The Ledger

13.21 House Calls

In this episode (13.21), an unconventional doctor appears to be responsible for the drug-related death of a beautiful, but struggling, Russian model. Briscoe and Green investigate.

The episode begins in a boutique where two employees watch as the model, Nadia Parkova, attempts to shoplift some merchandise. She slips into a dressing room, and they wait for her to come out. When she doesn't, they open the door, and find her dead. Did she fall on the stool and crack her head? Does the needle in her purse have anything to do with it? Briscoe's teaser-ending wise crack: "She shopped til she dropped."

The ME finds that Parkova was loaded up on a variety of drugs, including Valium, Halcyon, and one called Deverol that becomes crucial later on. They visit her family -- her father, her mother, and her younger sister, none of whom speaks English particularly well, though the sister can at least communicate. The father seems particularly tightly wound, and blows up in the presence of the police. They talk to her modeling agency, who says she was "accident prone," leading them to suspect that her father beet her. Her boyfriend, a dock worker who claimed he would lead her to the big time, is also a suspect, but he seems like a nice guy, and is innocent. They also talk to her accident doctor, who says she was under too much stress because she had been supporting her whole family since she was 15 years old. She says she suspected that Nadia injured herself as a way of releasing herself from the responsibilities of providing for the family. When the asthma doctor learns that the woman had Deverol in her system, she says that the combination of Deverol and her asthma medication could cause a heart attack. So the question becomes, Who sold her the Deverol, and did he know about her asthma medication?

Her pharmacy reveals that a Dr. Heinz called in her prescriptions, but Dr. Heinz is nowhere to be found. Eventually they learn that he is accessible only via cell phone and meets his patients/clients in a restaurant. Briscoe calls him and meets him at a restaurant, pretending to be a patient, and they take him in for questioning. They also learn that he publicizes himself with pamphlets that describe his as "doctor to the stars," and that his primary method of therapy is to prescribe his patients Deverol, which is a powerful narcotic, no matter what problems ail them.

The next step is to prove that the doctor knew that the model was taking asthma medication, and they talk to all kinds of former patients in an attempt to prove how shady this doctor is and that he did something illegal, but all his patients think he is a saint. Southerlyn leans on the victim's sister to get her to admit that she told the doctor about the asthma medication, but she won't budge. Finally, her mother provides Southerlyn with a piece of paper that shows Heinz knew of the medication, but told the model to wait 24 hours between taking Deverol and her other medication.

At trial, things are going horribly for McCoy. He finally gets the sister on the stand, and she says she translated the directions from the doctor to her sister and told her "Wait 2 to 4 hours" between medications, NOT "24 hours." OOPS!! Looks like little sis was responsible for Parkova's death. Though there's barely any point in continuing the trial, it proceeds, and the jury naturally finds the doctor not guilty.

Casting note: the younger sister is played by Alexis Dziena, who has gone on to act in several other higher profile parts.

Posted by adm at March 27, 2004 04:41 PM

Comments

Post a comment

validate