Heart Department Outline- "Of Life And Death"

[Andrew]

Background information: Jeff has been involved in various crimes throughout his life, including armed robbery, assault, and possession of illegal drugs. He has spent some time in prisons. He has always been around questionable people, but still tries to do the right thing. Both he and his girlfriend were both heavy drug users. His girlfriend overdosed several months after the birth of their daughter, who is now ten months old. This forced Jeff to get and stay completely clean and get his act together, but after collapsing one day, he discovered that he was dying of a heart condition. He has attempted to get a donor, but cannot because of his history.

TEASER
Jeff is alone at church praying.

He arrives back at his apartment. He says thanks to his teenage cousin, Jenny, for watching his infant daughter. He finds she’s sleeping. He watches over her and tells her everything’s gonna be okay. 

ACT 1
Mark is with family. Liza comes in and talks to them, tells them they may have a possible heart, great news. Mark has really declined, and is in poor condition.

Joe meets with Mark’s family, talks about the effects that the surgery may have on Marks’s life and explains that there is a strong chance that Mark will not survive the surgery, and also that he may not live much longer after the heart is in.

Mark’s parents speak to Biskin about surgery, technical of operation and how him getting it might make him suffer more and have a more painful death. Mark already knows all this and is happy to do it anyways.

Joe talks to Liza in hall, asks her to come over for dinner and that he wants to tell her something. She says she is very busy with work but ends up agreeing.

Liza talks to Biskin, who says he thinks Mark’s surgery is a mistake, and it’s probably a waste because he might die soon after he gets the heart anyways. Liza is upset by his negativity. Says he’s not being negative, but feels the heart could be better suited with someone healthier. Liza is disappointed in him.

Their work ends and Liza goes to Joe’s. Joe has made an amazing dinner, and has wine. He tells her “Liza, I love you. I always have, for as long as I can remember. I would do anything for you.” Liza doesn’t respond at first then says “I’m really sorry, I just don’t feel the same. I feel horrible about it… I don’t think we should be spending so much time together.” 

ACT 2
Joe shows up to work in a taxi, wearing the clothes he wore the night before, is hungover, and just plain looks like shit, which not common for Joe.

They go through the process of preparing Mark for surgery. Mark is fully mentally prepared for this and Joe is impressed by this, but is not having the best day, after what happened with Liza the night before. He has been avoiding her all day.

Mark is being prepped for surgery. His chest is shaved, Biskin marks of incision area with a marker. There is still a chance the surgery may not go through if there is a problem with the donor heart. Mark tells Biskin that he’s confident in him. He’s optimistic but understands that there is a chance that it may not go through. They still have to do tests with the donor organs. 

Joe tells Bump that he told Liza about his feelings towards her (something which Bump urged) but that she didn’t feel the same way. Bump tells him it was good for him to hear that, but he needs to just focus on work for now.

The donor body is brought to the hospital and Bump and some other surgeons remove the heart. They do some preliminary tests on it. Biskin enters and examines the heart. He gives the greenlight.

They begin surgery. It starts out well, but soon Mark’s condition takes a turn for the worse. Biskin is able to quickly assess the problem and solve it.

Liza goes to give his family a status update but on her way to the waiting room, there is some shouting, followed by a gunshot. She peaks around a corner to see Jeff, along with five or so masked men, all carrying guns. Jeff says “Bring me Dr. Biskin.” He tells the men to sweep the building and gather anyone, and to secure the exits. (We later find out that these men are mostly other criminals of questionable character and Jeff’s best friend who he grew up with) 

ACT 3
She quickly makes her way back up to the operating room where Mark’s surgery is taking place. She explains the situation and says that gunmen will be there soon. Biskin understands the severity of the situation, however Mark is at a critical point in the surgery—they have passed the point of no return for the transplant, and tells Bump to continue. They’re not sure how Jeff will react if he discovers the surgery taking place, so Biskin puts Bump in charge and tells him he has faith he will be ok. Maude asks to leave with them, to help out with situation. (Does this seem believable? Maybe I will just have her outside the room to begin with) She stares at Bump intensely, silently telling him that he can do this. Liza, Biskin and Maude leave the room and the door is locked. 

Jeff has now collected the patients along with the hospital staff members into one consolidated location. He takes all of their cell phones and tells them not to do anything stupid—he doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but he will if they don’t obey him. Joe, who is among the hostages helps everyone remain calm, including a lady who is having a panic attack (I want to have more instances of Joe helping the hostages throughout the episode to mentally deal with this situation).

One of his men brings Biskin and Liza to Jeff. Jeff asks Biskin if he is prepared for surgery. He responds, “We don’t have a donor heart.” Jeff says, “Let me worry about that.” He tells Liza to call every hospital in the area and try to find one—“tell them it’s an emergency.” 

Bump is apprehensive during surgery, but is doing a good job. Suddenly Mark begins convulsing violently. Bump begins freaking out—he’s never seen this before and doesn’t know the cause. He believes his kidneys are failing, but can’t seem to stop them.

ACT 4
A masked man is watching outside the window, the sound of sirens getting louder. A dozen or more police vehicles pull up outside the hospital.

