Great Geigerisms 2.5

Brought to you by Sue #2


            Memorable Mandy Moments/Great Geigerisms
                           Episode 2.5
                           Wild Cards

The men are playing cards, Geiger is dealing:

JG:  It's time to get serious.  The game is five card draw. One-eyed
     Jacks are wild.
BK:  Wild cards are a wuss game.
JG:  I'm dealing, I'm calling the game.  You in or out?
PW:  You're running kind of low there, Jeffrey.
JG:  I can afford to lose.
DN:  Who died and left you money?
JG:  Eleanor Halpern.
BK:  Who?
PW:  Chicago Hope's latest benefactor.  She passed away last week.
AS:  Jeffrey's under the delusion that all of her funding money's
     going to his artificial heart.
BK:  How much?
PW:  1.8 million.
BK:  Whoa!
PW:  Board is meeting tomorrow to decide the allocation.
DN:  It's my ace.
AS:  You know, Jeffrey, there are other doctors in this hospital. 
     Two cards please.
JG:  You know, ever since the divorce, you're no fun.  Dealer
     takes uh... two.
BK:  Ten bucks.
DN:  I'm out.
BK:  You wuss.
DN:  For somebody who needs to rent an apartment and get out of
     mine, should you be gambling?
AS:  See the ten.
PW:  See your ten, raise you twenty.
JG:  Where else can I get this kind of research grant from that of
     kissin' ass?  Baby's ass, that's another thing.  Beautiful
     woman's, I could kiss all day.  But government ass, corporate
     ass, ick!  Big, fat, hairy, I can't stand 'em.  Little ol'
     lady, 85 years old, cardiac arrest leaves almost two million.
     Bang, ass-less money.
PW:  Enough with the asses.
AS:  Bet.  [Austin knocks and enters.]
JG:  Speak of the devil.
KA:  Oh, I guess I'm not interrupting anything too important.
JG:  Don't jump to conclusions.  Have a nice night.  See your
     twenty, raise you thirty.
KA:  My critical pathways for tomorrow's Board meeting.
PW:  Thank you.
JG:  All right, it's too much talk.  Billy, you in?
BK:  Wild card is a wuss game.  I fold on principle.
AS:  Fold.
JG:  Typical.  [to PW]  Just you and me.
PW:  All right, raise you ten.
JG:  See your ten, raise you thirty.
KA:  [looking over PW's shoulder]  See your thirty, raise you fifty.
JG:  You're not in the game.  Phillip?
     [PW gestures for KA to bet.]
KA:  Fifty.
JG:  OK.  Want to throw your money away.  [He takes some of BK's chips.]
BK:  Hey hey hey!  Get out!
JG:  See your fifty, raise you one hundred.
BK:  Get out of here!
JG:  Call or fold.
KA:  We'll call.  One hundred.
JG:  [smiling as he shows his cards]  Got a pair of deuces.  [They
     all start to laugh.]
PW:  [showing his cards]  Read 'em and weep guys.
DN:  He beat you with a pair of fours.
JG:  [LOL]  You got lucky.
KA:  No.  You're easy.  Bye boys.  [she leaves]
BK:  Boy, you gonna stand for that?

Austin is interpreting some data when Geiger comes along to help:

JG:  Got a 50% ejection fraction there.  You might have missed that.
KA:  Things are under control, thanks.  Do you mind?
JG:  You helped out last night, I help out today.  You got some
     vegetation on that valve replacement.
KA:  I know how to interpret the data, thanks.
JG:  Just don't want you missin' it.
KA:  Just shoo.

Austin is speaking with Mr. and Mrs. Brunner, telling them that
Mrs. Brunner might not need surgery.  Geiger walks in:

JG:  Dr. Austin, you called for a consult.
KA:  Excuse me?
JG:  Hello.  Dr. Jeffrey Geiger.  Mr. and Mrs. Brunner, isn't it? 
     [to KA]  You left Mrs. Brunner's chart outside.  [to MB]  I
     understand your fear of undergoing another open heart surgery. 
     Really I do.  But it is my recommendation, as this hospital's
     top cardiac surgeon, to replace the faulty valve as soon as possible.
KA:  E-Excuse me.  Would you just excuse us for just one sec.
     please?  Dr. Geiger, please.  [JG comforts MB by rubbing her arm.]
JG:  Yeah.
KA:  Please, this way.  What are doing?
JG:  The poor woman's not entitled to a second opinion?  I saw the
     chart, I want to help.
KA:  Don't second guess me in front of my patients.
JG:  Well you leave that valve in too long, Mrs. Brunner dies. 
     Very messy.  The valve her doctor used, the Maxim (sp?), is a
     hunk of junk, trust me.
KA:  Oh yeah, I'll trust you.
JG:  Don't say I didn't warn you.

