australian television information archive

Eternity

In the closing moments of series 1, a crazed litigant drove her car straight at Dr Tony McKinnon, Dr Ella Davis and Dr Jamie Lawless in the hospital car park…

In the premiere of series two, the MDA team must deal with the painful aftermath of the attempted murder of Ella, Jamie and Tony. Despite eight hours in the operating theatre, Tony dies and the effect on the survivors is far-reaching and profound.

A locum legal case manager, Amanda McKay, joins MDA while Ella and Jamie recover. She works with Caitlin and Happy in defence of an IVF doctor accused of breach of contract. An IVF baby has died soon after birth, due to an undiagnosed genetic condition. MDA successfully defends the doctor, but the case could have far reaching consequences for IVF doctors and their patients.

Caitlin waits for the injured Ella’s return to work and then, goaded by Richard, announces her new job at Richard’s firm. Happy will never forgive her and it is yet another blow for the fragile Ella.

Meanwhile, Ella and Amanda go into mediation against Gretel Celeste, a medium who claims to have lost her psychic powers as a result of an appendectomy. As Ella struggles to calm the psychic, she finds understanding for herself and her recent tragedy.

Chinese Walls

Caitlin is on the other side of the line when Richard gives her first brief at Kato & Pittman: a potential million-dollar claim from a permanently injured plaintiff against a doctor who admits negligence. An open and shut case? Happy is maliciously delighted to learn he will do battle against Caitlin, his former protégée, on the case.

At MDA, Jamie clumps about on crutches and Happy interviews replacement case managers for Caitlin’s position at MDA. Amanda is miffed that she must apply for the job she had thought she was doing so well.

Ella becomes more and more suspicious of a doctor who neglected to tell his patient that she had contracted gonorrhoea from her husband.

On the day of her job interview, Amanda’s letter of the law approach runs head-on into Ella’s complex moral position on medical indemnity.

Note: Angie Milliken is added to the main credits

Precious Little

Ella and Happy face a hard fight defending a doctor who trusted a pathology report and thus missed a cancer in a nine-year-old boy. The biopsy slides and the pathologist are missing. Richard becomes emotionally involved with the terminally ill boy, and is shaken to discover that the parents absolutely refuse to tell their son he’s dying.

With the trial fast tracked, Ella enlists unpredictable surgeon Simon Lloyd as an expert witness. His care and passion for the case and the mediation provide unexpected results and a violent response from Richard, when Simon breaks the rules and confronts the grieving parents. When the elusive pathologist shows up, she confesses she got it wrong and Ella is devastated.

At Kato & Pittman, Caitlin is reminded of her junior status when Richard has her drawing up wills. But she discovers her client’s husband could well have a very large med-neg claim against their GP, who failed to diagnose kidney failure which has lead to him loosing his sight. It should be an easy and big win for Caitlin, so she is very disappointed when her client refuses to go to court and accepts the settlement offered by Amanda and Jamie—a mere $1.2 million.

Note: Kylie Needham nominated for a 2004 Australian Writers' Guild (AWGIE) Award for this episode's script

A Time And A Place

Richard and Caitlin represent a nun who has had a complete mastectomy of a perfectly healthy breast. Happy and Amanda defend the surgeon who mixed up the biopsy results. Amanda’s defence is inventive, to say the least, and Happy is both shocked and impressed.

Still in turmoil after her brush with death and the loss of Tony, Ella is made a tempting offer, which forces her to consider her future.

Jamie is thrown further off balance when Wendy tells him she’s still thinking of joining Doctors Without Borders and doing aid work overseas. Before that issue can even be discussed, Ella, Jamie and Wendy try to save a young mother who urgently needs a heart transplant. Can they persuade the grieving parents of a brain dead boy to allow their son to be an organ donor in time?

Aftershocks

Ella, unhappy at Happy and Amanda’s legal tactics while representing a deceased MDA member, tells Happy that she’s been offered a fulltime job at St Albans Hospital.

