In the Blood

Terri endeavours to put the horror of Neil Phillips' death behind her and get on with her life. She has even decided to move back to her old flat, after living in the Sister's Community House. Mitch finds himself treating Graham Farmer, a patient with mysterious symptoms uncomfortably similar to those of Neil Phillips. A wary Terri jumps to the conclusion Graham also has Munchausen's Syndrome. Graham's erratic behaviour seems to bolster her claim. However, Mitch has a gut feeling his patient's varied symptoms are genuine and refuses to discharge him. It is only when Mitch discovers the patient has a rare blood disorder, that Terri is forced to acknowledge the demons of her recent past still have to be laid to rest. Consequently, she decides it is not yet time to leave the security of the Community House. Luke is extremely paranoid. He is convinced his colleagues are giving him the cold shoulder due to his working class origins and the recent hospitalisation of his criminal brother. The theory gains credibility when he finds himself teamed with anaesthetist, Tom Snowdon, for a surgical procedure. Luke and Tom had previously come to blows over Tom's pethidine addiction and the mutual mistrust and dislike has only intensified. To compound matters Luke makes a minor slip-up in a simple procedure resulting in an otherwise healthy woman requiring a temporary colostomy. This woman, Belinda is Steph's patient and Steph finds herself siding with her patient when Belinda decides to lay a formal complaint against Luke. Mitch reassures Luke the incident was unfortunate but understandable, and that CEO Stan Ridgeway will be most sympathetic. However, Luke is unprepared for Tom's vindictive ambush. Even Bron is finding Luke's paranoia wearisome, but if she thought Ben would lend her a sympathetic ear she is about to be proven wrong. The friction between the two ambos soon takes a back seat to a full-scale emergency. A "client" assaults Ben and leaves him floating face down in a deserted river. Bron risks her own safety to rescue Ben and perform lifesaving resuscitation, which, essential though it may have been at the time, does not exactly make Ben's day. Later Bron receives word she is being slated for a bravery commendation, which just about sends her over the moon. It is only when she tries to convey the good news to a self-absorbed Luke that she is brought back to earth with thud. Kylie and Jared find their work cut out for them trying to prepare a retired pensioner, Clive Murray, for some routine heart studies. The patient appears to have a never-ending stream of female family visitors which makes doing check ups increasingly difficult. In a last-ditch attempt to complete their preparation duties they catch him in the act of having sex with one of the so-called daughters. Not only do they solve the riddle of the constant stream of visitors, they learn Clive's heart problems have been exacerbated by his passionate commitment to prostitutes and Viagra.