Chicago Med's [Spoiler] Suffers Medical Emergency — Will He Survive? Read Recap And Weigh In!

A "Chicago Med" doctor has become the patient — and he's fighting for his life.

Wednesday's episode of the NBC drama sees Dr. Daniel Charles' season-long struggles with his mental and physical health finally come to head. It all starts when the psychiatrist fields a call on the suicide hotline. (He's been volunteering there to help him cope after his daughter's suicide attempt.) Charles connects with a man named Gio, who blames himself for his girlfriend's death after she died in a car accident while he was driving. 

Charles calmly tries to reason with the boy to help him understand the accident was not his fault, and that the fatal outcome was simply a random tragedy. But just as progress seems to be made, Gio discloses that he's holding a gun, and he is ready to take his own life. The call abruptly ends, and Charles isn't able to reconnect with the caller. The case gets sent over to emergency services, where Charles can no longer legally follow up on Gio's condition, something that gnaws at the psychiatrist for the rest of the episode.

Is Dr. Charles dead or alive?

The next 24 hours of Dr. Charles' life prove increasingly difficult to get through: First, he fights with his daughter about her supposed boyfriend. Then he starts treating a patient, Sage, with severe gastrointestinal pain, which he theorizes is a physical manifestation of a mental health problem. Charles wonders whether Sage might crave medical attention to treat some kind of emotional wound, to feel whole. She then accuses her doctor of the very same thing: Dr. Charles needs sick people to feel whole; fixing broken people is how he convinces himself that he's useful.

Later, Sage files an official complaint against Dr. Charles, prompting the psychiatrist to get into an explosive fight with Goodwin. He accuses his good friend of being a bad friend by even entertaining the complaint. Before storming off and slamming the door in her face, Charles tells Goodwin that he is considering taking another job in the wake of her betrayal.

Dr. Charles then discovers that Sage is being rushed into emergency surgery after swallowing drain cleaner. After teetering toward a total crisis for the whole episode, the man has finally reached his breaking point. His vision blurs, his gait falters, and he begins hallucinating images of his childhood. The episode ends with Dr. Charles laying on the ground, covered in sweat, and gasping for help — leaving his fate, and the exact cause of his collapse, unknown.

Will Charles survive his medical crisis on "Chicago Med"? What are your predictions for next week's Charles-centric follow-up? Sound off in the comments!

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