‘Chicago Med’: Maggie Donates Kidney to Dying Patient

Chicago Med‘s Maggie Lockwood put her job and life at risk as she tried to donate a kidney to a patient.

During “Can’t Unring That Bell,” Maggie (Marlyne Barrett) made the decision to risk her own life to save a patient, who had grown up a few blocks from her, after she collapsed and was brought to the hospital as she waited for a new kidney.

The lab results showed her condition getting worse, Maggie beat herself up knowing that the hospital should have taken care of her before things got dire, but she didn’t have coverage when she first came to the hospital in the previous episode.

Further exams show that Maggie’s friend’s dialysis has not been working, and she the doctors at her regular clinic told her she might have to get further treatment but got too sick before she could get there. The doctors and nurses work to help make her feel better, but she fears things will get even worse without a new kidney.

She thanks Maggie for being her advocate through the whole process. Later, Maggie is seen getting visibly upset as she attempts to get the woman moved up the transplant list.

Since she is a sex worker, Maggie is unsuccessful in getting her bumped up to keep her alive. The charge nurse then beats herself up talking to April (Yaya DaCosta) for not being more aware of how severe her symptoms were the last time she had tried to seek help in the E.R.

“Maybe if I hadn’t kept her waiting this wouldn’t have happened,” Maggie says. She then asks April to test her blood and see if it could be a match for donation, so she could give the patient her kidney.

Later, Sharon (S. Epatha Merkerson) takes Maggie aside and attempts to persuade her not to do this.

“Maggie, undergoing surgery for a patient, an irreversible procedure, is a violation of professional boundaries,” she says.

“I’m sorry but I don’t care,” Maggie says. Maggie tells Sharon that the patient will never get a kidney otherwise.

Sharon says it is too much of a risk, as well as an ethical violation, so she tells her she can’t do it. Maggie tells her there is nothing she can do about it. Upon her resistance, Sharon threatens her with losing her job if she goes through with the donation.

As the doctors set to start her dialysis back up, Sydney crashes and Maggie helps to revive her. Sharon watches as the doctors and nurses fight to save her, but the code blue is a clear sign she won’t make it long without a transplant.

In her office, Maggie announces she will be applying for special permission so she can secure her job and still donate her kidney. When Sharon asks why she is so invested in this patient, Maggie tells her that with this case she can be the one to end the patient’s suffering.

As the show’s core couples continued to unravel, the episode came to a bittersweet end as Sharon kept watch of the O.R. when Maggie went in to donate her kidney.

Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.