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Leanne Rorish

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Leanne Rorish is the ER Residency Director and attending ER physician at Angels Memorial Hospital.

History[]

Car Accident[]

Leanne, her husband, and their two children were in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. While her husband and kids died, Leanne survived.[1]

New Residents[]

In the aftermath of the death of her family, Leanne began spending more time at work and was tougher on her residents than before. Her co-worker, Neal Hudson, was concerned about the change in her behavior and worried it made her more reckless with patients. She was investigated four times for her actions, but was exonerated each time.

On the day her newest class of residents started, Leanne treated a patient who had been shot in the neck. She called out resident Christa Lorenson for hesitating during treatment and reminded her that seconds count in emergency medicine. Once they were inside with the patient, Leanne realized they'd end up replacing his entire blood volume and then some, which would make the blood unavailable for other patients. She decided instead to replace his blood with cold saline, buying him the time they needed to have his neck sewn up in surgery. Neal disagreed with this place, but she went ahead with it anyway.

Leanne later found Neal and warned him never to challenge her in front her residents again. They argued over her decision and she reminded him that the patient lived because of what she did.

Leanne went back to her residents to talk to them about the waiting room. She said it was fine to love their patients, but they needed to love the ones in the waiting room just as much because they might need the medical care more. She talked them through how to triage patients using three acuity levels. Then she said they'd be assisting the attendings unless they went into code black, at which point, all bets are off. Leanne noticed Malaya Pineda, who had done her internship at Angels, trying to get in on cases, so she sent her with Jesse to find her something to do.

Next, Leanne took Mario Savetti and Christa with her to greet two ambulances carrying Ariel Braeden and her father, who had been in a car accident. Ariel had only scratches to her face while her father had a serious head injury due to a malfunctioning airbag. When Mario told Ariel that her father wasn't going to die, Leanne stepped in and told Ariel they didn't know how serious his injuries were, but they needed to get him inside to tell. Then she told Mario never to lie to a patient again, even a child.

Inside, Mario diagnosed spinal shock in the patient. Leanne asked if he wanted to examine the patient further. He said it was textbook, so she had Christa check and Christa observed signs of brain death. Because he was an organ donor, they couldn't wait for family services to come talk to Ariel, so Leanne and Neal told her themselves. Ariel struggled to understand what they meant by brain death and tried to refuse to let them take his organs, only to have them tell her it wasn't her decision as her father had decided for himself. Ariel began to cry and hugged Leanne, only to have Leanne push her off onto Neal.

Leanne sent Christa and Mario next to treat a pregnant woman with an upper respiratory infection. When they disagreed about her treatment, with Mario thinking she was drug-seeking and Christa believing she was telling the truth, Leanne said it didn't change the treatment plan, so she told them not to order a tox screen, just to refer her to a social worker and send her home.

Sebastian, a young child, came into the ER unable to breathe. When Leanne learned he was Norwegian, she diagnosed a pneumothorax, knowing Norwegian kids had a genetic predisposition to them. She had Angus Leighton take over to place a chest tube. Neal told Leanne they were taking Ariel's father up to surgery and offered to step in for her to she could talk to Ariel, who had asked for her. Leanne refused, saying they were able to be in code black and she was needed in the ER. As they worked, Caesar Lopez wandered into Center Stage and collapsed due to a brain bleed from a missed head injury. Leanne tried to get a neurosurgeon to the ER to drill burr holes, but none were available, forcing Leanne to do it herself. She also fired Christa because Christa ordered the tox screen behind her back.

As Leanne went to drill the holes, Christa called the ER. She'd gone to her patient's house after realizing she had carbon monoxide poisoning. They were in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, but got stuck in traffic. Leanne and Neal talked Christa into performing a c-section on the patient. Everyone was relieved to hear the baby cry as she was born. Leanne then took Caesar up to surgery after relieving the pressure on his brain, as an OR had finally become available.

Once things settled down, Leanne went to see Christa, who was looking at the baby she'd delivered in the nursery. She told Christa she'd done a good job and Angela was in the hyperbaric chamber. Then she asked why Christa was doing this residency, as most people did such a physical job in their 20s. She told Leanne that her son had died of a Stage IV glioblastoma. She learned a lot of medicine while he was undergoing treatment and then decided to make it official after he died. She asked Leanne who she had lost, as she'd learned to recognize the signs from all the group therapy sessions she'd attended. Leanne said she'd lost everyone and then told Christa she could have her job back.

Leanne arranged for Ariel to meet Vanessa, who had gotten her father's heart. She watched as Ariel pressed her ear to Vanessa's chest to hear her heartbeat.[2]

During their next shift, Leanne told the residents that they would continue to watch and assisted herself and Neal until they got to Code Black and then they'd do whatever they could. Her first patient was Jake Willis, who had been in a car accident. Leanne had to do a thoracotomy in the ER to buy him enough time to get into surgery.

Next, Leanne worked on Brian Wellborn, a hockey player who had been found unconscious at his gym. He insisted he was fine and they overreacted, but she knew he wouldn't have willingly gotten into the ambulance if he had any say in it, meaning he was incapacitated and they had to evaluate him before they could release him. She left Mario to do that evaluation.

Leanne went to talk to Jake's wife and told her he was alive, but still in surgery. Becca shared with Leanne that her daughter's father had left after she was diagnosed with autism, saying it wasn't what he'd signed up for, leaving her struggling to make ends meet and care for her daughter until she met Jake, who happily embraced Tara as his own. He was even on his way to sign himself and Tara up for dance classes when he was in the accident.

