Also known as: Brain infection
Iraq war veteran presents with altered mental status, fever, and headache. CT reveals sinus infection that has spread to his brain, requiring surgical drainage in the OR. The case highlights the complications from his combat injuries and skin grafts.
Also known as: Dislocated shoulder
Young trafficking victim presents with shoulder dislocation. Abby performs a sheet reduction technique. During treatment, evidence of sexual abuse is discovered, revealing she is a victim of sex trafficking.
Also known as: Child abuse
During examination of the shoulder dislocation, Abby discovers multiple injuries indicating ongoing physical and sexual abuse. The patient reveals she was kidnapped from Mexico and forced into sex trafficking, becoming a central storyline involving law enforcement and child protective services.
Also known as: Shark attack
Marine biologist arrives in the ER with a nurse shark still attached to his hand. The shark latched onto him during tank cleaning. Treatment involves disconnecting the shark while keeping both patient and animal safe.
Also known as: Chest injury
Young man attacked with a tire jack in a hate crime presents with severe blunt trauma to head and torso, flail chest, and massive internal bleeding. Despite aggressive resuscitation including chest tube placement, he arrests on scene and dies in the ER after prolonged code.
Also known as: Kidney injury from bus accident
Second victim of hate crime attack presents with blunt abdominal trauma causing intra-abdominal bleeding complicated by bloody pericardial effusion and tamponade. Abby performs emergency pericardiocentesis, stabilizing him for emergency surgery.
Also known as: Blood around the heart
Develops as a complication of his blunt chest trauma, with blood accumulating in the pericardial sac causing hemodynamic compromise. Abby performs emergency pericardiocentesis to relieve the pressure, a critical moment in her first major independent trauma case.
Also known as: PTSD
Iraq war veteran exhibits PTSD symptoms including inability to sleep and disturbing dreams where he's still the person he was before his injuries. He states he always wakes up to his current reality and expresses profound psychological suffering.
Also known as: Bereavement
Carter exhibits signs of complicated grief throughout the episode, culminating in an emotional breakdown. He has trouble sleeping, recurring dreams, and misses his late baby and partner Kem. His grief manifests in unusual behavior including an intense interaction with the veteran patient.
Also known as: Drinking again
Abby admits to Carter at the end of the episode that she had 'a little slip' regarding her sobriety, acknowledging she drank alcohol after a difficult day handling her first major independent traumas.