I'm not blaming Carol or anyone but since Carter has been taking Fentanyl wouldn't someone would have notice that the drug was missing along time before now? I mean Carol is the head nurse and is supposedly responsible for keeping the records of what drugs are used and stuff like that. So wouldn't Carol or somone else have notice that Fentanyl was missing? If they had then you would think they would have reported it right? I'm not blaming anyone, I'm just asking about it.

-- Cammie (rmaelhorn@home.com), July 10, 2000

Answers

Carter was supposed to dispose of the Fentanyl he injected himself the only time we saw him doing it, after part of it had been used to treat a patient. The only reason they catched him that time is because Abby came back and saw him, not because any Fentanyl was missing. If he had taken leftover drugs and used syringes, it could have gone unnoticed.

-- Manon (brault@saglac.qc.ca), July 10, 2000.

Carter only started becoming dependent a few weeks before being caught. At that time he may have started out by taking more than his prescribed amount prescription narcotics. We really don't know one way or another that Carter actually injected drugs or not . I doubt he had been injecting drugs more than a week or so tops. He probably started abusing his prescription narcotics first. The injection of narcotics probably started very recently when he started running out of of his presciption.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), July 10, 2000.

But remember Kerry asks Carter to show her his wrists for any signs of tracks and Carter wouldn't so he quit and thats when they knew he had been injecting drugs. So I think he has been injecting for a while now. If he did use used needle's wouldn't he be at risk for HIV?

-- Nicole (pizza_cats@hotmail.com), July 11, 2000.

Not necessarily. Carter would not have wanted to show them even one track mark. I doubt Carter had very many track marks under his watch. Carter did not start abusing drugs until the last 2-3 weeks before the season finale. That is a not a very long period of time at all. I doubt Carter even started shooting up then. I think he first started taking a lot more of his prescribtion narcotics pills first. He had probably only injecting stuff a week or so tops. That is a very short period of time. Carter used a needle that had only been put in an I.V. line. It had never been in the patient. There was no risk for H.I.V. or anything from that.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), July 11, 2000.

Um, I'm not a doctor but I'm pretty sure it only takes one time to get infected with a disease after using a needle that had been put into someone else first. I remember being told in health class never to use needles that had been put into someone else. In fact you never use needles period. Can someone who is a doctor fill us in on if this is true or not. Does it only take one time to get a disease like HIW when using a used needle?

-- Cammie (rmaelhorn@home.com), July 11, 2000.

I forgot to add that I thought he put it in the patient then used the left wver from the same needle and injected into him.

-- Cammie (rmaelhorn@home.com), July 11, 2000.

Remember that in "Viable Options," five episodes before "May Day," Romano suspended Benton's and Cleo's prescription-writing privileges, which meant they would have to ask Carter or another doctor to write prescriptions for their patients. During the suspension, Carter could have written some "extra" prescriptions to get meds for himself. (We didn't see the suspension lifted but maybe it was; I don't recall whether we saw Benton or Cleo write any prescriptions after that.)

-- Driad (driad@mailcity.com), July 11, 2000.

Carter clearly used a needle that was inserted in an I.V in May Day. I rewatched the scene. He also said that it was being administered through an I.V. line so Carter did not use a needle that went in a patient. He used one that went into an I/V line and does not have a risk with that. As for when Carter started using too much pain killers it was around the time "Loose Ends" aired which was 5/4/00. Also even If ( and that is a big IF) Carter wrote prescriptions for Benton or Cleo, he could not write out presciptions for himself. The prescription he wrote would have been with his license number and name on it. There is no way he could have written out a prescription for himself. If that was the case , he could have done that all along regardless of whether Cleo/Benton lost their priviledges to begin with.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), July 11, 2000.

First, I think Brenda's right...if it was that easy he could have written himself perscriptions any time...I think it was just a coincidence and the writers only threw it in for the same old comical interaction between Benton and Carter and Benton wanting to keep some lost authority over him still.

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), July 12, 2000.

I keep posting before I'm done! Anyways, I also think that he was mostly abusing just his own pain killers...I'm assuming he would have a perscription for awhile with his situation, and as he admitted to Mark, he was probably over-medicating. However, he was faced with dealing with more pain when he got kicked across the room, and that doesn't happen every day, so I'm personally going to assume that that was the first time he resorted to injecting a patients left over narcotics.

-- Elaine (mrscloooney78@hotmail.com), July 12, 2000.

The thing that makes me shake my head in wonder is still this: WHY didn't Carter go to a men's room stall to inject his drugs on the sly? Apart from the fact that this is a TV show and it was time to bring his addiction into the open...obviously. But in reality, he would have been able to keep it a secret for a much longer time if he hadn't injected it right in the open, in front of Abby. He'd be in much worse shape by the following season, if this had happened and the other docs hadn't found out.

-- Cecelia (evilstoat@hotmail.com), July 12, 2000.

I think one of the reason why we saw Carter take the Fentanol in the trauma room because deep down there was a part of Carter screaming for help. He knew he was suffering from PTSD/survivor's guilt and now painkiller addiction. That part of him knew he could not win the battle to overcome everything on his own and that part of him got careless so he would get caught. Sure,he acted defensive and struck back when caught back, but that just showed the utter helplessness, confusion and emotional/physical turmoil Carter was in. It is how he responded to this accusation that made everyone believe Carter had many problems right now.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), July 12, 2000.

When someone is addicted to drugs it doesn't matter where they are they HAVE to have the drugs no matter what the cost. Thats the reason why it is so hard getting off drugs. Drugs become your life when your an addict.

-- Nicole (pizza_cats@hotmail.com), July 13, 2000.

I personally think that Carter had injected drugs a while before that. I think he had more than one track mark on his wrist.

-- Nicole (pizza_cats@hotmail.com), July 13, 2000.

But Nicole, Carter wasn't a raving addict who HAD to have his drugs whenever and wherever. If he had gotten to that point, his behavior would have been much more erratic and noticeable by the other docs. Carter was overmedicating with his prescription drugs, and had started to steal spare hospital drugs, but his addiction had not yet become "desperate" to the point where he couldn't hide his cravings. If he could wait until he thought no one was in the room, then surely he would have had the presense of mind to simply walk to the men's room. Just a little technicality, but one that has bugged me ever since I saw it.

-- Cecelia (evilstoat@hotmail.com), July 13, 2000.