911 just answered what’s wrong with Hen, but also showed how she’s getting away with too much on the show!
Caution: This episode contains SPOILERS for 911 season 9
For most of season 9 of 911, Hen has been dealing with some sort of strange medical condition. That included tremors, loss of balance, rashes, migraines, muscle soreness, loss of consciousness, and more. Naturally, Hen tried to keep it quiet, going to an off-the-books doctor until wife Karen found out.
It led to Hen collapsing on the job and Karen realizing Chimney knew nothing of her issues. Irate at Hen keeping this a secret when so many were counting on her, Chimney fired her.
What is Hen's medical condition on 911?
That didn’t go over well with the rest of the team, leading to an “intervention” to try and get the pair to talk. During it, Hen confessed she’d kept quiet because the team was already hurting from losing Bobby, and she didn’t want to add to that. It ended with her collapsing again and taken to the hospital.
There, the truth came out that Hen was suffering from dermatomyositis, a disorder caused by her space mission in the season 9 premiere. The doctor emphasized that there was no cure, but it could be treated. Chimney and the gang were ready to back Hen up, which suggests she’s back with the team.
That’s a seemingly happy ending, but it ignores the very serious implications of letting Hen back.
Why Chimney was right to fire Hen on 911
Chimney may have come off looking bad for firing Hen, especially when the woman was in a hospital bed. But the reality is that he was dead right to do so, and welcoming her back is a mistake.
First of all, Hen deliberately hid a detrimental medical condition from her teammates and her superior officer. The 118 has suffered in the past from members keeping secrets from each other, and Hen should know better than to think she could handle this on her own. If nothing else, she had to know Karen would be talking about it, and sooner or later, the rest of the team would learn of it.
More importantly, Hen knew she was suffering from an issue that was hampering her job and refused to face up to it. A paramedic who could suddenly collapse or suffer a muscle spasm put countless people at risk. Hen should have benched herself the moment she knew her condition could interfere with her work, and it’s appalling that someone trained to save lives would put herself and others at risk just because she didn’t want to give up the job.
The show paints this as Hen trying to meet this new challenge, and the team as her family helping. However, enabling Hen’s rash behavior isn’t doing them any favors and just leaves them open for trouble. If it’s learned that the team brushed off a paramedic who hid such an illness, it can get the entire house in trouble. As much as Hen claims she was trying to “hold them together” with her secret, it could really tear them apart.
The audience can sympathize with Hen and her struggles and hope she recovers quickly. But ignoring how she put everyone, including patients, in danger and just welcomed back as if nothing happened isn’t the championing storyline the writers intend it to be, and only has 911 looking worse for fans.
911 season 9 airs on Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.