New Amsterdam Doc Tells Cancer Patient How to Overdose #Politics #RedPills
Doctors are generally believed to uphold the value of “first do no harm,” but that wasn’t the case on the latest episode of medical drama New Amsterdam which portrayed enabling a suicide as an act of mercy.
Oncologist Dr. Helen Sharpe is one of the most sympathetic characters on NBC’s New Amsterdam. She shows gentleness and compassion to all her patients. But on Tuesday’s episode she secretly provided a suffering cancer patient with the medical means to take her own life.
Molly Richards is a cancer patient at New Amsterdam under Dr. Valentina Castro’s care, but when Sharpe meets her Molly’s in tremendous pain. She also learns that Molly is trying a seventh experimental treatment for her genetically rare tumor.
A friend of Molly’s has recently died in an accident and when Sharpe asks about it, Molly expresses envy.
“Life fine. Death at this point, fine too. It’s the middle ground waiting for death that’s humiliating,” Molly says.
Sharpe asks Molly if Dr. Castro has ever talked to her about going into hospice.
“Hospice? The trial? Someone else is still pulling the strings. I miss being in control, especially now at the end,” Molly says.
Later, Sharpe meets with Molly privately and asks her questions about her mood and quality of life before offering her the “control” she misses.
After Molly says she finds “no” meaning in life and it is “lacking quality,” Sharpe places a bottle of “extremely powerful painkillers on the table” and spells out exactly how to take them in order to commit suicide.
“They’re very good at what they do. But if you take too many of them your breathing will slow and you will die. I’m gonna leave the room now. If they’re gone when I return, there’ll be no questions asked,” Sharpe tells her before squeezing Molly’s shoulder and starting to leave. “This is your choice, no one else’s. You’re in control.”
Later Castro confronts Sharpe because Molly has checked out of the hospital entirely, implying, but never showing that she took the painkillers and left to end her own life.
The show further supports Sharpe’s action to enable Molly’s (presumed) suicide with the confrontation scene. After Castro demands to know what happened, Sharpe lies to her while calling Valentina out.
“Okay, first of all Valentina, She’s not your patient. She is our patient. But yes, I did speak with her. And I told her that I thought you were doing an extraordinary job. But if her pain had become too great, I knew that you would understand if she chose not to continue treatment,” Sharpe says.
Then she adds, “Because as a physician there is no way that you would put a drug trial or scientific discovery ahead of the needs of your patient. And I am certain that she appreciated that.”
Castro replies with an edge to her voice, “Next time one of our patients has an issue, I promise I’ll be equally supportive of you.”
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