Geiger in Watters' office:

JG:  $50,000.  How'd those nitwits on the Board arrive at that
     figure?  Where'd the rest of the money go?
PW:  35,000 to Mariniack for R & D on transplant [?]
JG:  Mariniack has no R & D.  He's pullin' everyone's taffy.
PW:  200,000. to Grad for AIDS research.
JG:  Politically correct.  Clearly they spread it around so
     everyone could be happy.  God forbid anyone should be unhappy
     at Chicago Hope.
PW:  God forbid.
JG:  $50,000.  I spend more than that on chewing gum.  I'm trying
     to develop an artificial heart here, Phillip.  It takes money
     for research.  Did you explain that?
PW:  Jeffrey, I tried.
JG:  Well you didn't try hard enough.  [There's a knock at the door.]
     WHAT?!!!  [Austin enters.]
KA:  Hi.
JG:  This hospital's getting really cramped.
KA:  Phillip, I just got word.  Thank you so much.  [They shake hands.]
PW:  Yeah.  [He gestures for her to leave and she does.]
JG:  How much?  How much Austin get for her critical whosamajiggy?
PW:  125.  The Board felt that it was in the hospital's best
     interest to increase productivity and lower production costs.
JG:  Best interest.  I'm the hospital's best interest.  You wanna
     talk productive.  I work like a dog bringing in patients while
     keepin' our surgical staff in a top notch--
PW:  Jeffrey.
JG:  Phillip, you owe me, hospital owes me.  I want what I deserve.
PW:  One of these days, you'll get what you deserve.  [JG walks out.]

Geiger is talking with Mr. Brunner:

JG:  The bioprosthetic valve your cardiologist used is of poor
     quality.  Now other doctors may disagree, that's their
     prerogative, but that doesn't concern me.  What does concern
     me is how that valve functions.  It's been my experience, that
     valve doesn't function so well.
MB:  I've never trusted doctors.  No offense.
JG:  [smiles]  No offense taken.
MB:  The cardiologist, the one who retired, told us that she'd be
     fine after surgery.  She hasn't been the same, mentally I mean.
JG:  Sometimes when older patients undergo a general anesthesia...
     there is a permanent impact.
MB:  Just like another surgery will impact Milly if the valve
     *does* need to be replaced.  You married?
JG:  [hesitates]  It's a complicated question.
MB:  You know what it's like loving someone and then... losing that
     person bit by bit?  I'm losing my wife... and there's nothing
     I can do.  [JG just stares, knowing exactly what MB is going through.]

Geiger enters Watters' office without knocking:

JG:  You wanted me?
PW:  Yes.  Sit.
JG:  I'll stand.
AB:  Just got a call from attorneys representing Maxim heart valves
     and they want to know why one of our doctors called the FDA
     claiming their valve is defective and needs to be recalled.
JG:  They want to know why?
AB:  That's it, yeah.
JG:  The valve *is* defective and needs to be recalled.
AB:  Well, you know, Jeffrey, I checked the literature and no one
     else shares your point of view.
JG:  You believe everything you read?
PW:  You remember Chicago Hope participated in that valve's early
     development.  Well, you put us in a tough spot, Jeffrey.  If
     that valve is found to be defective, Chicago Hope could be
     liable.  If it's not defective, we could be sued for slander.
JG:  Are you more concerned over patients' lives or putting a brown
     skid over the name Chicago Hope?
AB:  You know, if...if you just...just give us something to go on here
     and you have given us nothing.
JG:  Have you two spend so much time sucking up to committees and
     shufflin' papers, you forgot what medicine is all about?
AB:  What?  This is not about what *we* do.
JG:  I changed the topic ... because I have just spent one hour
     with a man who is watching his wife's health disintegrate
     because of Kate Austin and that valve.
AB:  Well you have got no proof that valve is defective.
JG:  [takes a step closer to AB]  Try 20 years of fixin' other
     peoples' hearts.
PW:  All right, c'mon, it's been a long day.  It's not even over. 
     Listen carefully, Jeffrey.  I'm not gonna say it twice.  Back
     off the FDA and the Maxim valves otherwise...
JG:  What Phillip?  Otherwise what?  You can't fire me.  I've done
     nothing to injure a patient.  On the contrary, I'm trying to
     save-- [He starts towards AB but PW puts his arm out.]
JG:  [seething]  I will not back off!
PW:  I think you better leave now.  [Without another word, JG glares 
     at AB and leaves, slamming the door behind him.]

