Episode 7: The emotional last chapter
Shindo and Kaede are shocked to hear from Sawai that Kudo is using sleeping pills. Kaede attempts to advise Kudo not to push himself too hard but it falls on deaf ears.
The dispatch of a doctor’s car is requested as a result of a construction site accident. Sawai has forbidden the dispatch of the doctor’s car until the doctor in charge arrives in October but Shindo instructs Kaede to take Kudo, and the nurses, Saeko and Toru, with her and head to the scene based on his assessment of the situation.
Two people, who have been trapped underneath construction materials, are injured. Kaede quickly diagnoses them. She entrusts the patient who does not seem to require urgent treatment to Kudo and returns to the emergency care centre with the other seriously injured patient. Then the condition of the patient that Kudo is watching over deteriorates. Kudo hastily calls Shindo to ask for instructions. Shindo rushes to the scene but Kudo’s emergency treatment has been in vain. The patient has died. Kudo stops coming to the hospital after this incident.
Several days later, Kudo is brought to the emergency care centre because of a lacerated head wound. Shindo, Chinatsu and the rest of the staff are stunned. After Kudo had attended the funeral service for the patient who had died a few days ago, he had consumed alcohol which he should not have drunk and fallen down the stairs. Also, Sawai receives an email from Kudo, which is addressed to the department and apologises for his absence without leave. Kudo survives but does not regain consciousness. His parents rush to the hospital to see him and blame their son’s plight on Shindo’s handling as a supervising doctor.
The following night, Shindo accepts a patient who had clearly used the ambulance for transportation to the hospital. Sawai reprimands Shindo for his actions and announces his resignation to the doctors and nurses who are gathered in the department’s office. He says he will become the executive director for the Institute of Critical Care Reform. Then, he asks Kaede again to be the new head of the department because she understands how fatigue can take a toll on the staff and the consequences this may have on their patients. Kaede feels troubled. Sawai says they must choose the patients they admit in order to reduce the burden on the staff while Shindo argues that it is a crime to forsake patients whose lives can be saved. Sawai shows the email that the department had received from Kudo and requests Shindo’s resignation. As one would expect, Shindo resists and goes to sit by Kudo’s bedside. Kaede is worried about Shindo, who has kept on going for two months without rest, and persuades him to take a day off. The next morning, Shindo takes time off. Before he leaves the hospital, he urges Kaede to accept the appointment as the head of the emergency care centre.
Kaede tells Sawai that she will be the new head of the department. Sawai leaves the hospital to attend a meeting of the Institute of Critical Care Reform. At that moment, a fire breaks out at a fireworks factory. The accident was caused by a large quantity of fireworks that had ignited and set off an explosion. Many people are injured. Kaede and the rest of the staff work hard to handle the patients that are brought in one after the other. The emergency care centre also receives a request to admit two emergency cases but they are shorthanded. Sawai has resigned and Shindo is off for the day. When Kaede is about to take the decision to reject them, Shindo appears. Meanwhile, in the ICU, Kudo’s condition takes a turn for the worse. Furthermore, this coincides with a request for the dispatch of the doctor’s car to the fireworks factory. Entrusting Kudo to Kaede, Shindo heads to the scene accompanied by Saeko.
Black smoke is billowing at the factory. Shindo ignores the orders of the firefighters to withdraw and focuses on treating the injured. Then Sawai appears at the scene. Sawai, who has been feeling irritable after his mood was dampened by the meeting, had passed the doctor’s car on his way home. Shindo asks Sawai to make this his last treatment. Like Sawai, he looks forward to the reform of emergency and critical care. They cooperate and the last patient is extracted. As Shindo and Sawai make their way out of the factory, an explosion occurs. When Shindo regains consciousness, he finds that Sawai has collapsed. Sawai reproachfully tells Shindo to leave him behind. However, Shindo stays on and gives him first-aid treatment before loading him into an ambulance.
Saeko receives a call from Kaede on her mobile phone. She passes the phone to Shindo. Kaede tells him that she would like him to listen to Kudo’s voice. It is the regular beep of the cardiac monitor, telling him that Kudo has survived.
A few days later, Kudo is recovering steadily. Sawai is discharged. Shindo tells Sawai that he cannot resign from the hospital. Then he reminds Sawai to make good of the promise made at the fireworks factory to reform emergency and critical care in this country before Kaede and him collapse.
New doctors are appointed at Kainan Medical Hospital’s emergency care centre. And today, Sawai begins work that will determine the future of Shindo, Kaede and the rest of the emergency centre staff …
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