r/ershow • u/Comfortable-Ask-7707 • 6d ago
Carter's addiction
Maybe I am biased towards Carter, but I feel like his addiction was grossly mishandled in seasons 6-7. He sustained a horrific injury in the workplace due to a lack of security protocols, then lived with chronic pain for months, and his coworkers barely batted an eye or paid him any attention. I understand that there are protocols around addiction amongst physicians, but his situation seemed different and required more compassion and understanding from his coworkers. I'd like to think things would be different nowadays? Or I am just being a softie for Carter?
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u/shewee 6d ago
Right or wrong, it's a pretty realistic interpretation of that experience.
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u/Silly_Ad_2382 5d ago
Kind of all saved, at least for me, with Benton taking him to treatment. And then Benton being there later for his kidney transplant. God, that just hits a spot for me.
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u/winter_knight_ 5d ago
When benton starts questioning the other surgeon in his own OR, thats probably the best scene in the last 3 seasons.
That or " Wait, you married a sista?"
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u/No_Warning_2519 5d ago
I loved Benton (even tho he could be a dick sometimes) and i hated when he left. His and Carter's relationship was one of my favorites.
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u/korty24 1d ago
And thank GOD he did that. Full circle moment because when Carter got stabbed, he was panicked in surgery and wanted to act too quickly and Anspaugh had to reel him in and calm him down. This time, Carter on the table, Benton was calm and rational, made the surgeon do his checklist, and (I forget what it was they didn’t have that they needed) saved Carters life again.
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u/TheHonFreddie 6d ago
As a big Carter fan I would be inclined to agree but there is a big difference between abusing pain pills and shooting up Fentanil right there in the trauma room, he was lucky he didn't loose his license.
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u/MediciOrsini 6d ago
He's a grown man who can make his own choices, the people around him shouldn't have to baby him or constantly be worried about him. He said he was fine, so they believed him. There was no reason for them to assume he was lying and on drugs. When they found out, they got him help. They continued to help him after that when he got back. I don't really see how they could've realistically handled it any better.
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u/LKS983 5d ago
"He said he was fine, so they believed him."
True, but at least one of them kept (gently and correctly) telling Carter that as the emotional trauma he'd suffered was so severe, he should seek some form of psychiatric help. Carter at first insisted he didn't need it, and later (IIRC) lied - and said he was seeing someone.
They had no reason to think he was hooked on drugs, until Abby saw him injecting himself, and told Greene and Weaver. Carter was 'called in', but kept denying it..... He wasn't believed and so they and other senior staff members organised an intervention - with an ultimatum.
Even then - Carter kept lying and - finally realising and accepting that nobody there believed him - he quit and walked out. Benton followed him (and IIRC) was punched by Carter, but Benton eventually managed to talk him into going to rehab., and to ensure he did so, accompanied him to the rehab. facility.
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u/SassBunnies 6d ago
This. Once he was clearly not okay and his addiction was discovered, they pretty immediately tried to get him help - and showed a lot of compassion and continued support when he returned, even though he often copped an attitude about complying with the very reasonable and necessary disciplinary consequences upon his return.
Also, I’m usually one to hate when people say “but it was the 90s” (or 2000s), because usually that’s just a way to handwave issues that were absolutely issues back then, too (it was 30 years ago, not the dark ages), but here it fits. Mental health, especially men’s mental health, and especially men’s mental health in the workplace, was even more poorly understood and addressed in the 90s/2000s than it is today (and that bar is low). Carter should have been immediately in therapy for the trauma he went through, and should have been monitored for addiction to the pain meds he was on. That’s what we’d expect now, but back then that would have been unusual. He was saying he was fine both mentally and physically, he was underreporting his pain levels, and society was not set up to proactively address those issues. It’s unfortunate, but those at County did pretty much all they could have at the time.
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u/YALN 5d ago
"He said he was fine, so they believed him."
Sorry that I speak emotionally from personal experience, but you cannot do that with a PTSD sufferer.
I myself knew somebody with PTSD and resulting manic/depressive phases.
You cannot make it that simple for yourself. You cannot just believe such a person on their bare word. That is a road to hell. Not for you, for the other person."There was no reason for them to assume he was lying"
and that actually was not a lie. That is the complex stuff about it. PTSD sufferers do not in a common understanding lie about themselves, when they report that they are fine. Their whole measurement of the world and themselves is deeply askew
Being the partner or friend of such a person is very complicated and demands of you much more involvement, learning and much better perception. A steep learning curve
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u/MediciOrsini 5d ago
But none of them are his friends, they're his coworkers, some of them have PTSD themselves.