Caitlin and Richard argue over the case of a woman left with paralysed vocal chords after a throat operation. Caitlin thinks the woman has no case, but cunning Richard finds a point of attack.

Jamie is haunted by traumatic memories of Tony’s death as he prepares to give evidence in the murder trial. Caitlin and Richard argue over the case of a woman left with paralysed vocal chords, but the real source of tension is Caitlin’s new lover, Justin.

Taking It On The Chin

Surgeon Simon Lloyd has his first day as a case manager at MDA, as Ella sadly packs up to leave. Layla prepares a farewell, while Happy buries himself in work.

Amanda and Simon work together on the paralysed vocal chords case, but Amanda doesn’t know what to make of the enigmatic Simon.

While Richard and Caitlin also prepare for the vocal chords case, he learns accidentally that the police suspect Caitlin’s new lover of murder.

Note: Felix Nobis is added to the main credits

Paved With Good Intentions

Layla tries to help an old school friend whose sister is brain damaged after a pethidine overdose. Before long, Happy and Jamie are dealing with a writ naming five defendants, who cannot agree on damages or tactics.

Meanwhile, Richard finds the plaintiff’s family equally hard to handle.

Simon and Amanda argue heatedly about representing a med student accused of sexual misconduct. Caitlin, still vulnerable, identifies with the victim.

Note: Kerry Armstrong is no longer regularly featured in the opening credits but now only appears for the episodes she appears in.

A Bird In The Hand

"What price can be put on the loss of the ability to make love to your wife six times a day?"

Layla feels helpless, guilty and then angry as the pethidine overdose case heads for court and a "victim friendly" judge. Everyone seems to want something from her—and she only wanted to help. A surprise reversal in court forces Happy to revise his strategy.

Caitlin represents a very angry man who suffered shockingly negligent surgery. His sexual function is irreversibly destroyed. But Simon and Amanda have trouble representing the surgeon, who refuses to talk to them.

Crossing The Line

The press takes an interest as Happy and Amanda gear up for an appeal hearing in the Supreme Court. On the plaintiff’s side, Caitlin is doing all the work and Richard is taking all the credit—as usual.

Simon is put on the spot, and clashes with Happy, when an old mate, orthopaedic surgeon Cameron Foster, is sued for negligence by a media personality who can no longer wear stilettos after having her toes shortened. Happy and Amanda insist that MDA won’t represent the surgeon who has refused to pay his dues and is participating in a lawsuit against MDA

A Closer Walk

Richard’s mysterious past may no longer be a secret!

Richard’s in the middle of a tough mediation when his larrikin Dad arrives from retirement in Tasmania to tell Richard he’s remarrying. Dad was a tram driver and things are a little tense with his high-flier son.

Just as Jamie is about to tell Ella he’s quitting his shifts in Emergency, a teenage boy is brought in after a car smash. Jamie and Ella work to save the boy, but his parents insist their religion prohibits blood transfusions.

Simon and Amanda discover that not only was there no anaesthetist present at the contentious birth or even available at the hospital, but their obstetrician member is part owner of the hospital.

Notes: Terence Donovan is Jason Donovan’s father, Kerry Armstrong returns to the opening credits (for this and all subsequent episodes she is in) while Alice McConnell is removed.

A Reasonable Passion

Richard’s Dad, Eric regains consciousness in hospital, but the two still have trouble communicating about the past.

The group of doctors suing MDA now personalise their grievances and attack Happy in the media. But Happy fights back—with some help from a retired Flying Doctor. The old doc is being sued for negligence in delivering a baby, but Jamie discovers he can’t remember the incident at all.

Simon and Amanda represent a GP who unwisely treated his own brother and failed to diagnose fatal colon cancer. Now the guilty doctor is being sued by his own bitter sister-in-law

Judgement Day

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St Crispin’s Day

Happy Henderson has a very busy day. Negotiating with Richard Savage to contain a potentially huge damages claim, Happy also tries to avoid being sacked while lobbying to keep Mark Matthews as President of MDA. New Board member Ella Davis has the deciding vote.

