Abby's situation (re: non-payment of tuition)

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This is something I'm surprised there hasn't been a lot of comments on since last night...we were all so happy to see Abby show some spirit in her fight with her ex, that no one (that I saw) commented on her inability to work in the ER for three monthes due to the payment issue. I seem to remember some people commenting on seeing Abby in the ER nurse uniform in previews for the last few weeks (fear she would be replacing Carol, etc.) Can I guess that the only way she could still be in the ER and learning is if she scrubbed back in as an R.N.?

Becky

-- Becky (pattonrd@muohio.edu), October 13, 2000

Answers

Response to Abby's situation

I think you are right. Until Abby can get back in med school, I guess we'll be seeing her as a nurse. I can't wait for her storyline to develop. It looks interesting.

-- Katrina (cattrek2@hotmail.com), October 13, 2000.

Since *she* in the student, why wouldn't she be notified if her tuition was due? How come her X is in charge of that? How does this work in RealLife?

-- Shauna Parsons (jazzofborg@excite.com), October 13, 2000.

I was wondering that same thing Shauna. She has obviously had problems with him not sending money when he was supposed to in the past (remember Kerry overhearing Abby on the phone about some late payment). Why would she trust him to pay her tuition on time? She made a comment that it was part of the divorce settlement, but you would think it would be handled a little differently than that. Her ex seemed like quite a jerk. I wonder if we'll be seeing much more of him?

-- amanda (amanda.rehm@home.com), October 13, 2000.

In the school where I work, students are always notified by their academic advisor or the dean (I work at a large University so the registar never phones med students directly). Of course it could be different with each program, but where I work the doctors that they work with are not notified unless a student has to be pulled out of a rotation. I have a couple students who's payment did not reach the universities fees office and they have had to make special trips to the main campus, but they were not pulled. Of course it is always possible that a student is very deliquent and they are pulled. So my answer is that it the situation that occured between Abby and Kerri in last night's episode would be a rare exception. But then again I don't know any student who spends more than a month at a time in the ER, so it all has to be taken with a grain of salt. Just thought I would add an interesting piece of trivia. The real person in charge of the residency program at Cook County in Chicago is Dr. Greene (same spelling and everything.........it's just Constance Greene).

-- Emma (webbef@hotmail.com), October 13, 2000.

In the preview for next week, Abby is in a purple nurse uniform!

-- Stephanie (ERGirl22@aol.com), October 14, 2000.


The X making the payments were part of the divorce settlement. That doesn't seem unrealistic now that we know that Abby put X thru med school. Now he has to do the same for her. Although it might seem more likely that X would pay Abby and then she pay the school, in some situations whoever is responsible for the bills gets the invoices, including late notices. Not the student themself. I know this is true when a Trust is responsible for paying education bills, so it might be the same in a divorce settlement.

Maybe Abby becoming "head nurse?" during her stint in the ER (remember Haleh never wanted it), makes her re-think her position as a med student and she remains a nurse even after the 3 months are up.

-- AmyE (roamyn@aol.com), October 14, 2000.


Could also be that Abby didn't change her address with the school's administrative office and, therefore, didn't get the notices.

A couple of things about the Abby storyline bothered me in this epi and, since I haven't seen anyone else comment on them, I thought I would here. One was when Abby said her divorce became final last month. At that point I think we were in August or September (the day Carter came home). Didn't we hear her divorce was final last April or May? That one didn't bother me as much as the other one. Abby told her ex that they had a deal about putting one another thru med school, yet I remember her telling the nurses she'd taken the med school admission test on a whim because she was bored. I don't mean to pick this apart, but these seem to be at odds with one another in continuity. Anyone else notice these? Any explanations I'm missing?

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), October 14, 2000.


I was watching a tape of Such Sweet Sorrow, when Frank (the new desk clerk) tells Abby she wrote the wrong date. It was actually May 11th and Abby makes a comment about thinking the day was going to be worse. Maybe this was TPTB's way of letting us know this was her divorce date? (I know, it's a stretch) Re: the comment (in the same eppy, by the way) about her taking the tests 'because she was bored and didn't even think she would get into med school', didn't her ex make some comment in 'Homecoming' that SHE was the one unhappy and wanting to change her life? Maybe she was a nurse who put hubby through med school and then decides she wants to try the same thing, but at the same time this move may be precipitated by the fact that hubby is fooling around and she wants to be able to take care of herself if they split.

Just my .02 worth.

-- Lolina (lolina_69@hotmail.com), October 14, 2000.


I do think Abby should have used one of those irons and throw them to her husband and hit him with the bag...If I was a jury in a case of a woman like Abby who put a guy throught medicine school and then he "fooled around", and she had given him a really good kicking and hitting with a bat, I would so absolve her...or at least I'd organize the other female jurors and go kick him again at the end of the day.

-- jules (jules@operamail.com), October 16, 2000.

Just a couple comments on Abby's situation.

1. Even if your divorce decree says "X will do/pay this" the court makes no attempt to verify that X is doing/paying whatever. It's up to the other party to go back to their lawyer and notify the court that X is delinquent. Then the court has to notify X, give X so many days to do whatever, etc etc. (Been there, Done that.)

2. My take on it is that Abby may have been hounding the ex about the situation, but she's helpless. She can't force him to make the payment, and most likely she can't afford the tuiton on her salary and he can. Her only option is to take him back to court, and that takes time and money (see #1).

I particularly liked Abby's snide comments about her ex's new girlfriend (to put it more politely).

-- Debbie (debbiev@anet-stl.com), October 17, 2000.



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