Also known as: Narcotic overdose
Dr. Hannah Asher, Will Halstead's girlfriend and fellow physician, is brought to the ED unconscious after overdosing on opioids. This drives a major emotional storyline about addiction, trust, and their relationship ending.
Also known as: Aspiration pneumonia
Hannah aspirated vomit during her overdose, requiring intubation and ventilator support before she could be extubated.
Also known as: Coronavirus
Multiple patients in the COVID ward are critically ill. Alvin Booker is intubated and placed on a ventilator. Frederick MacNeal deteriorates despite ventilation, requires consideration for ECMO but is denied due to resource allocation, and ultimately dies from multi-organ failure.
Also known as: Blood cancer
12-year-old Kellie has been battling leukemia for years, recently finished chemotherapy, but now shows signs of cancer recurrence with elevated cells in her bone marrow.
Also known as: Heart failure from chemotherapy
Kellie's chemotherapy damaged her heart muscle, causing severe heart failure with S3 gallop, distended neck veins, leg swelling, and critically low ejection fraction of 15%. She ultimately requires LVAD implantation to allow her heart to recover before resuming cancer treatment.
Also known as: GSW
A 20-year-old male presents with a gunshot wound to the upper right thigh, mentioned as the second GSW of the day, highlighting ongoing urban violence during the pandemic.
Also known as: Gut fermentation syndrome
Air traffic controller Anita Palmer presents with recurrent falls and elevated blood alcohol level (0.14) despite denying alcohol consumption. After initially suspecting alcoholism, Dr. Halstead discovers she has auto-brewery syndrome where gut yeast converts carbohydrates to alcohol, triggered by stopping her low-carb paleo diet.