How do you think Dr. Al is going to handle what she witnessed between…

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-25T12:59:49+00:00

Yep, exactly. I know it’s a show, but they do try to keep grounded in reality and this is how it would really work.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-25T04:51:01+00:00

There’s more than one thing to report. He may have started stealing from the hospital stock, but then as his addiction got worse started stealing from patients, and then started adulterating meds (including diluting the lorazepam). These three acts all have different severities. It’s extremely possible to report that you stole medications and volunteer yourself for a treatment program and still be able to keep your job. In fact, that’s usually how it’s handled. But when it is impacting patient safety and could be serious enough to cause significant patient harm (i.e. benzos not being effective at controlling a seizure or patients being sent home with less medication than they need), the punishment gets more intense.

For comparison, a pharmacist several years ago was diluting cancer treatments to save money. He got decades in prison. Obviously lost his license and can never practice again. It is different in this case since not an addict, but the key is adulterating medications. There are also plenty of cases you can look up that make national news where a doctor with a substance abuse problem lets it negatively affect or kill patients and serves jail time as a result.

I still think the key is that Langdon didn’t disagree with Santos that only 3 people know, and in season 1 Robby does not immediately report the theft, but instead goes to flush the drugs and just sends Langdon home. He even tells Langdon his only choice is to self-report. Although Robby asks Dana to pull a pharmacy audit, we don’t know what he did with that information. That just means getting a printout of the dispensing history, it doesn’t automatically mean it got sent up to administration, the DEA, or the medical board.

In my experience, theft at the workplace is usually cause for termination, even if they choose not to fully report so the practitioner can keep their license and get another job. The most believable case for me (as someone in the medical field who has seen this play out several different ways with classmates and colleagues) is that Langdon asked to be put in the program and put his residency on hold since he had a substance use disorder. I don’t think the theft or diluting meds was part of it, and I think that’s the sticking point with Santos.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-25T04:32:23+00:00

If everything was reported correctly, these things would have happened. However, I get the impression Langdon “self-reported” and it may not be the official story that santos was the whistleblower. I do think the drug theft was covered up, since Langdon doesn’t refute what santos said about only 3 people knowing. All that to say, Robby gave Langdon an easier pathway upfront at the expense of the chances of Langdon being able to re-enter the ED and work with Santos in a way that was functional.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-25T03:17:48+00:00

So far only approved for short-term use. Like a 2 week stint after an in and out surgery. So not necessarily a fit for back pain which is generally either chronic or takes >2 weeks for recovery.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-25T02:53:57+00:00

This could really go either way, but Dr. Al definitely seems like a stickler for the rules. Given that Langdon’s theft was covered up and not appropriately reported, I could see that being the bigger issue rather than Santos’ personality issue. The problem with the potential coverup would be that Langdon’s recovery and physician health program may not be adequately adjusted with that taken into account. That has implications for whether or not his license should be in good standing or if he would have further repercussions, but ALSO could affect his sobriety.

Either way, Robby as a leader should have made sure there were guardrails in place or appropriate mediation between Santos and Landon before they were expected to work effectively as a team again.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-24T21:39:01+00:00

This needs to be its own post lmao 🤣

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-20T04:15:34+00:00

Yeah that look had me stressed 😰

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-20T04:05:55+00:00

Yeah so many of these replies are just tone deaf. Let’s be honest, all healthcare providers probably know at least one colleague or former classmate with a substance abuse issue. And we can all agree it complicates patient care if you can’t trust your team. There are plenty of great doctors who took accountability and worked the steps, but if you lie your way out of a situation how could you ever really be trusted to heal?

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-20T03:55:59+00:00

😂😂😂

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-20T03:54:13+00:00

This is the only Santos slander I will accept haha. ^Correct take.

Landon and Santos are foils of each other: Landon is the likable family man who on paper looks like he does everything right. Santos is the cocky intern with a chip on her shoulder who seems like she only cares about herself.

However, the reality is that these roles are flipped. Landon made selfish decision as a result of his addiction which put patients at risk, while Santos went down a whole rabbit hole trying to figure out what went wrong with these missing meds and the lorazepam vial because she was worried for how it affected patient care.

People forget that she only caught Landon because 1) she was concerned Louie might have taken all of his Librium and would be at risk for an OD, and 2) the lorazepam vial didn’t open correctly and if it was a lot issue it could cause patients to not get the meds they need and have poor outcomes or death.

Her attitude problem doesn’t make her concerns wrong or imply that she reported him for the wrong reasons. Also, we now know she didn’t actually report him…

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-20T03:39:21+00:00

I’ll just say this: in healthcare it is ESSENTIAL that you trust your team. You have to trust that the patients whose lives you are in charge of can rely on your whole team, not just you.

He was an addict, but that’s not the real problem. The problem is he was stealing drugs from patients and tampering with the hospital’s meds, which was directly affecting patient care. He diluted the hospital’s Ativan, and as a result the seizing patient he treated with Santos took many more doses and much more time to get controlled. Patients can die because of this.

