That was the most short-lived firing in TV history.
Dayton fired Archer for breaking the OR 2.0 machine and was going to stick to his guns, but Sharon wasn’t having it.
This whole mess on Chicago Med Season 8 Episode 12 came from Archer’s absolute hatred of Dayton’s new technology and his refusal to see its value. But was Dayton too hasty in getting rid of him?
God knows there have been plenty of times I’d wished Archer would get a one-way ticket out of the Gaffney Medical Center. He’s stubborn to the point of pigheadedness; in the past, he often hasn’t respected patients’ wishes.
There have been occasions where Archer purposely rendered patients unconscious so he could do procedures they refused to consent to. If that isn’t a fireable offense, I don’t know what is!
And in this case, his attitude toward technology was irritating.
He didn’t want to use 2.0 even though it would allow him to do all needed surgeries simultaneously instead of multiple procedures. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
But where was Dr. Dupre? When Marcel finds 2.0’s recommendations annoying, she overrides the AI, which shuts the computerized voice up without anything getting broken.
Archer’s frustration was understandable; Marcel also doesn’t like it when 2.0 claims he’s taking risks that he knows are not as dangerous as the machine thinks. But Marcel lets Dupre handle it instead of hitting the device.
This problem could have been solved if Dupre or another technician had been there to help guide Marcel and Archer’s use of the technology. Conversely, it seems the device requires a mute command. If there were a way for a doctor to tell it that they have heard its concerns and don’t want to hear anymore, that would help immensely.
Instead of firing Archer, Dayton should have realized that the machine was missing a feature like this, which would help doctors to do their jobs rather than getting distracted or frustrated by 2.0’s repeated warnings.
Marcel: 2.0 is a tool, just like any other.
Archer: Except I don’t need a scalpel to tell me my heart rate is elevated. I know it is elevated and I adjust accordingly.
Marcel: I know 2.0 takes a little getting used to –
Archer: That’s the difference between you and me. You’ve abdicated your judgment to a machine.
That said, Archer was looking for reasons that 2.0 was inferior to traditional surgical methods. He got it in his head that 2.0 wanted to do his job for him and, as usual, refused to let go of his preconceived notion.
That’s the real problem, not that he hit the machine. He and Marcel could continue the surgery after Archer broke the AI sensor; presumably, the device could be fixed.
Archer’s claims about Marcel’s lack of critical thinking skills now that he uses 2.0 were ludicrous. Marcel constantly fights with the machine, and it’s taken him a while to be comfortable with it.
If Archer had observed any of Marcel’s previous surgeries, he’d know that. Marcel isn’t any more of a fan of 2.0’s overly-cautious attitudes than Archer is.
Marcel was right that 2.0 and other AI are tools. Nothing more, nothing less. The fear of AI “taking over” medicine or any other human endeavors is a better example of catastrophizing than anything Charles’ patient was dealing with.
Will also learned that the hard way. The DNA database idea was simply a tool for making diagnosis faster.
It didn’t make sense to spend days poring over DNA data when an AI-assisted neural network could find possible diagnoses in an hour.
These parents are terrified and they need a human to help them through it.
WIll
Using the technology wouldn’t have stopped Will from offering compassion or comfort to Jason’s parents; he might have been able to avoid having to put Jason in a coma if he’d used the tech sooner.
Once WIll gave in and used the tech, he realized that, but that doesn’t mean voice notes will be more efficient than typing in his patient notes.
As Will said, there’s value to sitting with the notes while entering them, and anyone who has ever used voice-to-type on their phone should be concerned about whether a program like that will get the notes right.
Besides, why would this program be faster than typing? The doctor would still have to take time to dictate their notes to the device.
Asher’s problem had nothing to do with tech. If Dayton wants to learn how to run the hospital effectively, he’ll have to be willing to put money into traditional medicine as well as technological solutions.
Her desire for the postpartum program felt like it came out of nowhere. Viewers didn’t know what was in her email; since she’d recently been upset about the drug screening program, I assumed that had to do with that.
Whatever happened with that, anyway? Supposedly ditching the program put Sharon and Asher on Dayton’s bad side, but Asher had a completely different issue this time.
Asher’s patient needed an emergency hysterectomy because she didn’t come to the hospital until it was almost too late. But since the only way to stop the bleeding was to remove her uterus, would a home visit have helped?
Dayton’s upset after Asher confronted him at his meeting was confusing. He seemed affected by what Asher told him and walked out, only to fire Archer in the next scene.
Did he get a text about OR 2.0 being broken? The transition from one story to another came out of nowhere.
Finally, I hope Maggie and Ben get back together so we can stop hearing about how hard it is for Maggie.
Ben is being ridiculous at this point. Grant is long gone. Maggie wants to make amends. This mess never rose to the level of an affair.
Did anyone else find the sign in Ben’s classroom saying that every problem has a solution to be ironic, given his refusal to work through the issues in his marriage?
Your turn, Chicago Med fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts.
Chicago Med returns on February 8; in the meantime, you can watch Chicago Med online.
Chicago Med airs on NBC on Wednesdays at 8 PM EST / PST. The next new episode airs on February 8, 2023.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.