EPISODE

22. My Occurrence

When Jordan's Brother, Ben, comes in for a medical exam, Dr. Cox reveals his more compassionate side and J.D. must reluctantly deliver the bad news about Ben's health.

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The story

Spoilers ahead. Coverage follows the scope labeled below.

Plot summary

Jordan's brother Ben (Brendan Fraser) comes into the hospital after having a wooden board nailed to his hand, to which Ben and Dr. Cox have fun by causing J.D to faint not once but twice from seeing such a gory sight. Dr. Cox and J.D. later become worried when his hand will not stop bleeding. A blood test shows that Ben has leukemia.

A series of paperwork mistakes nearly has Turk operate on the wrong patient, and incorrectly leads Elliot to inform another patient that she's pregnant. J.D. therefore decides to wait before informing Ben of his positive blood test result, and asks the lab to check the result.

They do so, and over a montage accompanied by "Hold on Hope" by Guided by Voices, they discover that Ben is fine. In a stylistic sequence, the staff all gather to watch Ben leave, and pose to have a picture taken. J.D. asks Ben why he let everyone pose for the picture, because he said earlier that posed pictures never look real. However, Ben points out that "none of this is real". The style returns to realism; J.D. is still in the doorway, holding the original diagnosis, and is forced to tell Ben that he has leukemia.

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Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, My Occurrence. Paragraphs and formatting adjusted; illustrations, reference markers, block quotations and non-story material omitted.

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