Ruby Redux

Season 11, Episode 19, Aired

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Jules Rubadoux, whose wife was a patient of Carter's nine years ago, comes into the ER with heart problems and wanting nothing to do with Carter, whom he feels is responsible for his wife's death. Anspaugh and Kayson advise Ruby to have surgery, but Abby tries to get him to consider the alternatives. In the end, Ruby allows Carter to tell him the truth about his chances. Pratt asks Olivia from Ceasefire out. When he shows up at her office to pick her up, he's ambushed into speaking at an anti-violence meeting. Susan meets with the tenure committee. Sam is in her own world all day, and buys a pregnancy test. Ray tries to stop the Chadwick sisters from leaving without having been seen by social services. Morris may end up becoming Chief Resident.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (3)

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  • Carter shows what a douchebag he really is...

    5.5
    "Mediocre"
    By BabyKitten199, Sep 03, 2011
    I've never liked Carter - not since he was first introduced as a character and not as he's "grown" with the series. I remember the original episode with Ruby - Carter was douchey then but near as bad as he was in this one. He was so cold & rude to Ruby in the original episode - like a sleazy used car salesman after he knows he's sold you a lemon. You know damn well he'd remember Ruby - that jacka$$ remembers the most pointless things so you know he'd remember this case. This was a very disappointing episode but then again, most episodes that focus on Carter suck so why I'm not surprised. I'm so glad Carter left when he did - he could've left 5 years earlier and I would've been just fine with that.moreless

  • Past knocking on the conscious

    7.8
    "Good"
    By Parricida, Mar 02, 2008
    This episode.. I do not know.. in some way it was good - I liked the Ruby part of the episode - he was such a great char back at season 2 and now.. and the words he said to Carter - it was all true. Carter made a mistake and now he had a change to correct it. So, on that part, this episode was so well written.

    On the other hand - nothing else happened. Morris was a little funny with his presentation but... he will survive it.. Ray with those two elder ladies.. I do not know - I did not bought it.moreless

  • Blast from the past

    7.0
    "Good"
    By cwbybri, Aug 28, 2005
    The writers of this episode did a good job remembering the past, even if Carter did not.

    Background: Red Buttons makes a return appearance as Mr. Rubadoux (call him Ruby if he likes you). Ten years earlier, Carter helped treat Mrs. Rubadoux. He was only a student at the time. Carter talks Ruby into signing up his wife for Vucelich's study. Ruby thinks Carter is great because he really cares. Ruby calls Carter night and day about his wife's conditions.

    She does not ever get any better after the surgery. Vucelich and Benton put a lot of pressure on Carter to turf her to a nursing home. He disagrees because he knows she will get worse and come back. The surgeons are ok with that, because she would no longer be on the surgery rotation, but would belong to medicine. Carter lies to Ruby and tells him that his Sophie is ok to leave the hospital and that she would get better. She does come back to medicine as predicted, never got better and eventually dies. Carter is no longer allowed to call Mr. Rubadoux Ruby.

    It bothered me a little that Carter did not remember Ruby. Ruby definitely remembered Carter. He did not want to be treated at county and especially did not want Carter. Abby does her best to treat Ruby, but he doesn't trust her because she is a woman and she is young. Anspaugh and Kayson agree that Ruby needs surgery. Abby disagrees that surgery is the best course of action because Ruby is not stable enough. Abby locks horns with Anspaugh and Kayson. They pressure her the same that Vucelich and Benton pressured Carter 10 years earlier.

    It was a nice touch to have Abby as frustrated as Carter was with senior staff's handling of the patient. As I'm watching, I'm still disturbed that Carter doesn't remember. It's not like him. But you can argue that he's had so much happen in 10 years that maybe it would be easy to forget what had happened. He does seem tentative, so maybe even if he did not remember all the details, his instinct must have told him to give Ruby some room.

    In the end, it is Carter that talks to Ruby about his choices. And yes he did lie ten years earlier, but he is not lying now. If Ruby has the surgery, he may never leave the hospital. It's the kind of doctor that he needed to be, but was not able to be when he was just a student. Another problem that bothers me is that we don't know what Ruby decides to do. We don't know if he listened to Carter. I'm sure he didn't want to. I doubt that Ruby forgave him, but I was hoping that maybe he respected him a little more. We don't know that either. In the end, you're left hanging.moreless
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    • Jake: Knowing you as well as I do, I'm gonna guess you really hate it when people do this. Abby: Ah, with the come from behind and put your hands over the eyes thing? Jake: M-hm. Abby: Yeah, words can not express exactly how much I hate it. Jake: Pretty cool that I knew that, don't you think?

    • Mr.Rubadoux: Something wrong with my kidneys? Abby: No. I don't know. I don't know yet. Mr.Rubadoux: Yeah, well. Uh, why don't you come back when you're less confused.

    • Kovac: John! What happened on the Morris meeting? Carter: I don't know. I left. Kovac: Kerry's leaning towards him. Carter: Yeah, well, OK. Kovac: Well, OK? Carter: We've had worse. Kovac: No, I don't think so.

    • Carter: I need to know everything about your patients. I need to know the status of every single one of them. I need to know how they are, where they are, where they're going, why they're going... You're still an intern, Ray. I'm the attending. I'm responsible. Ray: I'm sorry.

    • Carter: When I was a student on my surgical rotation, Rubadoux's wife was very sick. She was part of this research study. When her results, uh... when she was no longer useful, there was a lot of pressure to get her out. So I did. I dumped her into a nursing home. Abby: Did she belong in one? Carter: We all figured she'd end up back in the hospital, which would be on Medicine's shoulders, not ours. Abby: So...? Surgery dumps another patient on Medicine. Happens every day. Carter: I told Rubadoux that she was going o get better, told him that her situation was going to improve, told him what he wanted to hear... You know, when you're a student, you're so desperate for approval. You want everybody to like you: you want your patients to like you, you want their families to like you. Gotta be efficient too, though. You gotta impress your superiors. Abby: Yeah, you don't have to tell me. I'm still on the bottom rung of the ladder. Carter: I mean, when the Chief of Surgery tells you to get rid of her, you get rid of her. Abby: Yeah. Carter: And then she came back three days later, and she died, and... Rubadoux was so surprised. Ultimately it was the Attending's fault. It wasn't my responsibility.

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