Trust was at the core of The Resident Season 5 Episode 9.
Some patients trust their doctors wholeheartedly, while others don’t seem to trust them at all.
Dr. Devi, Conrad, and Trevor had patients who both trusted and distrusted them, and it was a teachable moment all around.
Conrad once again took Trevor under his wing to show him the ropes. It’s not really surprising that he’s taken on the role of a mentor to Trevor since he also mentored Pravesh and, well, look how well that turned out.
But Trevor is also very similar to a young Conrad — you know, the one from the early seasons of The Resident. He’s confident, passionate, outspoken, and doesn’t show nearly enough restraint as he should much like Conrad.
That just means there’s room to learn and grow. Trevor has good instincts, but he needs to learn how to reign them in.
And who better to learn it from than Conrad?
The case was tough. Their patient, Wyatt, was sick but he wasn’t a lost cause. His heart failure could easily be reversed with a pacemaker, and yet, Wyatt, who genuinely believed he was like a cat with nine lives, didn’t want to intervene.
He refused the pacemaker at every turn despite all their efforts to convince him. And you can’t say they didn’t try. They brought in a psychologist, Conrad tried to reason with him, then he tried to level with him, and finally, he opted for reverse psychology to suggest that maybe the Lord wanted them to save him.
None of it worked.
Wyatt was set in his ways, and he was prepared to die.
And eventually, his luck ran out.
It was a heartbreaking case because it was easily preventable. And it speaks volumes to the restraint that Conrad has built up over the years.
It would’ve been easy to disregard the patient’s wishes and put the pacemaker in. It would’ve been easy to break the rules. It would’ve been easy to justify doing the wrong thing.
And it’s twisted to think that saving a life is considering doing the wrong thing, but in this case, it is.
In this instance, the patient’s wishes needed to be respected even if no one agreed with them. At the end of the day, that’s their obligation as doctors.
It may be the most important lesson Trevor ever learns. Losing a patient is never easy, but it’s hard to rationalize when you could’ve done more.
Some days, you fight like hell to save your patient, and other days, you have to sit back and accept that your hands are tied.
Trevor is never going to forget this case, especially because it was also the first patient he’s ever lost.
Trevor meant well. He advocated for his patient. He didn’t give up. He wanted to find a way to ensure his survival.
If he only learns how to take a step back when necessary (and also, how to speak to patients), he has all the makings of a doctor.
As Conrad put it, he cares deeply.
Wyatt’s case was also upsetting because his reasoning for refusing the pacemaker stemmed from being spoonfed misinformation.
Wyatt was part of a Facebook group that spread blatant lies and politicized medicine thus making the job harder for doctors. He wanted to form his own opinions rather than trust science, and while having your own opinions is always welcomed, those opinions should be formed using credible information.
Conrad summed it up nicely — fear and misinformation are dangerous, and they are a hard condition to cure.
On the other hand, Dr. Devi’s patient, Brit, put all of her faith in the medical experts.
She needed surgery, but it wasn’t without risk. Despite always looking on the humorous side of things, she was unable to make the best medical decision for herself, so she asked Dr. Devi to do it for her.
Devi is a brilliant doctor, but her self-doubt gets in the way all too often.
I love that she has Bell in her corner encouraging her, but hopefully, after successfully completing Brit’s surgery all on her own, she starts to believe it more.
Devi was a beast in the surgery room when Bell left. She took charge, made the calls, and stuck by them because she knew that she was right.
It was impressive. She proved that she can handle anything.
Of course, seeing Bell’s hand tense up and tremble brings it back to the earlier seasons.
His character has come a long way, however. The old Bell would’ve continued on with the surgery because he had an inflated ego. The new and improved Bell took a step back and excused himself knowing that it would be too much for Devi. He didn’t want to be her patient on top of an already complex surgery.
Bell also reached out to Conrad to ask him if he’d run some confidential tests on him to see what was causing the tremors and vertigo.
It’s understandable that Bell wants to keep this on the down-low. Even if all his tests came back fine, if anyone were to find out, it would cast doubt on his ability to continue doing the job.
Plus, he’s dating Kit, so she would be worried unnecessarily.
If the test results uncover something major, I know Bell will make it known, but I can’t help the guy for wanting to find out without making a huge spectacle of it and potentially sabotaging his whole career.
It also speaks volumes to his character growth that he’s entrusting Conrad with running the tests. There was a time where Bell refused to acknowledge that Conrad was a good doctor.
Elsewhere — Kit hired Padma to teach a yoga class to help the doctor’s zen out. I know they are all really busy — those pagers don’t stop — but honestly, they all need it. It should be a mandatory part of their day, at least for a few minutes.
It’s also a sweet way to bring her into everyone’s orbit a bit more.
Pravesh spent the episode interviewing potential candidates to take his place in the ER and realized that there was no one that was in it for the love of medicine. I know he wanted to pursue clinical research, but let’s not deny that he is absolutely incredible at his job and Chastain can’t lose him.
Also, I love that the series is leaning into Conrad as a father. Some shows just ignore the parental aspect because it’s easier than trying to weave it into the narrative, but while we see him spending most of his time at the hospital, Gigi is still a huge part of his life and constantly makes appearances!
What did you think of the episode?
Is it just me or is The Resident really thriving this season?