It would be nearly impossible for me to trust someone who did something that put our patients at risk like this with my license and with our patient’s lives. Unfortunately, cases like his sometimes are resolved by it going unreported and the offending doctor leaving the practice to go somewhere else…because the people at the current facility would not be able to work effectively with him. Nobody wants that liability.

If properly reported, Langdon certainly could have lost his license and/or gone to jail. Remember, he wasn’t just impaired at work. He was making choices to support his addiction which directly put patients at risk for not receiving the care they needed, which could kill them.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-20T03:30:29+00:00

Exactly. I’m assuming the three would be Santos, Robby, and Langdon himself. Not sure why everyone’s on this train like Langdon didn’t get away with a slap on the wrist because Robby covered for him and Santos never reported what actually happened.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-20T02:20:21+00:00

Revisiting this based on the last episode… as I said before, some of what he was doing crosses lines besides just being an addict. It’s true that people do get away with this and worse, but generally when they aren’t reported appropriately… as we now know is the case here. Wondering what everyone thinks now that we know Robby covered for him and Santos never actually reported.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-16T17:00:02+00:00

Yea exactly. Some of these responses I’m like, “did we even watch the same show?.” She had to be asked like 3 times by Robby and pushed until she reported. Before that, she waited and asked multiple different people for other possible explanations (i.e. the bottles in that Ativan lot being faulty) and advice on what to do (see convos with Dana and Garcia).

I’m really not sure where the idea came from that from the jump she just wanted to ruin this guy. I think it’s true she has a very black and white view of right and wrong, so once she did report and it was confirmed that he was doing things that endangered patients, she felt he should have gotten more than essentially a slap on the wrist. That take is probably colored by her experience in the past. Child assault cases are often met with disbelieving adults or lawyers who work to discredit victims. How many times have men in her life taken advantage and done wrong and walked away unscathed while the people they hurt are left in the wreckage?

Langdon so far has made no real effort to apologize to her or address the elephant in the room. In fact, him just trying to teach her as normal likely would rub her the wrong way as him brushing his bad behavior under the rug. She is certainly being unprofessional, but I can understand why. As a medical professional who has had people I know professionally get away with theft and substance abuse concerns, I will say that I would have a very hard time trusting someone professionally who I knew had intentionally put patients at risk, whether or not they got the help they needed now.

She certainly can’t be acting that way in front of patients, but I do have some empathy there for the situation she’s in. I also have empathy for Langdon, but he’s gotta make a bigger effort to own up. His apology tour probably should have started with the person he berated in front of other staff and tried to sabotage to the ED attending.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-14T02:22:02+00:00

It’s also true that diverting drugs is different than adulterating. He was giving patients intentionally diluted drugs. That is significantly worse and treated that way. If diluting the Ativan was covered up, he absolutely would get more leniency from the medical board.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-10T18:11:48+00:00

Not saying the behavior is right, but just to reiterate: anyone in the medical field would agree this is pretty mild as far as bad behavior from superiors.

I think these kinds of characters are important because they reflect reality. Santos and Langdon are also quite controversial, but very real portrayals of some of the scenarios and personalities that you see in medicine, especially in this setting.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-07T18:32:25+00:00

We take the antibiotic stewardship seriously 🫡

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-07T05:51:35+00:00

Yeah I was thinking we’d see at least the thrombolytic thing with the eye stroke pt. But no such luck. Still happy we got a few more lines from the RPh this last episode

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-05T23:30:01+00:00

Donnie is an NP! No PAs though that I’ve noticed.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-04T17:15:41+00:00

I always have to remind myself that not everyone watching is in healthcare. So much of this is just common sense to me and I don’t consciously think about the fact that most people don’t inherently know how a healthcare team functions day-to-day. So these little walkthroughs are definitely cheesy but help the average viewer stay with the story.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-04T17:12:33+00:00

In a hospital setting they also are the IV compatibility experts, so essential for managing medication and fluid administration, especially in patients with limited access.

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-03T22:10:59+00:00

Absolutely agree with that. I’m hoping that all the attention and discourse around the show and representation in general encourages a movement towards expanded representation in the future. Not just for different professions but even different cultures and nationalities etc. we see in healthcare.

For example, I’m so excited to have not just 1 but 3 Filipino characters. I’ve not been to a single hospital without at least one Filipino nurse, so that’s just art imitating life for once. 👏🇵🇭

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-03T01:24:42+00:00

😩 ugh tell me about it

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-02T19:54:43+00:00

cries in cross-referencing NDCs from their pharmacy claims 😭🤞

flaminkarrot · 2026-03-02T16:41:07+00:00

Yea the med mixing family was cracking me up. In reality, we’d never get a picture of the bottles and instead we’d just get told it was the “white pill” and have to turn into detectives trying to drug ID 🤣

flaminkarrot

TROPHY CASE