'Lenox Hill' Ending Explained: Farewell to New York as Dr Amanda Little-Richardson becomes a mom and a doctor
There is no end-point to the stories that 'Lenox Hill' is telling -- births, remissions or death in a never-ending cycle of rinse and repeat. But the documentary tries to find a natural start and closure in the telling of two stories in particular. One of Dr John Boockvar's patient, Chris, whose wife Laura see-saws between hope and despair as the Chris goes through every possible treatment plan, including an experimental one, to stop the cancer cells from coming back.
Out of the stories told in the documentary, his is the most heart-wrenching because in the beginning, his treatment looks like it is working and the cancer is in remission. The family rejoices and he enjoys four cancer-free years. Then, he has a seizure and is rushed back. This is the beginning of the end. Dr Boockvar has to call the family to tell them he has failed and Laura, sobbing, thanks him for all he has done.
It is a heart-rending moment but it shows that all doctors do is play with the odds — will slicing off more near the "margins" affect motor functions or will it get that last stubborn cancer cell that could grow into a malignant mass in a year. No one knows. As Boockvar puts it, it is about improving a patient's survival chances without leaving him with a "deficit". It is a summary of the task at hand and the grief that sometimes subsumes you when you fail.
The other story is of Dr Amanda Little-Richardson, chief resident, obstetrics, who is finishing her residency at Lenox Hill after which she would graduate and become a full-fledged doctor. When the series starts, we learn she is pregnant. Her plan is to graduate successfully, give birth, and then follow her husband Kevin to California. The series ends with her in the same position as her patients. As she huffs and puffs through the contractions, asks for an epidural before finally having a vaginal birth, she is overwhelmed and crying as she kisses her baby.
All her doctor's sangfroid is gone with the wind as her mentor looks on with barely disguised pride at her mentee becoming everything she ever wanted. At that moment, you realize that while she has been coaching women through the most painful moments of their lives, she had no experience of their pain.
After giving birth herself, will she be an even better OB/GYN? Her graduation and her becoming a mother seem to be juxtaposed as Kevin and she says goodbye to the small sunny apartment they have been cohabiting in while in New York.
It is the same apartment that Kevin accidentally revealed the gender of their baby, the same place where their parents joined them in their celebrations. Earlier, we see Dr Little-Richardson get a goodbye from her team that she has become close to during the residency, despite her cool, aloof demeanor.
As Amanda bids goodbye to the city where she has learned so much, she promises to come back someday because "New York is New York". But that return will be delayed and the memories of her colleagues will haunt her since the documentary was filmed just before Covid-19 hit New York.
Just like medicine, life is just as unpredictable.