S1 Ep 3: Winning A Battle, Losing A War (Recap)
Screened Wednesday 27 July at 8.30pm
When the annual bicycle messenger race takes place in Seattle, the hospital emergency room fills with an assortment of injuries, causing the interns to compete for the most severe cases.
Meredith finds herself fixing a cyclist with spokes poking out of his stomach. After sewing up his wounds she urges him to wait and have a scan for internal injuries, but the patient insists on leaving and getting back to the bike race, and he gets support from Alex who agrees the wounds are superficial.
Meanwhile, a man has been brought in with severe head injuries from trying to avoid one of the cyclists (and ending up in front of a moving vehicle). The man's injuries are so severe that he is technically dead and only being kept alive by machines, but he has no ID on him and the hospital has to track down his family.
Izzie becomes attached to this patient and determined to keep him alive as long as possible. She finds support from Cristina who recognises the potential for organ donation, and along with Meredith they pitch their case to keep the man alive until his next of kin can be found and asked for donation.
It helps their cause that there is another patient in the hospital needing a liver transplant, and that this VIP patient is a good friend of Dr Webber, the chief of surgery. This VIP patient has developed a crush on George, leading to George's discovery that his fellow interns thought he was gay.
The brain dead man's wife and daughter are eventually tracked down and the wife gives consent for donation, despite Cristina's blundering insensitivity when asking.
The 'harvest' operation goes ahead, although the interns are annoyed to see that Alex, who has had nothing to do with the patient until now, has weasled his way into doing the surgery.
Meanwhile, the cyclist that insisted on rejoining the race comes back to the hospital and collapses on the floor, his wound reopened. The surgeons are able to save him but his cyclist friends get a lecture from Dr Bailey on how their antics cost a man his life.
During all this hosptial drama Derek Shepherd continues to pursue Meredith, who continues to flirt with him and reject him at the same time.
And Meredith, who had been regretting having Izzie and George as flatmates, decides she needs to just chill out and enjoy their company.
