'The Good Doctor': Dr. Lim Performs Secret Surgery to Fix Female Patient's Mutilation

This week's episode of The Good Doctor featured a heartbreaking case that almost got Dr. Audrey [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

This week's episode of The Good Doctor featured a heartbreaking case that almost got Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang). She took it upon herself to fix a female patient's genital mutilation, even secretly repairing the patient's clitoris without approval from her boss.

In "Middle Ground," a teenage girl named Asha (Camille Hyde) showed up in the emergency room, asking for cosmetic surgery. Lim was ready to dismiss her at first, but Asha insisted Lim examine her. Lim was shocked and agreed to perform a vaginal rejuvenation without the girl's parents knowing. Unfortunately, after the surgery, the girl was still in pain.

Dr. Morgan Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann) suggested this was actually good news because it proved Asha still had some working nerve endings in her clitoris. However, by this point, the girl's parents found out and were enraged that their daughter had a surgery without her knowing.

The parents were against Lim performing a surgery to fix their daughter's clitoris, but Lim insisted on it. A social worker found out about the case and said the girl needed to make her decision herself. With her parents hovering over her, the girl decided against the procedure.

Later, Lim asked the patient once again, without her parents. Even then, the girl did not want the surgery out of fear of breaking her family's traditions. Lim appeared to accept her decision.

But during the procedure to remove the nerve endings, Lim changed course and fixed the girl's clitoris anyway by taking cells from her cheek.

In the end, the patient and her parents thanked Lim, thinking she did not do the more risky procedure. The girl then felt some pain around her cheek and realized that Lim performed the procedure anyway. She did not raise any alarm though, and Lim smiled.

"The nurse will bring you some Tylonol, which is all you'll really need," Lim told Asha.

"Thank you," the patient whispered.

"You're going to be great," Lim replied as she walked out of the room, and leaving the parents unaware of what Lim really did.

Fans at home were not entirely happy with what Lim did. One person said she was no different than Asha's parents.


Another fan said she is no hero, and violated all medical ethics.

Then again, a few others thought she deserves to be featured more often on the show.

New episodes of The Good Doctor air on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo credit: ABC

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