Strong Medicine

- Season 1

(2000)

In order to keep her South Philadelphia women's free health clinic open, Dr. Luisa "Lu" Delgado turns to Rittenhouse Hospital for financial help. But, however it is discovered that Dr. Dana Stowe blames Lu for ruining her breast cancer study. The Chief of Staff, Dr. Bob Jackson tells Dana to take a tour of the clinic to see if Rittenhouse should help fund it; meanwhile, Dana has to tell one of her patients that her sister might be at risk for ovarian cancer in which her ovaries would need to be removed.

Dana and Lu find it hard to work together. Dana has to tell a surrogate couple that their child will be born with potentially severe (they could be mild effects) mental birth defects which makes them question whether or not they can raise a special needs child; Lu investigates a clinic that supposedly gave a woman a hysterectomy due to bleeding fibroids, but it turns out that they never gave her one at all.

Lu and Dana clash over the case of a woman with AIDS and how she chooses to treat her child; after Dana treats the woman who has taken her HIV-positive son off of his medication because it makes him very ill, she reports Lu to the Chief of Staff; Lu reveals that she told his mother it was okay to take him off his medication, but Dr. Jackson requires that he goes back on his medicine. Dana receives a visit from a talk-show host who wants to do a story on artificial insemination; Peter makes a house call that doesn't go as well as expected.

Dana is surprised when a former beauty queen asks her to perform a surgery on her that she thinks will make her husband believe that she's beautiful; Lu overreacts when accuses a former drug addict of using again, but it is later discovered she has a very serious medical condition; Peter doesn't understand why a transvestite is having side effects of menopause and he also counsels Lu's son, Marc about one of the issues of male adolescence; Lu and Lana figure out a way to punish two teenagers who spray-painted graffiti on the inside of the clinic.

After a female basketball player collapses on the court, Lu discovers that she is taking steroids and wonders if the whole basketball team is also taking them as well; Dana is surprised when an unconscious woman shows up in the ER with her name and phone number in her pocket, but she's never met her before.

Dana is shocked when Dr. Jackson's wife, Susan comes into the ER with bruises which at first she thinks that Robert gave them to her, but Susan is later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis; Lu deals with Marc's mugging at school and a group of drug-addicted prostitutes who want their tubes tied for money.

After a councilwoman comes to the clinic to see Dana a few gang members are upset when they are unable to get insurance and the councilwoman refuses to listen. Seconds later, an unknown gunman begins shooting at the clinic which accidentally injures the councilwoman; Peter treats a woman who was traumatized during the shooting and learns that she grew up in Cambodia during the war, but soon discovers the real source of her pain.

After Dana treats a commercial pilot who has a degenerative brain disease, she is conflicted about whether or not she should break doctor-patient privilege to prevent her from flying another plane; Lu discovers that a couple's daughter has a genetic disorder called Tay-Sachs, but both parents are Catholic.

Lu treats a young orphaned boy with attention deficit disorder and discovers that his foster guardian has been using the Ritalin that she prescribed to him; Dana helps the wife of a high-powered real estate developer who has been abusing her.

Lu, Peter, and Lana host a dance-a-thon and a free mammogram clinic for Breast Cancer Awareness weekend; Lu tries to intervene to help a patient keep her breast and her job after her mammogram reveals a lump; Dana gets some unexpected results of her breast cancer clinical trial and learns that her mother has breast cancer.

Dr. Stowe's mother struggles with her diagnosis with Dana's helping hand. Lu offers to help with her schedule with some amusing results.

Lu discovers that one of Marc's friends is an alcoholic; a patient of Dana's who has Parkinson's wants to undergo an experimental procedure involving aborted fetal cells.

A patient of Lu's is denied disability coverage after being diagnosed with fibromyalgia; Dana treats a teenage girl who was circumcised as part of a cultural ritual from her family.

Lu treats a homeless schizophrenic woman who suffers from the side effects of her medication; Dana treats a patient whose unborn child is diagnosed with spinal bifida.

Dana tries to figure out how a virginal young woman got pregnant; Lu cares for a hospital employee who is diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease.

Lu tries to convince a deaf family to get cochlear implants; Dana treats a heroin-addicted woman who wants to get clean without going through the pain of withdrawal.

Environmental toxins in a low-income housing unit trigger early menopause in one of its 25-year-old residents. A new mother spirals into depression and runs away from home. Dana meets Nick's mother.

Lu treats a 12-year-old girl with gonorrhea who accuses her teacher of giving her the disease; Dana discovers that two of her pregnant patients unknowingly have the same father.

A mother believes that the medication Lu prescribed for her autistic daughter is helping her speak; Dana is torn between a patient's husband and mother about taking the patient off life support.

Dana cares for a priest who has been disguising herself as a man; Lu prescribes a drug for a woman diagnosed with sickle cell anemia whose pharmacist won't carry it for fear of his store being robbed.

Lu has her hands full while working an all night shift.

Lu treats a woman who goes on a hunger strike in order to make sure her son isn't executed for murder; Dana contemplates her future at Rittenhouse after a pregnant woman loses her baby during childbirth.