The Practice

Ellenor is diagnosed with a disease that complicates pregnancy. She appoints Jimmy as her baby's guardian and makes Dr. Gideon promise that he will put the baby's life ahead of her own. Legally, this is unethical, and poses problems in the surgery to also remove her rupturing appendix. Her health declines (several seizures), and it doesn't seem that she or the baby will survive. Worse still, due to Ellenor's condition, she will die if they deliver the baby. Pulling at straws, Dr. Gideon prescribes heparin (an act of hope rather than medical evidence). After a long night, Ellenor recovers, and Gideon attibutes it to ""dumb luck"", but is glad never the less. Throughout the episode we learn that Ellenor and Gideon's wife were best friends, and he offers advice on how to be a single "mom."