St. Theresa's Doctors Entrance ("A Man, A Plan...")
Saint Theresa's Hospital is a Catholic church-run health care center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Medical Director is Dr. Robert Landau and Margaret Thompson is part of its directing board. Saint Theresa's serves as a recurrent location in the third season of Boardwalk Empire.
History[]
Season 3[]
A ward at St. Theresa's. ("Resolution")
The services of St. Theresa's improve greatly after the Catholic Church cashes in millions from the lands benefitted by the Road Appropriation Bill that Margaret Thompson deeded to it in 1921. It acquires a thoracic surgeon and a new pediatric annex named after Margaret and her husband Nucky Thompson (who is identified as the benefactor on official records), and by December 31, 1922 the hospital staff is planning to affiliate with a university in Pennsylvania. During a visit to the place, Margaret runs into a pregnant woman, Edwina Shearer, asking for help, and is shocked when Shearer experiences profuse vaginal bleeding. Dr. Landau and the Hospital chairman accompanying her give little importance to the event after the woman is taken away, and ask Margaret about the decorations for a new courtyard. With the visit over, Margaret asks the doctor that attended the woman, Douglas Mason, and is informed that Shearer suffered a miscarriage caused by an Escherichia coli infection developed as a result of drinking raw milk. If someone had warned her the miscarriage would have been avoided but the hospital does not provide prenatal care. Margaret shares this information with Landau but he reacts with hostility, taking her words as accusing the hospital of negligence. ("Resolution")
A patients room in St. Theresa's. ("Spaghetti and Coffee")
Margaret visits Shearer at the hospital and asks about her state and if her doctor, Cheever gave her information on prenatal care, but she also reacts with hostility. She then goes to Dr. Mason's office but is met with derision until she manifests her will to bring prenatal care to the hospital. Mason asks Margaret how she plans to convince Landau; Margaret says she won't. ("Spaghetti and Coffee")
Margaret invites Landau and his wife to the ceremony where Nucky will be made a Knight of the Papal Order of Saint Gregory. She visits St. Theresa's to make sure that he will attend and lies to him saying that the issue of prenatal care has been forgotten. He tells her that they will use hydrangeas as decoration for the new courtyard and she says it's wonderful because "flowers make everything cheery". At the reception after the ceremony Margaret introduces Landau to Bishop Norman and tells him that Landau has been pressing her and her husband about opening a women's health clinic that would teach prenatal care. The bishop gives his bleshing (though with "limitations") and Landau, put on a corner, is forced to allocate a storage room in the hospital for the new clinic. ("Bone for Tuna")
A prenatal care class at St. Theresa's. ("You'd Be Surprised")
Dr. Mason volunteers to teach the classes. However, the Hospital appoints Sister Agnes as supervisor and she bans the use of "infelicituous" words like 'vagina', 'menstruation' and 'pregnant'. Margaret hands fliers advertising the clinic in the Atlantic City Boardwalk but even Edwina Shearer, the woman who sparked her project, refuses to take one. ("Blue Bell Boy")
The fliers are likewise sanitized to the point people can't make what they are about on their own and the attendance to the class is lacklustre and declining. Sister Agnes blames the class not being interesting enough but the remaining students think that it has more to do with the class taking place in the evening and suggest that mid-morning would be more appropriate, which Sister Agnes vetoes for not being right for her schedule. When an emergency prevents Dr. Mason from teaching the class, Margaret takes over it, also with Sister Agnes opposition. ("You'd Be Surprised")
Edwina Shearer does finally attend one of the classes but only so she can talk to Margaret after it. She confesses that she stored and drank the milk on purpose to have an abortion and that she doesn't want to have another child. Margaret tells her that they don't teach birth control but that she might hand one of her pamphlets to her, which Shearer refuses. She asks Margaret to provide her with a diaphragm, claiming that no doctor will ever give one to her. Margaret then asks Mason for two diaphragms: one for Shearer, and one for her. ("The Pony")
With the war against Gyp Rosetti heating up by June 21, 1923, Margaret has to accept being driven to the hospital by Eddie Kessler and to be accompanied by Nucky's bodyguard Gareth Murray at all times. After negotiation, Murray accepts to walk ten steps after her and stay out of the prenatal care classroom. Sister Agnes announces that the bishop has changed his mind and the classes are to be cancelled immediately, though she admits to have found them very informative herself. With the sister gone, Mason proposes continuing the classes in some other place free of Catholic censorship. He has also got ahold of the two diaphragms but they arrive too late for Margaret since she is already pregnant with Owen Sleater's child. ("A Man, A Plan...")
Eddie is shot early in the next day's morning when Rosetti's gunmen attack Nucky's suite in the Ritz Carlton Hotel and Nucky drives him to St. Theresa's. Nucky tries to alert the nuns; Dr. Landau approaches the car and asks what is going on. Nucky first tries to say that Eddie has suffered an accident and he requires discretion, but sensing that Landau is about to pull away he seizes his jacket and reminds him that one of the hospital's wards is named after him. However, two more of Rosetti's thugs appear and he is forced to drive away as they begin to fire on the car. ("Two Imposters")
Staff[]
- Dr. Robert Landau - Medical Director
- Hospital chairman - Member of the directing board
- Margaret Thompson - Member of the directing board
- Dr. Douglas Mason - Teacher of prenatal care
- Dr. Cheever - Edwina Shearer's doctor
- Sister Agnes - Nurse, administrative
Appearances[]
| Season three appearances | |||
| "Resolution" | "Spaghetti and Coffee" | "Bone for Tuna" | "Blue Bell Boy" |
| "You'd Be Surprised" | "Ging Gang Goolie" | "Sunday Best" | "The Pony" |
| "The Milkmaid's Lot" | "A Man, A Plan..." | "Two Imposters" | "Margate Sands" |