Peyton Penrod is a healthy toddler who suddenly needs to be rushed to the Hopkins PICU, one of the country's top ICUs for children. His heart presents his doctors and his parents with two bleak options: a risky heart transplant or death. By his own admission, vascular surgeon Tom Reifsnyder is not cut in the Hopkins mold. Irreverent, chatty, and candid about his marital travails, Reifsnyder's surgeries tend to be comic relief sessions during which he interrogates his residents on everything from their romantic lives to the kind of cars they drive. Anne Czarnik returns in this episode and takes viewers on the road to visit her tiny hometown in the hills of West Virginia. watch
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Length: 02:41
Posted: 7/23/2009
The story begins with Dr Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) discovering John Merrick (John Hurt) in a Victorian freak show where he is managed by the brutish Bytes (Freddie Jones). Merrick is so hideously deformed that he must wear a hood when in public. Also, Bytes claims his exhibit is an imbecile. Treves is moved by Merrick's condition and pays Bytes to bring him to his hospital so that he can inspect him and present a lecture on his peculiar physique, at which Treves coldly displays him as a mere curiosity. On Merrick's return, Bytes beats him so severely that Treves is called, who attempts to take him back to the hospital. Bytes confronts Treves and accuses him of also exploiting Merrick for his own ends, which leads the surgeon to resolve to do what he can to help the unfortunate man. watch
Based on a true story, the film examines the complex emotional experiences faced by John Merrick, "The Elephant Man" (John Hurt), when he is discovered by a dedicated surgeon (Anthony Hopkins). watch