Simon Lloyd and Amanda McKay reluctantly represent the challenger for the MDA presidency, plastic surgeon Vince Phillips, who’s being sued by a woman for the breakdown of her marriage after cosmetic surgery on her genitals.

The Samaritan Kind

Simon Lloyd is taken with an attractive GP, who amputated a farmer’s arm to save him from a burning truck, but is she all she seems? And do a few glasses of wine and illicit sex before amputating a patient’s arm affect a doctor’s judgement?

Richard Savage gets a new assistant, loud, cheeky Fran Griffin, whether he likes it or not—and he doesn’t. But they work together to represent a teenage mother who lost her baby to meningitis.

Simon, meanwhile, grows more and more anxious about his wife’s absence in Germany.

All Care, No Responsibility

Happy Henderson is trapped into representing a rude and egotistical surgeon, suspected of euthanasia, at a coronial inquest. Happy needs Simon Lloyd’s help, but the two are at odds when Simon returns from Germany and resigns.

Meanwhile, Amanda McKay, showing off to Jamie Lawless, makes a blunder in a case where Richard Savage represents a couple dying of AIDS.

Caveat Medicus

Happy Henderson’s ordeal at the coronial inquest continues, but cracks appear in his surgeon client’s façade. To Happy’s chagrin, Simon Lloyd becomes indispensable.

Richard Savage sues for "wrongful birth". His client is a deeply disturbed woman, who fell pregnant despite having her tubes tied. On the other side, Amanda and Jamie are stuck with defending the unlikeable and, it seems, negligent gynaecologist.

Second Bite

Happy’s son Jason tells Happy he’s seeing a psychiatrist and wants Happy to come to his next therapy session. Richard overrides his abrasive new assistant Fran in the choice of a respectable plaintiff for a "wrongful birth" claim.

Simon and Amanda represent an anxious plastic surgeon accused of negligence while holding a "Botox party". Amanda’s former lover appears unexpectedly and wants to pick up where they left off.

Conflict Of Interest

Happy is amazed and dismayed when his son’s psychiatrist is accused of sexual misconduct. Simon the surgeon needs some minor knee surgery himself, but he’s never been a patient before.

Amanda and Jamie represent a radiologist whose female patient suffered an extreme allergic reaction to X-ray dye. Problems arise when Jamie finds himself attracted to the motor-mouth patient.

Bigger Fish To Fry

Richard Savage is determined to secure the biggest damages claim in Australian history when he represents a top tennis star whose career may be over after shoulder surgery.

Amanda and Jamie represent an anaesthetist, whose 10-year-old patient asphyxiated during dental surgery. Richard makes partner at his firm and invites his regular adversary, Amanda, to his celebration party.

Layla’s grandmother is being kept alive in a hospice and the strain is starting to tell.

Without Prejudice

Simon and Amanda represent a well-meaning GP whose teenage anorexia patient died during his experimental treatment.

Amanda is less than impressed when Happy not only takes charge of two of her cases, but also discusses her private life with their colleague, the handsome Dr Simon Lloyd.

Layla discovers the Supreme Court must rule in her grandmother’s case and Layla will need a QC to represent her.

Pas De Deux

Ella becomes involved with an unqualified and anarchic Russian doctor Mikhail Voronin.

Richard goes beyond his duty when he tries to help a ballerina with a spinal injury which she says has ruined her career.

Simon and Amanda have a day in the country, investigating a GP accused of over-servicing his elderly patients.

Office rumours about Amanda and Richard cause friction at MDA.

Memento Mori

Richard turns to Happy for help when his old mentor, whom he is representing, threatens to expose his sometimes dubious practices.

Jamie is drawn into a case where a father has had his baby daughter vaccinated, over the strong objections of the mother.

Layla finally gets her ruling from the Supreme Court over the future of her dying grandmother.

Simon and Amanda wonder whether their relationship has a future—or if they even have a relationship.