The Doctors and the Nurses

- Season 1

(1962)

At New York's Alden hospital maternity ward, a group of student nurses take on their first duties. The focus is on head nurse Liz Thorpe and student Gail Lucas, and several patients including a young wife that hates her unborn baby, a first time mother determined to have a medication-free birth, and a sickly Greek immigrant with a problem pregnancy.

Ginny Nemets, a dedicated nurse at Alden General, has devoted herself to putting husband Adam through medical school and supporting him during his internship. Now an excellent ophthalmologist Adam is invited to join an elite practice. But as Adam's success soars to new heights, Ginny's spirits plunge to new lows.

Nurse Milo tries to restrain an inebriated and resistant Mrs. Northup, who accidentally takes a fall. After Nurse Milo fails to document the seemingly minor incident, Mrs. Northup comes down with pneumonia, caused by ribs broken in the fall. Milo faces termination and a lawsuit.

This is The Barbara Bowers Story.

Talented surgeon Dr. Lillian Bauer joins Alden General but immediately becomes the target of abuse and male chauvinist attitudes from Dr. Mehil who thinks women are inappropriate for surgical careers. Lillian finds an ally and potential love interest in colleague Dr. Campbell.

While a new patient is dying, he does his best to make everyone hate him, even threatening to sue after he claims a prized medal was stolen. A doctor who's separated from his wife yearns for the company of the widowed head nurse.

An unexpected ethical conundrum perplexes student nurse Gail Lucas when seriously ill William Taylor is admitted under the care of Dr. Lou Maxwell. Taylor has been transferred from a local prison by authorities who want to extend his life long enough for him to reach his execution date.

Dr. Ahmed Rashid arrives at Alden General from Pakistan to begin his residency. His gentle Eastern demeanor easily wins over Gail Lucas, but Dr. Rashid receives blatant hostility from prejudiced charge nurse Fay Loomis, who is determined to make Dr. Rashid's tenure as unpleasant as possible.

A comatose patient brought into Alden General catches the attention of Nurse Ayres after a voodoo doll in human form is found in the patient's pocket. Nurse Ayres speculates that he has been placed under a spell, and her unorthodox theory is surprisingly supported by psychiatrist Dr. Fuller.

Gail is sent to work in the pediatrics ward under the tutelage of steely chief nurse Ruth Martin who must keep her emotions tightly bound in order to survive the loss of young life around her. Everyone is tested when the baby of Mr. and Mrs. Grant is born with severe birth defects, and Mr. Grant insists that his wife be told that their baby was stillborn.

Foreign nurse Frieda Schacht's skill, knowledge, and dedication to Alden General commands the respect of Gail, who finds her worthy of emulation. However, Frieda's reputation is severely threatened when a patient accuses her of having assisted Nazis with medical experiments on concentration camp prisoners during World War II.

Overworked at Alden General, Nurse Thorpe decides to take a leave of absence to pursue private nursing which is considered a softer touch than her rigorous duties at the hospital. However, when she's assigned to care for the cantankerous patriarch of a peculiar family, she realizes that the grass isn't always greener elsewhere.

Young Angela Bonnell, the daughter of a famous acting couple, checks into Alden General for plastic surgery to reshape her nose. While there she meets jockey Danny Reynolds who faces more serious medical troubles, his leg has been severely injured in a fall from a racehorse.

Heart surgeon Dr. Ken Houck's coldness following the death of a child bothers Gail. However, when she sees him breaking down in private, she offers to take him home and finds he's in a deeply troubled marriage. Soon she and Houck develop a more personal relationship.

Student nurse Terry Collins finds herself in a quandary when a patient deliriously confesses to committing a crime for which a young Puerto Rican immigrant has been arrested. Terry is reluctant to reveal the confession to the police as she fears her own deliberately concealed Puerto Rican heritage would be exposed.

Nurse Thorpe's sympathies lie with the family of patient Parnell Sullivan a hardworking fisherman rushed to Alden General following a heart attack in the Atlantic. Sullivan's wife Mary decides to bring their children to New York during her husband's hospitalization, and Thorpe incurs the wrath of the nurses's quarters superintendent Mr. Durkin when she gives the Sullivan family a place to lodge.

