As the third episode of Malpractice begins, Dr. James Ford (Tom Hughes) tells Kate McAllister (Zoe Telford) about the incident with Fizz. James admits he panicked and took her to North Yorkshire instead of QM. He says he didn’t take any drugs. He had one in his pocket and she took it. James didn’t tell her his name. He explains he went out because he’s stressed out of his mind. James swears that nothing else happened between them. Kate says he did the right thing by getting her to the hospital. She has a friend she can call at the North Yorkshire A&E. After the call, Kate tells James that Fizz is stable. They kiss. Kate says they’ll be late. James says he’s getting sick of all this sneaking around. Kate reminds him she could lose her job if anyone found out. James heard the NHS is really desperate for excellent doctors. Kate argues that none of this can come out. Sophia Hernandez (Selin Hizli) gets ready and looks at the drawing on her refrigerator.
Sophia visits Norma Callahan (Helen Behan) and George Adjei (Jordan Kouame) who want to talk about Rosie Newman’s delivery at QM. Once she looks at the notes, Sophia says they were worried Rosie had an infection. She’s told about what Maria Carter (Katherine Dow Blyton) said about referring Rosie and Sophia telling her to cancel it. Sophia says Maria is difficult and thinks she knows better than everyone else. George insists they’ll get to the bottom of it. Sophia says even if Maria made a referral to psychiatry, she never told her anything about it. George and Norma receive the switchboard and psychiatry info. James meets Deepa who is one of the midwives at Stamford. She has Toni’s notes and copies have been sent to the mother-baby unit. James checks on Toni Campbell-Brown (Seraphina Beh) who is with her baby in an ambulance. Deepa tells him that Toni has shown some nervousness about being around her baby alone given what happened last time.
James learns that her first baby, Apple, suffered a skull fracture when Toni dropped her on the postnatal ward. Deepa believes it was documented by the midwife, Alison Masters. There was also bruising from the forceps delivery. Deepa (Sheena Bhattessa) insists Toni will get there. James finds Alison Masters to talk to her about Toni’s first birth. He asks her about Toni dropping her baby. Alison argues he shouldn’t be asking her about this. She doesn’t want to end up like Maria. Sophia interrupts. James asks why she didn’t say Toni’s first baby had a forceps fracture and a skull fracture. When he begins asking about Maria, Sophia tells him to get off her ward. George tells Norma there were seven calls from obstetrics to psychiatry during Rosie’s stay. Two callers were not eliminated and they were made on the day of Rosie’s discharge. Maria could’ve called to make the referral and made another call to cancel it.
George suggests they could speak to Ava Lawal (Charis Agbonlahor) who was on call during that shift. James tries to find out more about Maria. He learns about her interim suspension. George speaks to Ava Lawal who finds a note for a psych review for Rosie prior to discharge. The name of the referrer wasn’t written down, but someone called a little later to cancel. She wrote that Rosie was fine to go home. Ava says it’s usually a doctor who makes a referral, but it also could’ve been the midwife. George speaks to Norma about this. He believes Maria made the referral and Sophia canceled it. Precious Danso (Naana Agyei-Ampadu) tells James that Aislene (Amy Marston) is complaining about stomach pain. Kwame Essiedu (Tobi Bakare) claims she’ll do anything to get his attention. Precious believes she might be telling the truth this time. James checks on her. While he’s touching her, Aislene tries to make him touch her privates. She admits she doesn’t have any pain.
Arun Mansoor (Ace Bhatti) speaks to Eric Sawers (Rick Warden) about a party and the investigation. Arun says James Ford was being very aggressive with Sophia earlier today. He claims it could be harassment. Eric says there’s some background stuff that he can step up and he can speak to Kate. Arun would appreciate that. Norma sees Rubi (Imogen Sandhu) speaking to Ben Munro (Neil Pendleton). They hug before Ben leaves. Once she goes inside, Rubi tells her that was Dr. Munro who is one of her tutors. He was there because Rubi is thinking about quitting med school. Rubi says she’s quitting because she’s never enjoyed it and never has. She also claims Ben is not preying on her. Norma pleads with her not to throw away her future because of Ben. Sophia approaches Maria and tells her not to speak to anyone at the MIU or QM again. Maria says they called her. She suspects they’re getting close. Sophia threatens to make her life significantly worse if she doesn’t keep her mouth shut.