When Brian's team doctor arrived at the hospital, he tried to get Brian's chart revised to remove mention of seizures, leading to a physical altercation between Brian and Mario. Jesse stepped between them, stopping it, and then Leanne sent Mario out. Then she told Brian tha the ER wasn't jail and they couldn't stop him from leaving, but Brian had another seizure before he could leave. Leanne ordered a CT, which showed parenchymal hemorrhages, meaning his hockey career was over. She handed the results off to Mario to deliver.

Christa came to Leanne asking for her help for patient Laura Halloran, who needed a surgery, but there were no surgeons available. She wanted Leanne to ask Neal to do it, but Leanne said it wasn't life threatening, so she'd have to wait as long as there was someone ahead of her who needed help more urgently.

Next, Leanne treated Harley Garrett, a teen who fell while rock climbing. He was on blood thinners due to blood clots on his retinas, so the bleeding didn't stop. Leanne used foley catheters to stop the bleeding and then talked to Harley's father, who questioned if he was a bad father for taking his blind son rock climbing. Leanne said Harley was lucky to have a dad who didn't have a blind son, just a son.

Christa approached Leanne again, asking if Leanne wouldn't take the chance to get back what she'd lost. Leanne reminded Christa that they weren't there to fix the events of their own lives, but she did talk to Neal and get him to operate on Laura.

Leanne found Angus and Malaya preparing to do a pericardiocentesis on their patient and stepped in to help. When she was finished, she told them they never wanted to see an aortic dissection on a CT because it meant they acted too late. Upon learning that Angus had had a feeling that it was something to do with Stan's heart, Leanne impressed upon them the importance of trusting their instincts.

Later in the day, Leanne talked to the ER staff about instincts and using the last move in their pockets. If they heard the voice saying that, they were in the right place. They'd treated a patient like that the night before and she welcomed Jake Willis back into the ER to meet and thank the doctors and nurses who had saved his life.[3]

Multi-Day Code Black[]

In the 36th hour of a code black, Taylor told Leanne he needed to keep the residents beyond their normal shift to help. Leanne told him they were young and could handle it. Then he asked her about working her thirteenth day in a row. She simply told him he was welcome.

Leanne treated Patrick O'Brien, who was in a car accident with his brother, Kevin. When it became clear that Patrick was dead, Leanne signaled to Neal to remove Kevin from the ER so they could pronounce him. When their mother, Margaret, arrived, Leanne told her about Kevin's injuries and Patrick's death and was horrified when Margaret immediately blamed Kevin for Patrick's death and suggested that he was driving drunk.

Leanne had to reprimand Angus when she learned he'd done an unnecessary thoracotomy. She sent him to the waiting room to decompress and also noticed how Mario stayed silent and let Angus take all the blame despite being in the room with him. She talked to Neal about this, saying that he didn't play well with others. Neal reminded her that no one was unteachable, though she maintained that she wasn't a teacher.

After seeing Mario's brusque response to Zoe Fuller and her friends, who took MDMA at a music festival, resulting in Zoe developing a very high fever, Leanne warned Mario that he hadn't gotten away with anything with the thoracotomy. She also warned him that the further he went, the more he would need the people he started off with.

Kevin's tox screen came back and showed that he was drunk at the time of the accident, meaning they had to report it to the police. She also told this to Margaret, who had been sitting with Patrick's body for three hours. When Margaret said that Leanne couldn't imagine how she felt, Leanne decided to leave her alone. However, after Kevin required an exploratory laparotomy, during which they repaired a laceration to his spleen, Leanne went back to Margaret and told her about her family's accident and said that Kevin would need a reason to live. She advised Margaret not to lose him, too. She took Margaret to Kevin's room, where she held him and told him she loved him. Then Leanne left the hospital to go home.[1]

Relationships[]

Romantic[]

She was married until her husband was killed in a car accident. She also kissed surgical attending Cole Guthrie years after her husband’s death.

Familial[]

She had two children who were killed when their minivan was hit by a drunk driver and rolled down an embankment.

Friendships[]

Her best friend is senior ER nurse Jesse Sallander. She also has close relationships with Neal Hudson and Ethan Willis.

Professional[]

Career[]

Leanne is an attending ER physician and the ER residency director at Angels Memorial Hospital. She was also the former director of the ER. During her time as residency director, she's had more dropouts than any previous occupant of the position, but the doctors who have made it have gone on to more prestigious postings.

Notes and Trivia[]

  • CBS Bio: Leanne, the residency director of the Angels Memorial ER, is a force to be reckoned with. Known to her residents as "Daddy," she is an excellent, confident, quick-thinking doctor who is not afraid to make aggressive or unconventional decisions to save a patient. Leanne's inventive, "cowboy" techniques often bring her into conflict with fellow doctors, but her track record is solid and she never fails to impress. She is a natural teacher and leads by example, but respect from "Daddy" is hard won. She schools her residents with tough love, expects the best from those she believes in, and is ready to weed out any newbies who don't exceed her expectations. A painful personal history fuels Leanne's need to be the best doctor she can be. While she thinks a doctor can (and should) separate emotion from the work, Leanne continually learns that may be easier said than done.

Gallery[]

Appearances[]

References[]

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