Ep 15. Diagnosis of Exclusion

As a medical drama series, Code Black's episode 15 of season 1, entitled Diagnosis of Exclusion was not an exception to the intensity of previous episodes. The episode, which was written by Michael Seitzman and directed by Edward Ornelas, follows the emergency room staff at Angels Memorial Hospital as they deal with an unidentified health crisis that affected a group of individuals at a local warehouse.

The episode, which starts with Dr. Leanne Rorish (played by Marcia Gay Harden) lamenting the loss of a patient she felt she could have saved, shifts to the staff at Angels Memorial Hospital receiving ten patients with similar symptoms. The patients, all workers in the same warehouse owned by a local private company, have been experiencing coughs, fevers, body aches, and have also been vomiting blood. The patients have also had severe respiratory distress and fluid buildup in their lungs.

The team at Angels Memorial is at a loss as to what could have caused such a severe illness, with all initial tests coming back negative. Dr. Rorish, who has promised herself that she would never lose another patient, refuses to back down, and insists that there must be something causing the patients' symptoms.

She assigns her resident doctors, Dr. Malaya Pineda (Melanie Chandra) and Dr. Angus Leighton (Harry Ford) to work on the patients, but it soon becomes apparent that despite their best efforts, they are not making much headway. To further complicate matters, the warehouse workers are undocumented immigrants, which means that their families cannot visit or provide patient histories.

Dr. Rorish, who has a reputation for working well under pressure, does not give up as she draws on all her expertise and experience to help her team in their bid to save the patients. As the episode progresses, viewers are taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions as the medical staff deals with the escalating crisis in the hospital. They are also forced to deal with some of the ethical and moral issues that comes with working in an overcrowded, understaffed hospital.

One of the highlights of this episode was the level of teamwork displayed by the hospital staff. Not only was there a sense of urgency to save the patients, but there was also an unrelenting passion to get to the root of the problem. In addition to Dr. Rorish, the hospital team included doctors Neal Hudson (Raza Jaffrey), Rollie Guthrie (William Allen Young), and Christa Lorenson (Bonnie Somerville) who were all doing their bit to save the patients.

One of the themes explored in this episode is the concept of diagnosis of exclusion. This concept refers to the process of diagnosing a condition based on eliminating all other possible diagnoses. It takes on a whole new meaning here as the medical staff try to diagnose the cause of the patients' symptoms by eliminating environmental factors, other diseases, and other possible causes.

Overall, the Diagnosis of Exclusion episode was both intense and captivating, putting the skills of the cast, the production team, and the writing staff of Code Black on full display. The episode showcases some of the ethical dilemmas and challenges that are faced by emergency room medical professionals every day. Fans and new viewers alike would find this episode to be a thrilling and thought-provoking experience.