“Doctor Death” is the title for the season finale of Getting On. It’s a very special episode. Like, really special.
The episode opens on Dawn walking hand-in-hand with Dennis, the security guard. DiDi sees them kiss, but averts her gaze. When Dawn asks if she’s noticed anything different about her, DiDi says no. Dawn then shoves her hand in DiDi’s face: she’s got a ring on her finger. DiDi asks if it’s Patsy’s and Dawn says no, it’s Dennis’s ring; she’s gone off and married Dennis!
DiDi tries to cover her shock, and when Dawn invites her to get drinks after she says she can’t because she has to work at the gift shop. There are moments when this show really nails it’s critique of the healthcare system, and this is one of those moments: DiDi is not only a nurse, but she is also the hospice liaison, and moonlights as the cashier in the hospital’s gift shop. LVN’s just don’t make enough to have one job. Dawn, oblivious that her position earns her significantly more money and not appreciative of the fact that DiDi has to work nearly twice as hard, offers to bring cake to the gift shop, so they can all have a little reception.
While DiDi navigates Dawn’s romantic adventures, James attends a board meeting with the other doctors. Paul Stickley is hosting a Kenyan doctor who regales the audience with tales of her successes in combating AIDS and malaria. Dr. Anne Killigrew (Mary Kay Place) writes Dr. James a note which reads “These meetings are so boring.” James writes back “Blah blah blah”. As the Kenyan doctor describes the needs and accomplishments of her institution, the doctors write increasingly disrespectful and flirty messages. James is, of course, unaware of Killigrew’s intent.
Once James returns to her office, she discovers a video message from DiDi. DiDi says that she did some asking around and discovered that, due to her duties as hospice liaison, she’s entitled to at least $10,000 more a year than she’s been getting. She says that she’ll confront Dr. James at 11, and expects full backpay.
Before Dr. James gets a chance to deal with DiDi, she gets another call from Paul, asking her to meet him immediately. She’s summoned to the ominous-looking “Committee” room, where there is a veritable army of men and women in dark suites. Dr. James, with her ridiculous hair and inappropriately short skirt looks sad and scared. It feels very much like a trial.
Paul says that Medicaid has approached the hospital. They’ve been accused of becoming a “death mill” due to Dr. James’s aggressive hospice policy. Stickley tells James that they’re instigating a review. Stickley also tells James that the Long Beach Courier has dubbed her “Doctor Death.”
Though James insists that everything she’s done has been by the books, she’s alarmed, nonetheless. Luckily, as she returns to her office, she sees that Suzi Sasso, the hospice recruiting agent, has stopped by. Sasso questions James about her metrics and James blows up, claiming that she did everything that Sasso, asked and that she didn’t use any metrics. Sasso replies that she thought James would have built up slowly, and that she can do nothing to help her. The conversation escalates until the two women are screaming at each other, and Sasso ends it by telling James that she is a problem client, and that she’s being cut loose.
James can’t seem to catch a break; as Sasso storms out of her office, DiDi storms in, demanding the money she’s owed for her work as hospice liaison. James says that she’s on top of it, and that she has no control over how much DiDi works. James confesses that the hospice company pays DiDi’s salary, and asks DiDi to gather as much of the hospice paperwork as she can.
Underscoring the political intrigue is inter-staff romance. While James wards off DiDi and Sasso, Dawn and Dennis get physical in the break room. No sooner has DiDi left James, than Killigrew appears. Dr. Killigrew asks Dr. James if she’ll stop by her house after work, to “look at her rock garden and take a dip.” When James says she’ll have to get her suit, Killigrew tells her she doesn’t need it. Even with such a forward request, James doesn’t seem to quite get it.
In various parts of the hospital the nurses are all paged, and summoned to the “Committee” room: Dawn, Patsy, DiDi and James. Stickley reports that Medicaid has frozen all the hospitals accounts. Legal has advised that since DiDi was paid through the hospice company (and at a much lower rate than normal), her employment could be considered a “kick back.” Stickley says they are all being investigated, and could potentially be convicted as co-conspirators in a hospice fraud death ring. They are told not to destroy any records, or discuss the matter further with each other… which of course they do.