The Flight of the Nightingale begins with nurses in a hospital complaining about long hours, low pay and not being respected by doctors and hospital administrators. Later in the evening, Nurse Lynn Buchanan (Georgann Johnson) notices that the prescribed heparin drip IV has been turned off for an ailing patient in pain, and when she cannot locate the attending doctor she turns it back on following the orders in the chart. The patient dies shortly thereafter and the doctor blames Nurse Buchanan accusing her of administering too much of the drip, whereas she argues that the doctor left incomplete notes. Quincy (Jack Klugman) conducts the autopsy and must determine if it was actually the drip that killed the patient while the nurse's job hangs in the balance and her coworkers go on strike.
First off, I don't like these episodes where the story takes place in a hospital setting rather than the coroner lab. Quincy is not supposed to be a hospital drama, yet this is exactly what we have here. So how does this reconcile with the fact that Dr. Quincy doesn't work in a hospital you might ask? Well, it doesn't as we barely see him in this story and there is some contrived subplot about Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) bringing his wife in for surgery after she collapses. I assume Barbara Tarbuck was not available at the time of filming of this episode as we now see Louise Asten being played by Cynthia Harris. Recasts are sometimes necessary and I get that, but between this and the fact that there was absolutely no mention of the boy that the Astens were fostering and trying to adopt earlier in this same season (For Want of a Horse) just made this whole subplot come across as very sloppy and inconsistent. I'm all for giving the regular players their own personal stories from time to time, but at least be constant about it!
Another problem with this episode is that the characters come off as total caricatures in that we have the benevolent and kind-hearted nurse, the angry and embittered nurse, the chauvinistic and condescending doctor, etc. It is a shame that all of the characters were written in this one-dimensional manner as there are some good guest stars appearing here, but there is only so much that you can do with a poor script.
Overall, this is a pretty weak Season 7 episode that does not feature any type of crime but does address the treatment of registered nurses and would have been more appropriately featured on a hospital drama series rather than Quincy.
First off, I don't like these episodes where the story takes place in a hospital setting rather than the coroner lab. Quincy is not supposed to be a hospital drama, yet this is exactly what we have here. So how does this reconcile with the fact that Dr. Quincy doesn't work in a hospital you might ask? Well, it doesn't as we barely see him in this story and there is some contrived subplot about Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) bringing his wife in for surgery after she collapses. I assume Barbara Tarbuck was not available at the time of filming of this episode as we now see Louise Asten being played by Cynthia Harris. Recasts are sometimes necessary and I get that, but between this and the fact that there was absolutely no mention of the boy that the Astens were fostering and trying to adopt earlier in this same season (For Want of a Horse) just made this whole subplot come across as very sloppy and inconsistent. I'm all for giving the regular players their own personal stories from time to time, but at least be constant about it!
Another problem with this episode is that the characters come off as total caricatures in that we have the benevolent and kind-hearted nurse, the angry and embittered nurse, the chauvinistic and condescending doctor, etc. It is a shame that all of the characters were written in this one-dimensional manner as there are some good guest stars appearing here, but there is only so much that you can do with a poor script.
Overall, this is a pretty weak Season 7 episode that does not feature any type of crime but does address the treatment of registered nurses and would have been more appropriately featured on a hospital drama series rather than Quincy.