‘Chicago Med’ Bosses Talk April’s Choice, Natalie-Jeff Tension and Mysterious “Health Issue” Ahead
Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider talk to THR about tackling abortion in the second half of the season and other “surprises” ahead.
The employees of Chicago Medical have to make tough calls every day, but on the fall finale of the sophomore hospital drama, nurse April Sexton (Yaya DaCosta) was forced to make a tough call about her own life. After being diagnosed with TB in the season one finale, April learned that her medication had lessened the power of her birth control and that she was pregnant. However, at the same time, her TB had become active and the medication she had to take to put it into remission potentially could cause abnormalities in a growing fetus.
“And if she takes it then then she and the baby can die. It puts her in quite a bind,” co-showrunner Diane Frolov tells The Hollywood Reporter.
Ahead of the show’s return, which picks up a “few weeks” after the events of the finale, she and husband and co-showrunner Andrew Schneider to discuss April’s “choice,” the secret that may drive Natalie (Torrey DeVitto) and Jeff (Jeff Hephner) apart, and the mysterious “health issue” ahead for one of Chicago Med‘s doctors.
What is the next step for April when we come back? We saw her start the medication at the end of the last episode, so where do we find her when the show comes back?
Diane Frolov: She does, of course, start taking the medication and she goes in for an ultrasound to check on the baby.
Andrew Schneider: Her TB goes back into remission …
Frolov: But she’s in for an ultra sound and at one point, the ultrasound shows some measurements that are off a bit on the baby and could indicate that the medication is having an effect on the baby’s development, so it causes a great deal of tension between April and Tate over what to do about that.
Schneider: So it’s an ongoing issue that’s affecting her health and her relationship with Tate, and the pregnancy, so that will be a continuing storyline through half of the back half of the season.
It’s an interesting topic given what’s happening in the country and what the president-elect and the vice president-elect’s feelings are about reproductive rights. How much will you tap into that as she’s discussing the health of the baby?
Frolov: Yes, April is a Catholic so she has strong feelings about terminating a pregnancy, but Tate is not. On the other hand, she’s making a choice, and she’s able to make a choice so it’s a woman making a choice about her health.
Dr. Reese also was left in a tough spot dealing with the death of her patient. How will she bounce back from that tragedy?
Frolov: She’s going to continue to struggle with the question of, “Do I belong in psychiatry?” And in some ways long for the days of just being a doctor. She’s continuing to grow, but she’ll be thrown cases where the area is so gray.
Schneider: She’s always being put in a bind of these gray areas of determining someone’s mental health, and she’s just not sure she has the equipment to deal with that; whereas, a patient comes in with a broken arm, you know what to do. We see what the problem is.
Frolov: She doesn’t have a lot of confidence in herself, and we’re going to explore that fact.
How does that in turn affect Dr. Charles?
Frolov: Sometimes Sarah will challenge Dr. Charles, so he has to justify his decision and in that relationship, we discover a lot about Dr. Charles and about his past.