Austin and Shutt are in the OR (Geiger is watching from above):

KA:  Piece of mind.  Is that even possible around Geiger?
AS:  Hey, you wanna know Jeffrey's secret?
KA:  What?
AS:  When he speaks, he speaks with authority.
KA:  Oh.
AS:  Makes everything out of his mouth sound like the truth.
KA:  More like everything that comes out his mouth sounds like
     *gospel*.
AS:  It's rumored that God has a Geiger complex.

Shutt is about to check Geiger's patients' files when Geiger enters
his office without knocking:

AS:  Where've you been?
JG:  Around.  Where've you been?  Actually, I know where you've
     been.  Hold up in the OR with Austin.
AS:  [smiles]  You make it sound like a cozy rendezvous.
JG:  Austin should have replaced that valve.  Prevented the
     hemorrhage.  [He starts to leave.]
AS:  That's what you say.
JG:  [Turns back.]  Well, what I say used to be good enough for you.
AS:  OK.  All right, Jeffrey.  What's going on?  You know that
     lately you have done nothing but sabotage your career and crush
     your friends.  At Kate Austin's hiring, your research money,
     doesn't matter what it is.  You always make it personal and
     when you do that you go for the jugular.
JG:  I should just ignore things going on around me.
AS:  You should stop making this sound like a conspiracy.
JG:  Well, that's what this is, Aaron.
AS:  You're being paranoid.
JG:  [re his files on AS's desk]  What's this?  I'm not stupid. 
     [whispers]  I am not.  What are you lookin' for in my
     patients' files?  Mistakes?
AS:  Jeffrey listen--
JG:  W-W-Whatever happened to uh... I'll back you, Jeffrey.  I
     trust you, Jeffrey.  Friends support each other.  That's what
     they do.  They don't go behind each other's back with files,
     Kate Austin...
AS:  All right, so we're back to Kate Austin again.
JG:  Oh, that hit a little close to home, didn't it?
AS:  No, but in the Brunner case you undermine her authority and
     you scare the hell out of her patient's husband.
JG:  You want to sleep with Austin, go ahead.  Just don't forget
     your duty to the patient.  [He pats AS on the arm before he leaves.]

Austin is waiting for the elevator when Geiger walks up.  The
elevator comes and he gets in blocking her out:

JG:  Why not take the next car?
KA:  It would be a privilege to ride with you, Jeff.  Excuse me.
JG:  I hear your Mrs. Brunner stroked out.  If you listened to me maybe--
KA:  According to the numbers I've seen so far, the valve only
     shows a 3% infection rate at a 1% [?] rate.
JG:  Think that will matter to the Brunners?  I'd love to tell you
     "I told you so," so I will-- I told you so.
KA:  Excuse me.  [She tries to get on but he continues to block the
     entrance.]  Oh God.  You are unbelievable!  I don't know who
     or what put the bug up your butt about me, but I'm just trying
     to do my job here, OK?  And as much as you think people are
     plotting against you, Jeff, the truth is, we're not even
     thinking about you *at all*.  So you can either let me on the
     elevator and we can ride together in peace or we can stand
     here like this playing Red Rover all day, 'cause I'm not
     movin'.  Your call.  [He bumps her as he leaves the elevator silently.]

Geiger is playing the piano and singing "I Wish I Could Forget
You" to Laurie at the institution:

JG:  [singing]  I wanted you to vanish from sight, but now I see
     you in a different light.  And though I cannot love you, I
     wish that I could love you.  For now I'm seeing love like none
     I've ever known-- a love as pure as breath, as permanent as
     death, implacable--
LG:  This song is so depressing.
JG:  --as stone.  A love that, like a knife--
LG:  Why don't you tell me about your day?
JG:  --has cut into a life--  [stops singing]  What's to tell? 
     [resumes singing] --I wanted left alone.
LG:  Stop.  Stop.  Why are you so afraid of silence?  [He gets up
     from the piano bench and touches her shoulder.]  What do you
     think about when you try to stop, Jeffrey?  [He gets some
     water.]  Me?  Your patients?  [He crushes the paper cup and
     throws it in the wastebasket.  She walks over to him and hugs
     him.]  I missed you.
JG:  This feels nice.
LG:  Mmmm.  Yeah.  Jeffrey?
JG:  Hmmm?
LG:  I haven't seen you for months and I wasn't going to tell you
     for a little while longer but... since you came by-- [She 
     lets go of him, but he pulls her closer.]
JG:  Don't stop.
LG:  I started a new medication, clozapine.  I'm feeling really
     good... clear.  I think this is the one.  Of coarse, the
     doctors want to wait a little bit longer, to make sure that it works.
JG:  [He kisses her.]  It'll work.  [They hug.]  It *will* work. 
     [She smiles as tears well up in her eyes and he stares sadly.]


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