Also known as: Pregnancy loss
Lea recently suffered a miscarriage, which is the central emotional arc of the episode. Both she and Shaun are struggling to cope with the loss, with Shaun throwing himself into work and Lea trying to process the grief at home.
Also known as: Facial twitch
Senator Clark presents with recurrent episodes of left-sided facial twitching and blinking. MRI reveals a tortuous basilar artery branch compressing the facial nerve. The condition threatens her political career as she fears being caught on camera during an episode.
Also known as: Brain aneurysm
During surgery to sling the artery branch causing her facial spasms, the basilar artery becomes dilated and compresses the brain stem, causing her to stop breathing. Emergency bypass surgery is required with significant mortality risk.
Also known as: Leaking heart valve
Post-bypass surgery patient whose strengthened heart reveals weakness in the aortic valve that cannot handle the pump pressure. Initially planned for minimally invasive TAVR but ultimately requires open valve replacement.
Also known as: Narrowing of the aorta
Shaun discovers that Artie has a congenital narrowing of the abdominal aorta that his body had compensated for through elevated blood pressure for years. This compensatory mechanism led to heart deterioration requiring the original bypass. The diagnosis prevents a potentially fatal TAVR procedure.
Also known as: Blocked arteries
The underlying condition that required Artie's initial bypass surgery one month prior to the episode events.