Will (Joshua Lacey) tells James that Fizz has been off work sick since their night out. James insists they didn’t hook up and Fizz was fine when he last saw her. Will says Fizz isn’t answering his calls. James begins learning more about Maria Carter. He messages her online. Sophia gets a page. She checks on Claire Martin who is a 31-year-old primip. Claire’s BP is sky high. Sophia finds out that Claire has wet herself. She asks about a history of epilepsy. Claire (Kristy Philipps) says no. Sophia is worried she’s had a seizure. She mentions pre-eclampsia. Sophia wants to move Claire to the labor ward and get her blood pressure down. Claire wants to give birth naturally. Sophia argues they have to give her a C-section immediately. Claire doesn’t want to do that. Ellie (Katie Eldred) eventually cooperates with Claire. Sophia completes the C-section and lets Claire see her baby boy. George tells Norma they’ve been through the notes and the one thing that keeps coming up is infection.
Blood tests were ordered, but they are not mentioned in the notes. Kathy (Adei Bundy) says Sophie admitted they were worried about an infection. Norma questions why they’d keep Rose in for four days if she didn’t have an infection. Kathy is told to get onto the lab and look for blood test results. Sophia speaks to the board about their deliveries, including Claire. Arun asks Sophie if she witnessed a seizure. Sophia admits she didn’t. She says there were obvious signs of seizure activity though. Arun asks why she didn’t try conservative management first. Sophia says she thought it was best not to hang out. Arun argues she should’ve lowered the blood pressure and set up magnesium infusion. A woman nearby claims that Sophia panicked. She goes on to say Sophia told her the baby would die if she didn’t have a C-section. Emma (Allison Harding) tells Sophia that she forced a patient to have a major surgery that she didn’t want.
She’s cost the department thousands of pounds by doing an expensive, unnecessary procedure. Arun believes this woman will demand another cesarean if she wants another birth at QM. That’s what Sophia has done to them. They continue belittling Sophia who zones out. Arun questions whether she’s still not confident in making important out-of-hours decisions. Sophia says she thought they shouldn’t take unnecessary risks with patients. Arun tells her that she’s under scrutiny and not the department. He urges her to give them a call if something like this happens again. James Ford joins Kate and Eric. He learns Eric will join them for his supervision. He will be reporting back to the Deanery on how he’s doing. James sits down with Kate and requests to talk about Toni Campbell-Brown. He tells Kate about the first baby’s skull fracture. Kate thinks they should talk about Samira Saed instead. Norma sneaks around and looks up information about Ben Munro.
She tries to hide it from George when he returns with Rosie’s blood test results. Every marker is normal leading them to believe she did not have an infection. Norma suggests Rosie was anxious about an infection and everyone missed it except for Maria. Kwame tells James that Kate was looking for him. When he finds her outside, Kate says they should go somewhere private. Kate tells him that a bullying complaint has been made against him by Sophia Hernandez. James tells her what happened. He says he just wanted to know about Toni and the baby’s skull fracture. Kate says he just needs to do some mandatory training on bullying. She thinks they should cool it with everything going on at least until the investigation is over. James says he doesn’t want anyone else. Aislene sits alone and cries. James manages to get in touch with Maria about Sophia. He hears an alarm so he rushes inside and learns there’s something wrong with Aislene.
She’s wrapped tape around her neck. James, Precious, and the others try to save her. Kwame can’t find anything to help. He eventually finds scissors that James uses to save Aislene. James asks Bernadette to do a physical before the ambulance arrives. Eric checks in with George and Norma. They tell him they’ve become aware of some concerning issues about Sophia Hernandez. Norma and George tell him what they believe happened between Rosie and Sophia. Eric reminds them that Maria is currently under investigation. He says the charges against her are very serious so they shouldn’t consider her reliable. Eric thinks they’re wasting their time unless there is a formal complaint against Sophia. He urges them to continue focusing on James. Precious checks on Aislene and asks why she did that. Ailsene shows her a picture of Kate and James kissing. Bernadette gets a call and confirms they’ve got a free bed. She tells James there’s going to be a new admission.
It’s a 33-year-old woman who is manic after an overdose. She likes to be called Fizz.
Malpractice Review
While this episode wasn’t as obnoxious, it was equally as stupid as the others if not more so. It’s unfortunate because there was a great story to be told here, but it’s become too far-fetched and insanely dumb. The writers weren’t capable of creating a compelling, realistic story that could be reasonably stretched to five episodes.
As a result, we’re getting Harlan Coben levels of twists and turns just to meet the quota. The initial investigation into Rosie’s suicide could’ve worked, but they’ve thrown everything in here but the kitchen sink. We’re just waiting for racism, sexual assault, and other trope topics to enter the picture.
It’s shows like this that help send British television one step closer to the sewer. This is nothing more than a weak, British crime drama masquerading as a medical thriller. The original purpose will be lost along the way as the web continues to grow and become dumber. Furthermore, the relationship between James and Kate is not believable.
Tom Hughes deserves a lead role in something better than whatever this thing is. This episode scores a 4.5 out of 10. Recaps of Malpractice can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion at the Reel Mockery Forum.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.