Is Nurse Doris Leaving Gaffney on Chicago Med?
Nurse Doris has been helping patients since Season 4, but she landed in hot water in Med's latest episode.
Due to the closure of a nearby hospital, it's been all hands on deck throughout Season 10 of Chicago Med. Still, no one expected Gaffney's insane workload to jeopardize the job of One Chicago fan favorite Nurse Doris, played by Lorena Diaz. With her endless sarcasm and infallible dedication, everybody loves Nurse Doris, so it wasn't fun to see her struggle on Med's latest episode.
Season 10, Episode 12 ("In the Wake") began with Dr. Caitlin Lenox (Sarah Ramos) informing charge nurse Maggie Lockwood (Marlyne Barrett) that a new stock of medications had been delivered. However, due to staff shortages, the pharmacy failed to send a technician to restock the Pyxis, Gaffney's medication distribution system. Maggie reminded Lenox that restocking the Pyxis is the pharmacy's job, not the nurses. Lenox confirmed she knew that, but without a tech, she urged Maggie to delegate the chore to one of the nurses. Frustrated but forced to do so, Maggie tapped Nurse Doris for the task.
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The beloved E.D. nurse has been a Gaffney go-to since her introduction in Season 4, so it was no surprise when Maggie asked for her help. However, Lenox's directive launched a disastrous chain of events, culminating in Doris nearly losing her job.
Dr. Lenox demanded Maggie to fire Nurse Doris
The drama began after Dr. Mitch Ripley (Luke Mitchell) prepared to discharge a young girl who was brought in with stomach pain, only for her health to take a drastic turn for the worst. Mystified over the girl's sudden change in condition, Ripley racked his head for answers.
Meanwhile, Lenox found herself frustrated after realizing an adult patient was only given two milligrams of morphine before a splint was applied. Lenox took her complaints directly to a confused Doris, who confirmed she'd given the man his morphine dose.
"You gave a grown man a child's dose," Lenox told her. "No wonder he was in pain."
"No, that's impossible," Doris said, remembering she'd drawn up eight milligrams. As Doris' face turned white, the reality of their crisis dawned on them. Doris had mixed up the doses and accidentally given the young girl too much morphine.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what happened," a panicked Doris told Lenox, who instantly flew into action and ordered Narcan. Doris explained that she could do that, but Lenox commanded that she leave the floor. After catching wind of the commotion, Maggie followed after Lenox.
"Dr. Lenox, that was obviously a mistake," Maggie told the E.D. Chief.
"That was a never event," Lenox snapped. "As in, it can never happen. Doris has to go."
"Wait," Maggie said. "Wait a second!"
"No," Lenox said sternly. "Either you fire her, or I'm taking this up the chain."
Maggie found Doris crying in a secluded room of Gaffney. She didn't take the accident lightly. "In all of my years of nursing, I have never made a mistake like that," Doris admitted tearfully.
"I know, Doris," Maggie told her, taking responsibility for asking her to complete tasks outside the scope of her position. "This is not on you."
Is Nurse Doris leaving Chicago Med?
Maggie refused to let Lenox dictate Doris' fate at Gaffney, so she took matters into her own hands.
"Doris goes, I go," Maggie told Lenox later that shift.
"Excuse me?" Lenox asked.
Maggie then illuminated to Lenox Doris' 15-year tenure at Gaffney, where she's gotten several awards for her excellence in nursing. The only reason why Doris tripped up was because of Gaffney's recent overload.
"My nurses are regularly missing breaks, balancing unsafe patient-to-nurse ratios, and being asked to perform duties that are outside of our job description," Maggie explained.
"Like restocking the Pyxis?" Lenox asked as it dawned on her that she held some blame.
"Like that," Maggie confirmed.
"Well, I certainly can't afford to lose two senior members of the nursing staff right now," Lenox said.
Maggie agreed, "I didn't think so."
"And beyond that, the situation you're describing is unsafe and untenable," Lenox explained. "I'm giving my State of the E.D. address to the board next week; I'll make it a top action item."
Thanks to Maggie's big heart and Lenox's pragmatic approach, Nurse Doris kept her job at Gaffney, and Chi-Hards could rest easy. Watch Chicago Med on Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC and the next day on Peacock.
