Strong Medicine

"Strong Medicine" is also the title of a novel by Arthur Hailey.

Major plot developments

Major show plot developments as of 2005:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Campbell kicks out her husband, Leslie, after he hits her during a domestic dispute, forcing her to examine domestic abuse issues as well as single motherhood. Campbell and Leslie have been married for thirty years without any violence in the home, and Leslie is presented as changing from a loving husband to a violent maniac over the course of a few weeks.
• Delgado loses her boyfriend, Mickey, to murder perpetrated by one of her patients, forcing her to face her moral objection to the death penalty.
• Campbell becomes involved with another doctor, cardiac surgeon Dr. Milo Morton (Richard Biggs).
• Delgado becomes involved with Ben Sanderson (Grant Show), an administrator brought on after Rittenhouse is bought by a health care conglomerate. Sanderson later leaves to be reassigned to a facility in Miami.
• Campbell's love interest dies in an accident (a development forced by the death of actor Richard Biggs due to an undiagnosed heart condition).
• Delgado becomes involved with Jonas Ray (Nestor Carbonell), a local self-made billionaire with a good heart but a large soulless corporation.
• Campbell brings a new hospital resident, Dr. Kayla Thornton (Tamera Mowry), into her home.
• Thornton and Riggs begin a relationship after a season of occasional plot hints.
• Campbell leaves Rittenhouse to become U.S. Surgeon General. (Patricia Richardson will leave Strong Medicine, possibly due to a major part on The West Wing (television) in the 2005 season.)
• Campbell is replaced by Dylan West, with whom Delgado has had past dealings, and encounters various life struggles as he tries to overcome his demons.
• West discovers he has a daughter, and suddenly becomes a father for the first time, as a single parent of a rebellious teenager.
• Turner receives her degree in psychology, and Lu enlists her to consult for her women's group, as volunteer work towards her Master's degree.
• Delgado and Jonas get married, and Lu struggles to get accustomed to a wealthier life, while trying to reconcile it with her inner-city loyalties.
• Delgado also confirms that she is pregnant