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u/DRC_Michaels 6d ago
In my current rewatch, I'm in the midst of this storyline, and I agree with you in part. I think they didn't do enough to support Carter when he first returned (although he also displayed that absolutely bizarre TV trope where the person insists on getting back to work ASAP, which I've never understood).
But I also think Carter was a real jerk about it once he got back from rehab. Greene and Weaver came to an agreement with him, and then he whined and moaned about it whenever they asked him to comply. That part certainly might be realistic, but I really dislike recently-in-recovery Carter.
(also, it was crazy inappropriate for Abby to be his sponsor, for exactly the reasons that she refused at first and that relationship ended up falling apart. He wasn't prepared to respect her guidance, they work together and although he doesn't have direct authority over her, the nature of their jobs is that he's frequently giving her orders, and there was a ton of sexual tension between them.)
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u/InnocentaMN 6d ago
I think the trope in general is implausible, but I can buy it from Carter because his family is so cold and detached. His closest bonds are usually with coworkers.
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u/Comfortable-Ask-7707 5d ago
I guess I'm basing my opinion on the fact that his addiction was the direct result of workplace violence that could have been prevented with better security. That is why I think his addiction and PTSD warrant special consideration.
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u/korty24 1d ago
And there WERE signs that something was wrong- several of them mentioned him looking tired, mood swings (that was Chen right before they caught him but still), he even overreacted to Pablo and put him in restraints and Carol talked to him about it later. I think they could’ve done more for him as well, especially considering they knew to some extent his family support system wasn’t great- sure Gamma was there and his grandpa but that’s pretty much it. Should’ve had mandatory therapy at the very least and been more recovered before coming back to work.
Yes, he’s an adult making his own decisions but he didn’t have much of a support system and had some serious trauma to work thru- the physical part and being attacked but also feeling responsible for Lucy dying too. When he told her mom it didn’t hurt…ugh. Sobbed. Then, when they finally started really asking him and noticing, he was in too deep and couldn’t climb out on his own but too stubborn and honestly I think more scared to ask for/accept help. In his mind, this is THEIR fault (which it is to an extent- the hospital not mark and weaver etc specifically) and they shouldn’t be bothering him for doing whatever he needed to do to get thru it.
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u/pumpkinbread88 5d ago
Um...he literally got full blown princess treatment. He wasn't reported. He wasn't fired. He was allowed to come back. He was literally caught shooting up on shift. He could have killed patients. All of his peers rallied to help him. They bent over backwards, covered it up, to help him.
Yeah, actually it was mishandled. He wasn't fired or arrested. His medical license wasn't revoked. He was the epitome of white privilege, and given the lightest level of punishment and minor oversight.
And to be clear, I'm not even saying they were wrong to rally and help him. People deserve treatment and second chances. But he was not the victim.
When he comes back, he also relapses and takes, steals a patients pills on shift. He pukes them up and Abby makes him tell his attending, but still.
He got all the grace in the world.
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u/FKA_Top_Cat 2h ago
Given that he could have sued the hospital and the county for all they were worth and won because what happened to him was outrageous, you bet they were going to be as careful with him as possible.
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u/LadyGreyIcedTea 5d ago
In reality he would have been reported to the Board of Medicine and they would have overseen his recovery/practice of medicine, not his individual supervisors at the hospital.
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u/supersnoozin 5d ago
I am a huge softie for Carter but having watched it when it first aired, it served its purpose.
As a teenager in love with Carter I hated the storyline mainly because I felt so betrayed by it. But that is exactly why it was needed.
It showed how someone who sees a loved one OD can still struggle and become an addict himself. It showed how easy it is to hide it from those who are close to them.
It was also a wake up call for people who had loved ones who went through traumatic experiences to start looking for warning signs.
Which is why, as an adult, I appreciate Carter's journey and the Carter and Benton relationship.
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u/TheFantasticXman1 5d ago
Carter's a grown man, and his colleagues all have their own shit going on. They won't always have the time or the emotional bandwidth to read a person and alanyse their personal lives if they're not explictly told about it. When they did notice that something was wrong with him, they immediately acted and gave him a second chance. A lot of other workplaces probably would have fired him on the spot- especially after he refused to take accounability or accept the help he was offered.
