Filmography | ER: Body and Soul

Role: Fran Bevens
Scenes: Present - Nathan 'Nate' Lennox is hospitalised after being found disoriented at an ice skating rink.
2004 - Nate is giving a lecture, but starts having difficulty articulating himself. He is taken to the hospital. Fran arrives late, because the car overheated and she had to take the train. Fran is in favor of getting a speech pathologist lessons, because it is getting harder to understand what Nate is saying. A newly-arrived Doctor Ames has a computer speech synthetizer with with him. Abby Lockhart breezes in. Fran admonishes Nate for not wearing his id bracelet.
Present - Fran is grateful that Nate had the id bracelet on him. Their morning was ordinary, and when Nate started to watch tv, Fran thought it safe to have a nap. Nate snuck out during her nap. Doctor Luka Kovac comes in and Fran recognises him. Kovac takes Fran aside to discuss whether or not to intubate Nate, who has pneumonia and is nearing the end of his ALS affliction. Fran ponders if they should just focus on keeping Nate comfortable. Abby arrives and is determined to intubate Nate, but Fran protests this course of action.
Present - Nate gains consciousness and Abby pressures him to accept a trake, reminding him of their previous understanding. Fran reveals that now Nate's greatest fear is that he'll be able to understand everything going on around him but won't be able to respond in any way.
2002 - Nate is being honoured with a Teacher of the Year award, which he grouses is to compensate for the cutbacks on his teaching classes. Fran admires the flowers and asks for more wine. Nate begins to choke on his food. He's taken to the hospital where they discuss the necessity of a feeding tube with Doctor Ames and Doctor Pratt. Fran says that it takes Nate an hour to eat and that he's lost ten pounds. Nate protests that he's lost four pounds and that the others were just water. Fran goes to talk with Ames and Donald Anspaugh, leaving Nate with Pratt. After a while, Nate starts crying in front of Pratt, and Fran gets back in time to soothe him. His outburst is 'emotional incontinence' and a symptom of ALS. Nate cries that he doesn't want to be a burden to anyone, while Fran comforts him and tries to get him to pull himself together.
Present - Nate's lung functions are bad and Abby presses on about the necessity of the trake. Nate responds with "okay, I'm okay" to Abby's direct question and the issue of informed consent arises. Fran doesn't believe that Nate understood the question and doubts that he'd want the trake. Even though Fran has power of attorney, Abby overrules her with an assist from Kovac and calls Doctor Dubenko to put in the trake.
Present - The trake is being put in but the procedure damages an artery. Nate starts to lose blood. Fran freaks out, but manages to say that they shouldn't give Nate morphine, to which he had a bad reaction once.
2001 - Nate trips in the stairs of the university. At the hospital, Fran reproaches this decision, reminding him that he should always take the elevator. Kovac suggests that Nate start using a wheelchair, which Nate scoffs at. Fran says that she'll go pick up some leaflets from Ames, prompting Nate to grunt that he doesn't need the leaflets. Kovac assumes that Fran and Nate are an item, but Nate corrects him and tells him they've worked together for 15 years. Fran was ridiculously overqualified to be his assistant and could have gone onto to law school or business school, but she stayed after the first year, a fact at which Nate marvels. Nate reveals that a long time ago they nearly became an item, but that he soon came to his senses. As a scientist, he can only be married to his work.
Present - The trake operation continues and things look worse. Fran refuses to leave the operating room. The doctors found out that the blood is coming from an artery that is an anatomical anomaly. Nate is finally out of the woods but unresponsive to Fran's words. Later on, Sam is showing Fran how to operate the trake. Abby offers to get them home aid, but Fran declines the offer. She tells them that Nate has fired all the outside nurses and it's better if she takes care of him. She has 12-hour days and they have a night nurse. Fran asks if she can take Nate home. Abby says that he'd be better off at the hospital until he's stabilized. Fran is adamant in taking him home, because she's made a promise to keep him home. In response to Sam's question, Fran reveals that they've been close for 21 years. In September 1999, they attended a conference in Boston, and to reward Fran for all her hard work, he took her to Cape Cod for a weekend of sailing. She recalls this as a time when everything seemed to fall in place. Two weeks later they received the diagnosis.
1999 - Nate tells that the results from his doctor's appointment came through and that he has ALS. Fran offers to help personally, implying that she'd like to continue on the road they'd started. Nate rebuffs Fran's offer and says that he needs all his energy to fight his disease.
Present - Fran explains that Nate didn't want to subject them both to a very painful loss. Nate regains consciousness and protests to the trake. He reiterates that he doesn't want to end up being trapped in his body, and requests that the trake be taken out. Abby refuses to comply. Nate then decides that he wants to go home, saying that he wants to have beer and a poker night with his friends.
Present - Fran and Nate are leaving despite Abby's protestations. Nate is planning to turn off the vent in the evening and not wake up the next morning. Fran leaves to sign some papers.
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