'Chicago Med' season 5 episode 3: Maggie lashes out at the new nurse unable to hide her temper and her failing health
In this week's episode of 'Chicago Med', Maggie's treatment catches up to her. If you recall, her cancer was confirmed in the season premiere, but Maggie does not want her colleagues to know about her diagnosis as she does not want to be seen as "the sick person". Sharon is the only one who knows as Maggie seeks treatment at East Mercy. In the previous episode, her nurse had asked her to take enough rest after her chemotherapy treatment but Maggie went straight to work.
In this episode, Sharon shows us why she is in the administration. She asks the new nurse to follow Maggie -- to learn from Maggie and to keep an eye on her. Maggie is not happy about this and it shows in her treatment of this nurse. As this nurse follows Maggie, the nurse keeps pointing out what she can do and what she is certified in. Annoyed, Maggie makes the nurse check the expiry dates on all the drugs in the Emergency Department, including the crash carts. After the nurse completes that she makes her get her coffee from an outlet outside the hospital. When Maggie is prepping for surgery, it is clear she is not well as she is short of breath. The new nurse offers to scrub in but Maggie refuses. During the operation, Maggie feels worse and runs out, asking April to scrub in for her. When she runs to the bathroom, the new nurse follows her to check up on her but Maggie yells. She tells her she does not appreciate the way the nurse points out everything she can do. The nurse quits saying she won't be spoken to that way. When Sharon later speaks to Maggie about her actions, Maggie finally accepts that she needs to clear off her plate, and tells April that she will be training her to take over the ED.
Honestly, Maggie's attitude this week was disappointing. It's easy to understand why she was in a foul temper, but to take it out on a colleague was quite unprofessional. Yes, the nurse kept pointing out what she could do well -- why is that annoying? Women are almost always berated for taking credit for what they can do when men aren't treated the same way. Also, Maggie showed no remorse for speaking to her the way she did, which was disappointing. Sharon did not know what went down and that could be why she did not ask her to apologize for her words.
Additionally, Maggie has presumably been a nurse for a long time. She should have known that she could not have gone into that Operation Theatre when she is not feeling 100%. It was irresponsible of her to do that, putting the patient's life at risk. Now that Maggie will train April, perhaps she will avoid risky situations like those.
'Chicago Med' airs on NBC on Wednesday nights.