Gail becomes friendly with easygoing patient Norman Ruskin who's hospitalized for minor surgery. Things take a dark turn when Ruskin is revealed to be mentally ill and forces himself on Gail. Although the staff are skeptical and the hospital doesn't want publicity, Gail decides to press charges.

Nurse Thorpe's elderly former mentor Nurse Charlotte Pope is admitted to Alden General, bringing three generations of nurses to the ward. As Nurse Thorpe cares for Charlotte, Gail becomes involved with a downtrodden patient who thinks his family would be better off if he committed suicide.

The staff at Alden General take notice when reliable student nurse Margaret Hunter begins to struggle with her duties. Unknown to anyone, Margaret is pregnant, unmarried, and uncertain about whether or not to keep her child or seek an abortion.

Gail's ballet performance in the student nurses' annual talent show becomes a huge hit with her colleagues, so much so that she decides to apply for a position with ballerina mistress Madame Orlova. Once accepted, Gail finds herself unable to cope with the rigorous training of two professions and must choose between them.

Nurse Margaret Connell appears to be the ideal nurse in every way and an idol for young nurses to emulate. However, Gail observes disturbing behavior in Connell that suggests she's not only far from ideal but a potential threat to the hospital's patients.

While vacationing Nurse Thorpe meets Ernie Bass, a genial salesman and war veteran who lost his leg in service. She finds herself in a sudden romance during the holiday, but when she later returns to work, Ernie wants the relationship to continue. A reticent Nurse Thorpe begins to suspect that Ernie is more interested in a caregiver than a lover.

An older nurse can no longer care for her patients and is let go from the hospital.

Did the nurse commit euthanasia?

Sophisticated, alluring party girl Clarissa Robin is admitted to Alden General as a cardiac patient but is in denial about the severity of her condition. Meanwhile, equally lovely housewife Sandra Leonard faces amputation of her leg. When her visiting husband Hal meets party girl Clarissa, the situation becomes complicated.

Nurse Karen Gardner's new assignment in the psychiatric ward calls into question her professional objectivity when patient Edith Arnold fails to progress in her recovery, and it comes to light that Nurse Gardner, herself once a psychiatric patient, has been using her personal experiences in her treatment of Arnold.

Popular comedian Ray Gifford arrives at Alden General for routine tests and instantly creates chaos for the hospital staff with his self-importance and demanding nature. Nurse Thorpe becomes the target of his dissatisfaction when she develops an innocent flirtation with Gifford's headwriter Charlie Noyes.

After college student Lucas Kiley discovers that his girlfriend Lauri is pregnant, he is forced to seek help from his estranged father, a physician at Alden General, but is met with rejection. Nurse Thorpe decides to intercede in an effort to reconcile the father and son.

In effort to achieve professional respect, black nurse Ginny Bishop disregards her ethnic roots. When her cousin Lonnie Hill is hired as an orderly at Alden General and is soon accused of providing liquor to an alcoholic patient, Ginny must confront issues of prejudice, race and self-acceptance.

Paul and Jean Wheeler eagerly await the birth of their first child. When Jean is checked into the hospital, a bottle of pills from a German pharmacy are among her personal effects. They're identified as thalidomide, and the Wheelers have to accept the likelihood of their child having severe birth defects.

Marjorie Ford confides in Nurse Thorpe one recent single extramarital infidelity. The one night stand has left her with a case of syphilis, and now she has to face explaining the situation to her husband Steve, as the doctors and nurses at Alden General attempt to alert the public to rising cases of venereal disease.

After spending ten years as a housewife, former nurse Lora Stanton decides to return to work at Alden General and is assigned duty in the geriatrics ward. When a patient she cared for dies, she attempts to turn all of her attention and devotion to an elderly man in the ward, but he rejects her. Meanwhile, Nurse Thorpe uncovers the reason why Lora has come back.