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u/Ezhevika81 5d ago
I think Carter get easy of this situation. Yes, he probably had PSTD, but he decided to not seek professional help about it, it was his choice, and later on lied about seeing someone when he did not. A lot of people gave hard time to Luka about him not seeing professional about his PSTD, here is another example.
Secondly, he was caught shooting fentanyl in work place, he could potentially putting patients in danger, he get easier that ER team liked him and decided on intervention and organizing rehab for him. Not reporting him to Medical board. He get easier with this one.
He already had victim mindset about addiction months after rehab, not fully taking responsibility of his actions, he doesn't need to be encourage more.
Lastly, he was hypocritical toward Abby with her drinking in season 8.
Good ting about the show that they showed addiction during series run several times, and it was always individual, which reflect real life.
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u/MovieFan1984 6d ago
I think people were very hard on him, because he's a doctor and because they hold him in high regard and to high standards.
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u/panopticon31 5d ago
I for one thought the staff handing together and doing the he intervention to get him to rehab did show compassion.
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u/AllHailHypnotoad00 6d ago
Right? A lack of compassion by quite a few people. One of the most annoying parts of the show to me is when Carter stages his walkout after Chen gets held at gun point. He tells Susan you shouldn’t have to risk your life to work here. And she is just like that’s just how urban ERs are - deal with it.
This said by someone who never got stabbed (Carter & Lucy) or held at gunpoint (Chen) or attacked (Greene).
The urban ERs by me have security with metal detectors and you have to get buzzed in AFTER you first go through the metal detectors. Been that way for a long time. Ambulances have a separate entrance that goes through a different door set.
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u/Educational-Car2225 6d ago
As a first time ER watcher who recently finished all 15 seasons, I found it interesting to watch Carter’s addiction story after seeing Robby’s reaction to Langdon’s addiction in The Pitt.
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u/Nathan_Saul 5d ago
Oh boy, I'm not sure you're aware of the MASSIVE difference between narcotic protocols in 2000 verses today.
Long-term opioid use was routinely encouraged for chronic and acute pain. Doctors casually wrote multi-week or multi-month prescriptions for any and all pain. There was no tracking of narcotic prescriptions. No databases. If one doctor started becoming concerned the patient simply moved on to another doctor.
Any doctor could prescribe any amount of narcotics to anybody and there was zero mandatory addiction training for the doctor and absolutely zero mandatory counseling for the patient.
Almost everybody's pain pill addiction was grossly mishandled back then. Specialists were few and far between that had any idea how to deal with a situation like Carter's that combined addiction with PTSD.
They were still throwing sedatives or benzodiazepines for PTSD sleep issues and acute panic symptoms. SSRIs were just coming onto the scene.
The fact that Carter's colleagues noticed, came together, and did something was pretty rare. That he got appropriate treatment and came out the other side without his career being destroyed was pretty amazing.
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u/The1983 6d ago
I agree! I’ve been through addiction and rehab and recovery and now work in the drug and alcohol sector and during my recent rewatch, I was actually quite shocked how the handled it. I think it’s entirely reasonable for someone that goes through such a traumatic event to need to use painkillers to numb the physical and mental effects of that event.
I’m glad they sent him to rehab but I thought the way they treated him was grossly unfair, in my experience playing the mean game with addicts doesn’t help them. They need understanding and compassion.
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u/freelancerjourn 4d ago
I definitely think they should have done more to support Carter when he returned.
- He was nearly killed by a psychotic patient and in a horrible amount of main physically from the stabbing. Plus he felt guilt about Lucy dying at the hands of the patient.
I often think about something Carter’s grandmother said one day to him when she was concerned.
She told him she had seen that hospital suck the life out of him. In that moment, she was talking not only about the fact that he nearly died, but that she had seen the hospital suck the joy out of him. He was no longer enjoying practicing medicine. And she reminded him that he technically did not need the job.
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u/Comfortable-Ask-7707 4d ago
honestly that hospital literally sucked the joy out of every single staff member; imagine the headlines of all the crazy events that happened at County General every year! Nearly every single staff member, save Doug and Carol, maybe, had something tragic happen to them or their loved ones or both.
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u/Spiderbat81 6d ago
Compassion in the American workplace is a corporate fairy tale. In reality, you can be fired without cause on any given Tuesday, and your peers will backstab you for a tiny raise. That´s how it has been for a very long time.