Asher hasn’t been on The Good Doctor long, but he’s certainly left his mark. In the latest episode of the series, “Dr. Ted,” the surgical resident makes a shocking decision that puts his future at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital in jeopardy.
The majority of “Dr. Ted” focuses on Shaun and Lea as they deal with the fallout of Lea’s collapse outside of the hospital at the end of last week’s episode. However, Asher is given plenty of screen time as he tends to his newest patient, Maxine. She’s an older woman who, after years of partying, decides she’s done living.
After collapsing at a party, Maxine comes into the hospital, and while she seemed fine at first, she quickly went into cardiac arrest. Asher rushes to save her, but Park notices a do-not-resuscitate notice on her bracelet, which forces them to stop. To everyone’s surprise, though, Maxine wakes up and appears just fine. Asher and Park run some tests and discover Maxine has a device that restarts her heart in the event it stops, which complicates her wish to die.
Maxine wants them to remove the device and allow her terminal cancer to take her life, but Asher has a difficult time understanding why someone so full of life wants to die. Even after Andrews and Park explained that it’s Maxine’s choice and she feels like she’s lived long enough, Asher still disagrees with her decision. He goes to speak to her in her room, and towards the end of the conversation, he feels like he’s gotten through to her. She agrees to take the necessary antibiotics to fight off her cancer, ready with a new lease on life.
Sadly, that new outlook doesn’t stick, as Maxine invites a group of people to the hospital for her going away party. Confused, Asher confronts his patient, and she explains that after thinking it over, she decided against the treatment because choosing how she dies is important to her. However, the next morning, after expecting to die, Maxine once again wakes up. Park comes to inform that, miraculously, her infection began to go away on its own, prolonging her life.
After telling her the news, Asher heads into the hallway and sits on a bench, just like the hospital’s president, Dr. Glassman, begins walking towards him. Glassman informs Asher that given Maxine’s condition, it’s a miracle that she pulled through. But Glassman clearly knows more than he’s letting on, and he tells Asher that he knows that the first-year gave his patient the antibiotics against her wishes. The president won’t turn Asher in, but he wants him to go right his mistake.
Feeling guilty, Asher goes to Maxine’s room with documents that will allow her to have a physician-assisted death, allowing her to choose when she goes. However, while Asher thought he was doing the right thing, he made a major mistake that put him on Dr. Glassman’s radar, putting his career at risk in the process.
