The Good Doctor (TV Series)

Pipes (2017)

Nicholas Gonzalez: Dr. Neil Melendez

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Quotes 

• Dr. Neil Melendez : 36 years old, 22 weeks pregnant. Ultrasound at sixteen weeks revealed a tumor on the fetus' tailbone.

  Dr. Jared Kalu : Mom's got antiphospholipid syndrome. Makes surgery high risk.

  Dr. Claire Browne : Also makes pregnancy high risk. She's had three miscarriages.

  Dr. Shaun Murphy : [hurrying in]  We need to do an ultrasound and MRI to measure the tumor's growth rate.

  Dr. Neil Melendez : Late bus doesn't explain why you're showing up tired after you just had twelve hours off.

  Dr. Claire Browne : We're all tired. Our last shift was thirty-six hours.

  Dr. Neil Melendez : I'm not interested in debating the shift schedule with you. But I am curious why you always feel the need to defend him.

  Dr. Claire Browne : Well, we're all on the same team.

  Dr. Neil Melendez : Yes. But you're all quarterbacks. And when training camp is over, there's only gonna be one starter.

• Dr. Neil Melendez : Andrews is covering for Lim in the ER. He has a patient who needs a boil lanced.

  Dr. Claire Browne : A plastic surgeon can't lance a boil?

  Dr. Neil Melendez : Plastic surgeons can. Chief surgeons don't. You and Murphy.

  Dr. Claire Browne : What? It was our ideas that convinced you to do the fetal surgery, and now you're punishing us with Andrews' scut work?

  Dr. Neil Melendez : You're not getting punished. He is. For being late. Again. But I don't trust him alone with a patient. And since you like to defend him and seem to know how to communicate with him... hurry back.

• Dr. Neil Melendez : I'm gonna use the heparin pre-operatively and a TEE monitor.

  Dr. Marcus Andrews : Still not enough. The risk of a heart attack or stroke...

  Dr. Neil Melendez : Was thoroughly explained. The patient still wants the surgery.

  Dr. Marcus Andrews : She wants it? Or you want it?

  Dr. Neil Melendez : Yes, saving a fetus' life would be good news for me. Any other questions? Or insults?

  Dr. Marcus Andrews : Relax. I'm not insulting you. Of course you want to do the surgery. But you do surgeries like this, some patients are going to die. And then our department's success rate goes down, and then our funding goes down, and then you can't do surgeries like this. So if your judgment is clouded in any way, just...

  Dr. Neil Melendez : [firmly]  It's not.

  Dr. Marcus Andrews : Okay.

• Jessica Preston : Once the fetus is removed from the uterus, one could argue that it becomes a child.

  Dr. Neil Melendez : That's ridiculous.

  Jessica Preston : There are numerous legal precedents...

  Dr. Aaron Glassman : That guarantee the mother's right to choose. It's her body. It's her control.

  Dr. Neil Melendez : I'm completely comfortable going ahead with this surgery.

  Dr. Aaron Glassman : As am I.

  Dr. Marcus Andrews : I never was, and I certainly am not now.

  Jessica Preston : I'm sorry. Until we're certain there is no liability connected to parental consent, neither am I.

  Allegra Aoki : Well, the one thing I think we can all agree on is that the mother has the power to do nothing. And if she doesn't terminate or have the surgery to remove the tumor...

  Dr. Neil Melendez : A fetus with a massive tumor will die inside a patient with APS.

  Dr. Aaron Glassman : Then the mother would die, too, right?

  Allegra Aoki : So we do nothing, and they both die. Or we can do something that's legally and ethically complicated, and maybe they both live.

• Dr. Neil Melendez : Mr. Allen?

  Mark Allen : I'm trying to convince her to save herself. I don't want to roll the dice with my wife's life.

  Dr. Neil Melendez : But she does. We're gonna start prepping her now, and she goes into the O.R. in a few hours.

  Mark Allen : I understand why she's desperate. But not why you are. If she dies, it's your fault.

  Dr. Neil Melendez : And what if she lives? You're gonna have a wife and child who need you, and you keep driving her out of your life. I'm not desperate. I'm confident. Which should make you feel better.

• Dr. Neil Melendez : Never contradict me in front of a patient again.

  Dr. Shaun Murphy : I didn't. I agree with your assessment of the risks. I suggested a way to mitigate them.

  Dr. Neil Melendez : Not in front of the patient.

  Dr. Shaun Murphy : We're not in front of the patient now.

  Dr. Claire Browne : I was just reading about a new technique for transeophageal echocardiography monitoring. If there's a cardiac issue, it would give us an early warning.

  Dr. Neil Melendez : Let's get her prepped. ASAP.

• Dr. Jared Kalu : The crown-rump length of the fetus is 21.5 centimeters. And the diameter of the tumor is... 10.6 centimeters. Half the size of the fetus.

  Dr. Neil Melendez : The tumor's grown. It's not cancer, but it is monopolizing the blood supply, which is weakening the fetus' heart. I'm sorry, but there's no chance it would survive long enough to be viable. The safest course is to terminate the pregnancy.

  Barb Allen : If we were interested in the safest course, we wouldn't be on our third second opinion. Please, Dr. Melendez, we want whatever will save our baby.

  Mark Allen : Dr. Wright told us you've done fetal surgery to remove this type of tumor before.

  Barb Allen : And without the tumor, our baby would be healthy.

  Dr. Neil Melendez : Your antiphospholipid syndrome makes a long surgery extremely dangerous. There's a high chance for blood clots, which could have fatal consequences for you.

  Barb Allen : We're willing to take that risk.

  Dr. Neil Melendez : Saving the fetus doesn't do any good if the mother dies in the process.

  Barb Allen : I've had three miscarriages. If I have to go through that again, I might as well be dead.

  Mark Allen : Barb.

  Barb Allen : It's true.

  Mark Allen : No, it's not. You're the strongest woman I've ever met. We'll get through this. We will. And... and then we'll try again.

  Dr. Shaun Murphy : We could manage clotting risk pre-operatively with an infusion of unfractionated heparin.