Jeff has one of the nurses begin doing taking blood samples of all the patients to determine their blood types “in case he needs to be given more blood” (he has a rare blood type). He asks one of his men to supervise her and make sure she is actually doing this.

Jeff is warned about the police’s presence. He is upset by this but saw it coming. Liza says she understands why he has been doing this and has been trying to get the hospital to reconsider its policy. “I know you’re a dad. You’re a good dad. I want to do everything I can to help you get this heart. You have to believe me.” Jeff explains that he is all his daughter has left, that he grew up without parents of his own, in foster homes, going through abuse (shows burns) and was just a check in the mail to his foster parents. Ran away and was homeless for a while. He doesn’t want that life for his daughter. He says he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Says he’s going to ask the police for transportation out of country, and start a new life.

The police call. Jeff is nervous to answer and lets them keep calling a few times. He talks to them and explains he’s serious and lists his demands. They ask to speak to one of the hostages and he puts Liza on the phone. Liza helps Jeff by saying that Jeff is serious in his demands, and asks them to somehow please get a heart for him. The police say they might be able to do this, but it will take sometime, even days. Jeff is not buying this, he tells them they have two hours. He sets his watch.

They talk more, and discuss personal things, like Jeff’s daughter. Liza says she knows where he is coming from. Biskin is still somewhat skeptical of him, but he and Joe and Maude and all the other hostages begin to see where he is coming from and no longer feel as threatened by him. 

There is only fifteen minutes left. The police call again and tell him they have a heart of his type on the way. Jeff begins to prepare physically and mentally for the surgery. The heart comes. Biskin and Liza take a look at the heart. Biskin is unsettled but doesn’t say anything. He eyes Liza carefully. Jeff asks if everything is alright. Biskin starts to talk but is interrupted by Liza. She tells him the heart is not a human heart, but is a pig’s. Jeff: “Are you sure?” She says yes. Jeff picks up the heart. He squeezes it angrily and throws it on the ground, cursing.

Jeff goes back into the other room and asks for the blood results. He finds only one person is a match: Maude. He tells his men to grab a hold of her. He then explains to everyone that he’s so sorry for what he has to do. The hostages and Liza and Biskin watch in horror. Jeff says he needs to get the donor heart no matter what it takes. He raises the gun to her head. Liza begs him not to do it, says that they can get a donor if he waits longer. He’s tired of waiting. Biskin tells him that the heart may not even be suitable. Jeff says “We’ll have to find out then.” Biskin then tells him: “Wait, please, she’s my daughter.” Jeff lowers the gun temporarily, realizing he and Biskin are both fathers who care deeply about their daughters. Joe takes advantage of this hesitation and lunges across the room, tackling Jeff. The gun is knocked out of his hands. The two of them are rolling on the floor, Joe is being choked as he reaches towards the gun. But before he can reach it, he is shot several times in the side by one of Jeff’s men. His body lies shaking, with blood pooling out. Jeff grabs his gun and gets up.

ACT 5
Bump discovers that the levels of potassium in his blood are dangerously. He thinks of some smart way to somewhat solve this problem despite his limited supplies and compromised team. Mark begins to level but is not yet at an acceptable level, but Bump must try to finish the surgery anyways. Towards the very end of the surgery, Mark dies. 

Liza is distraught. Biskin checks Joe’s vitals signs, and says he’s still alive, but barely. He needs medical attention fast. Jeff thinks about this and says he stays right there, until Jeff gets a heart. Liza says that he will be killing Joe if he doesn’t get to the hospital soon. Jeff says that that is basically what they have been doing to him by not giving him a heart. Liza calls the police back and demands they get him a real heart at once. They say that a man in Nevada actually was just killed and he may have a suitable heart. They are going to send it by helicopter. 

Jeff agrees to let Joe go to the nearby ER but says if a legitimate heart doesn’t come up soon, he will kill some hostages. 

The new heart comes and Jeff sees the tests done to determine that it is a match for him. 

Biskin begins the surgery, he removes his heart and successfully puts in the donor. But the donor soon begins to fail and Jeff suddenly dies. Biskin tells the men that he did the best he could, but sometimes the new hearts just fail. There is a loud bang from the main room, followed by gunshots. Some of the men leave to go check it out.

Montage (slow-motion):

A flash bang explodes near by the OR. One man grabs Liza and uses her as a human shield as he enters the hallway, shooting back at the cops.

Jeff’s dead body is laying still.

Several other masked men are brutally shot down by the police.

Mark is laying there with Bump and others repeatedly shocking him with the defibrillator. His body lifts up violently each time.

Liza and the man round a corner, the hall is smoky but they soon see several swat team members. “Don’t shoot, he’s got a hostage!”

Mark suddenly gets a pulse again, Bump and everyone are relieved.

The masked man is shooting at the police. But his clip runs out of ammo. Liza elbows him hard in the ribs and he lets go. She crawls away as the police gun him down.

Fade to black.

Fades back and you see a hospital room with equipment. The heart is beating steadily. A hand in a hospital bed. Another hand comes and holds onto it. We now see that it is Liza’s hand holding onto Joe’s as he lies unconscious in bed.

Notes: Sorry if the whole thing is sloppy. I was sort of just going with first instincts on a lot of the things so there may be a lot of things that don't really make sense or are phrased really poorly. I apologize.