major baseball team, and his choice makes sense with his career.
When Iggy talks to him, he realizes what Iggy is trying to do. Iggy explains that it’s just because of how major the choice is that they need to be certain. He’s rules of sound mind to Elizabeth’s dismay. Iggy tries to explain to her that she can’t do this procedure without losing her license because Canaan will fight for wrongful life. Despite this, she tells the OR to prepare for surgery. They all are reluctant to help her and Canaan asks her why she’s doing this. She asks for everyone to leave the OR before talking to Canaan about his choice. She starts angry but begins to understand that Canaan truly thinks he doesn’t have a happy life without baseball. She talks him through it and gets him to see that the surgery is the right move.
Do Not Trespass
Horace shows up at the hospital decked out in fishing gear and tells Floyd that they’re going fishing. Floyd refuses at first because he has a job to do, but Iggy pushes him to do it. When they show up at the fishing place, there’s a clear “no trespassing” sign and Floyd argues with Horace about actually going in. Horace convinces him and they have a bit of fun fishing with a bit of bickering until a Homeland Security officer spots them. Horace takes off while barely giving Floyd any warning of what’s going on. Floyd manages to get away without getting caught, and when he meets back up with Horace, he yells at him about how risky that was and how he could lose his license if he gets in trouble with Homeland Security. The two end up going back and forth, with Horace being upset with Floyd over his career and lifestyle and Floyd being upset with Horace’s lack of care. After a while, Floyd tries to leave, but Horace insists on fishing more.
After calling an Uber, Floyd vents to Iggy back at the hospital about how his mom was right about his dad being fun at first but ends up making him feel worse in the long run. He’s visibly upset as he explains to Iggy that he got a ride back because his dad is still out there. With caution, Iggy explains to Floyd that this is far from a proper diagnosis, but it sounds like his dad has bipolar disorder.
Dating Again
After splitting from Martin, Iggy is trying to date. He anxiously sets up a dating profile and moves on. When Gladys asks if anyone has responded to his profile yet, he checks and learns that no one has. She comforts him and later when he goes home for his days with the kids, Iggy hesitantly, but with his insistence, talks to Martin about it. Martin looks at the profile and points out that his account is set so that Iggy will only match with men over 90-years-old. After Iggy fixes it, he starts getting a bunch of matches. With Iggy wrapped up in his phone, Martin says goodbye and leaves.
The Introduction of Vanessa Bloom
With Casey off shift, Lauren needs someone to vent to. She goes for Walsh who wants nothing to do with it. She reveals that Leyla got her visa straightened out and moved out, so she’s able to move back in. Lauren is hesitant to go get her stuff though. It’s revealed later that her stuff was at her sister’s house. When Lauren shows up to get her things, she finds her sister’s place is a mess and two people not quite passed out on her couch. Looking at how she’s living, Lauren lies and tells her that she actually needs to stay with her for a few days.
Sponsor A Patient
A task that is near impossible for Max arises: budgeting. After combing through the budget and saving a very little amount, Max talks to Lauren about it, and she accidentally gives him an idea. After learning that Lauren gave a patient $40 for her medication and that having the medication would have kept her out of the hospital, Max trashes his whole budget. He proposes to the board that if they give preventive care to patients, it’ll cut their costs from a $5,000 visit to a $50 payment. The board agrees to a pilot program for Max’s proposal.
The program is a hit with the patients, but when the board sees that the patients are getting prescribed things that aren’t traditionally medicine, they refuse to let the program keep going while insisting that they can’t do handouts. Max is disappointed and sadly watches his ATM that was accepting the patients’ prescriptions get wheeled away. While there, he sees a patient that he met earlier. He goes to give her money but realizes he gave all of it away earlier when the ATM ran out. A kind stranger overhears and helps out. Max thanks them and they explain that they give to charity all the time, but it’s nice to see just who you’re helping.
The talk leads Max to build a page on their website where people can sponsor a patient. The site lists what someone needs and why they need it and allows people of the public to help out if they’d like. When Max shows it to Karen, she’s clearly moved by it and helps a patient herself.
Learning to Sign
Toward the beginning of the episode, Max gets into the elevator with Elizabeth and another doctor. They greet him but continue to talk mainly to each other using sign language. Later in the episode, Max visits Elizabeth. When she tries to text for Ben to come to translate, Max tells her that he’s not needed. He proceeds to try and fail at signing what he wants to say to her. She laughs politely at him before walking up with a note. He reads it and realizes how off his signing was. She offers him the note pad and he declines and insists that he wants to do this. It takes a couple of tries but Max manages to sign to Elizabeth that he appreciates her as a friend.
Sudden Loss
A patient gets brought into the ER with severe leg injuries after jumping from a bridge. While they’re getting them set up in a bay, the paramedic that jumped in and saved them starts struggling to breathe and collapses. They rush to help him but struggle to diagnose what’s wrong. After trying many things, a paramedic that came in with him explained that he was fine before he jumped in the water to save the other patient. Lauren realizes then that the patient is dry drowning despite no water in his lungs. They intubate him but it doesn’t work. He codes before they can get him air and they try their hardest but fail to revive him. Lauren comforts the other patient after breaking the news to them.
New Amsterdam is back on Tuesday, October 4 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. Until then, check out our other coverage of the show here!