Coma

Coma

Something is awry at Boston General Hospital. Dr. Wheeler's (Genevieve Bujold) friend Nancy goes in for a routine procedure, but never comes out of the anesthesia and slips into a coma. Wheeler learns that a tissue sample from the young woman went to the lab, then soon finds out that a high number of patients have become comatose recently. She digs a little deeper and finds a conspiracy mired in hospital politics, running afoul of the head of anesthesia, Dr. George (Rip Torn) and the head of surgery, Dr. Harris (Richard Widmark). Nobody believes the young MD, not even her boyfriend Dr. Bellows (Michael Douglas), but she soon uncovers a black-market trade in body parts, conducted offsite at the Jefferson Institute, a state-of-the-art coma-care facility. As a thriller, Coma certainly has its moments (the scene where a hit man is buried under a pile of frozen-stiff cadavers is an inspired touch), but it's not without its problems. Director Michael Crichton is an MD himself, and the film has a seamless, almost mechanical structure and plotline (taken from the Robin Cook novel). However, the movie's cold, detached feel works against it at times, making the suspense scenes oddly more effective but rendering the emotional content of the characters rather flat. Douglas in particular seems to not put much into his performance; Bujold, on the other hand, is strong and resourceful as the movie's protagonist. More telling, perhaps, is the way that the story shows its age in a time when medical ethics have changed and the phrase "organ harvesting" has made its way into our lexicon. --Jerry Renshaw

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Production: WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES
  1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
6.9
Metacritic:
60
Rotten Tomatoes:
79%
PG
Year:
1978
113
848 Views

Dr. Harris:
I've had a rather hysterical call from Dr. George in anesthesiology. Dr. George is a powerful person here, not only because of his position. There are other reasons.

Dr. Wheeler:
I gather.

Dr. Harris:
What does that mean?

Dr. Wheeler:
Just because he has a rich wife, he's able to throw his weight around.

Dr. Harris:
You're looking for truth and justice.

Dr. Wheeler:
I'm looking for fairness.

Dr. Harris:
In fairness, you've challenged the professional competence of a chief of service at this hospital. And he didn't take it well. No reason he should. Now he's out for blood.

Dr. Wheeler:
I've noticed.

Dr. Harris:
Sue, believe me, I'm on your side for all kinds of reasons. I don't want to let another chief of service get one of my house officers fired.

Dr. Wheeler:
Dr. Harris, I just wanted to look at his charts.

Dr. Harris:
Sue, right now, I can protect you because you're good. And frankly, because you're a woman.

Dr. Wheeler:
I don't want concessions.

Dr. Harris:
At the moment, you'd better take any you can get.

Dr. Wheeler:
You know what happened to Greenly?

Dr. Harris:
Yes.

Dr. Wheeler:
What happened?

Dr. Harris:
She died.

Dr. Wheeler:
How do you feel about that?

Dr. Harris:
How do I feel? I feel...

Dr. Wheeler:
She was my best friend. She understood me. She understood me. It's not fair. None of this is fair.

Dr. Harris:
Here.

Dr. Wheeler:
Nobody understands. No one.

Dr. Harris:
I know, I know.

Secretary:
[on the intercom] Dr. Harris, the secretary of HEW is on the phone from Washington.

Dr. Harris:
Call back. Too many of us shut ourselves off from our feelings. We don't explore them. We don't understand them. We don't understand ourselves. It's the toughest thing about our profession.

Dr. Wheeler:
Dr. Harris...

Dr. Harris:
I'll take care of the politics. You just look out for yourself. Take the weekend off, Sue. Go walk on the beach. Get away from the hospital.

Dr. Wheeler:
I'm so embarrassed by this.

Dr. Harris:
Don't be. Don't be. Our emotions are what make us human.

Dr. Wheeler:
Mark, it's so awful! It's so terrible.

Dr. Bellows:
Take it easy. Honey, slow down.

Dr. Wheeler:
He was trying to kill me. And I had to keep going. And all the bodies. It's horrible!

Dr. Bellows:
Take it easy. Slow down.

Dr. Wheeler:
Mark, it's all happening. It's really happening. Somebody's putting people into comas. They're murdering them. No, no, really. Kelly's dead. I was down there. I found the gas line. It starts in the basement and it goes up the main tunnel then plugs into the oxygen line in the ceiling that goes to O.R. 8.

Dr. Bellows:
Honey, slow down.

Dr. Wheeler:
They're killing people with carbon monoxide in O.R. 8. They have a radio to turn the valve.

Dr. Bellows:
I believe you.

Dr. Wheeler:
All the cases happened in O.R. 8. And they all went to the Jefferson Institute. And this guy, he chased me all over. And there were so many bodies.

Dr. Bellows:
It's all right. It's okay.

Dr. Wheeler:
And this is real. Call the police. We have to do something! This is real, Mark. I can prove it.

Dr. Bellows:
Sure, you can. You can. Just lie down.

Dr. Wheeler:
This is real.

Dr. Bellows:
I know you can. Now one thing at a time. I want to give you a Valium and how about a cup of tea to settle you down? A cup of hot tea? Then we're going to talk after you settle down. So you just rest right here. You just stay right here on the bed? That-a-girl. That's it. You just relax.

Dr. Wheeler:
I can't...

Dr. Bellows:
That's it. Just relax. Close your eyes. That's it. Okay, that-a-girl. Now, I'll get you a cup of tea.

Dr. Wheeler:
You're so great, Mark.

Dr. Bellows:
Stay here, honey. Just stay right here. [calling out from the kitchen] That's a hell of a story, Susan. You really had a lot of people worried. Don't worry. Everything's going to be okay now. [quietly into the phone] She came back. No, she's here now. Of course. No, I can manage that. I'll keep her here. Look, I'd better go. [turns to fins Susan gone]

Dr. Harris:
But our society faces momentous decisions. Decisions about the right to die. About abortion. About terminal illness, prolonged coma, transplantation. Decisions about life and death. But society isn't deciding. Congress isn't deciding. The courts aren't deciding. Religion isn't deciding. Why? Because society is leaving it up to us, the experts. The doctors.

Dr. Wheeler:
You're crazy.

Dr. Harris:
Americans spend $125 billion a year on health. More than defense. Because Americans believe in medical care. These great hospital complexes are the cathedrals of our age. Billions of dollars, thousands of beds. A whole nation of sick people turning to us for help.

Dr. Wheeler:
You, you ought to see somebody.

Dr. Harris:
They're children, Sue. They trust us. We can't tell them everything. Our job is to make things easier for them. I'm sure you agree.

Dr. Wheeler:
You're killing people.

Dr. Harris:
We must always take the long view. Not of the individual, but of society as a whole. Because medicine is now a great social force. The individual is too small.

[Susan begins to lose focus and feels pain in her abdomen]

Dr. Harris:
That's the drug. It produces abdominal spasm and peritoneal symptoms. It must be very painful. It's too bad. But look at it from the practical standpoint. Somebody has to make these decisions. We can't wait around forever. If society won't decide, we'll decide. We'll make the hard decisions.

[Susan collapses]

Dr. Harris:
[picks up the phone] This is Dr. Harris. Schedule an emergency appendectomy in O.R. 8. It's a member of the house staff, Dr. Wheeler. I've examined her. She requires immediate surgery.


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