Amy Aquino! Hooray! It's so good to see her gap-toothed grin. Except that she's not smiling. Not even a little. So really, it's just good to see the frown that we know is just an elaborate cover for the presence of a gap-toothed grin that probably doesn't belong in a room with a miscarrying HIV patient anyway. Dr. Aquino tells The Other Amy that they're going to need her to sign consent forms for exploratory surgery that might include a hysterectomy. Amy is stunned and doesn't want to sign the papers because she wants to have kids. Abby is so surprised that Dr. Aquino dropped the H-bomb that she does what everyone apparently has been told to do in this episode: she pulls Dr. A. aside for a chat in a conveniently empty Trauma Green. I'd have been way more entertained if there'd been a bloody and horrific trauma case going on in the background during the forthcoming sensitive conversation. I can just see Dr. Aquino's brow furrowing and Abby's lips quacking out as Weaver whips out some dying guy's intestines, lassos Malarkey, drags him into the room, and forces him to smoke them.

In Trauma Green, Abby politely asks why a hysterectomy is necessary here. "Because it might save her life," duhs Dr. Aquino. Abby wonders why they're not pursuing other options. "I don't usually justify my approach to a nurse," Dr. Aquino says icily. Abby stiffly smiles that she's a fourth-year med student now, but Dr. Aquino doesn't give a crap in a mixed-metaphorical henhouse. She says that they make people sign to cover all contingencies, because you never know what hijinks may ensue when you go rooting around a woman's womb. Abby wants Dr. Aquino to attempt embolization. "That would take hours," Dr. Aquino says. Abby's all, "I'm sorry, and your problem is...?" "She's bleeding out and she isn't stable enough for it," Dr. A says, a hard edge creeping into her voice. Romano has taken up eavesdropping in the background, just waiting for the right time to deploy Go-Go-Gadget Mental Poison. Abby implies very, very strongly that Dr. Aquino doesn't want to go to extreme lengths to avoid a hysterectomy simply because Amy in the other room has HIV. "What the hell are you accusing me of?" Dr. A sneers, rightly. "I can settle this catfight," Romano decides. "Abby, you're wrong." Abby tensely spits that she and the good doc are simply discussing uterus-saving procedures. "On an HIV-positive woman? Why?" Romano says disdainfully. To her credit, Dr. Aquino recognizes a bitter blowhard when she sees one, and shoots Romano a look so withering that even his metal arm tries to shrivel. Abby points out how badly Amy wants to have a baby. "Maybe this is God's way of saying, 'Bad idea,'" Romano suggests cheerfully. Through gritted teeth, Abby points out that transmission rate of HIV from a mother to a baby is less than 3\%; Romano counters that it doesn't change the fact that the kid will be motherless in a decade. I feel like this story, and Pratt's of two weeks ago, are so easy and repetitive. Any time you want a moral quandary, throw in a precious wee baby, and put the character you want people to like on the side of the baby so that he or she looks virtuous and everyone else seems evil. Dr. Aquino shakes her head, but does promise Abby that she'll do everything she can to avoid removing the uterus. Romano flares his nostrils at Abby as she shoots him a dirty look and exits.