A Chicago Med Doctor Just Got an "Early Death" Diagnosis in the Finale (DETAILS)
The Chicago Med Season 10 finale was intense.
Season 10 newcomer Dr. Caitlin Lenox (Sarah Ramos) has stolen the show on Chicago Med thanks to her steadfast dedication as E.D. Chief. Her passion comes from her own medical hardships that she has been haunted by for decades. And those demons came out in Season 10's tear-jerking finale episode.
Warning: This story mentions suicide.
When she was younger, Lenox's mother passed away after being diagnosed with an extremely rare prion disease, Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker (GSS). The next day, Lenox's father died by suicide, leaving Lenox to raise her brother, Kip (Logan Miller). For years, Lenox and Kip promised each other never to get tested for the GSS gene; they didn't want the potentially grim results of the genetic gamble to dominate their lives.
But after Kip visited the E.D. with a tremor in Season 10, Episode 21 ("Baby Mine..."), Lenox realized she needed to lay her fears aside and get tested along with her brother to rule out GSS. Privy to her family history, Dr. Dean Archer (Steven Weber) helped the siblings complete the tests, but viewers were left to wonder how those labs played out.
RELATED: About Chicago Med's Dr. Caitlin Lenox, Played by Sarah Ramos
In Chicago Med's Season 10 finale (Episode 22: "...Don't You Cry"), Lenox and her brother finally learned whether or not they carry the same gene that destroyed their family as children. Read more, below.
Sarah Ramos' Dr. Lenox and her brother got their GSS tests back on Chicago Med
Season 10's finale began with both Kip and Lenox waiting anxiously for Archer to return with Kip's lab results. Upon his arrival, the siblings perked up instantly.
"I don't want to keep you in suspense, you're negative for GSS," Archer happily told Kip. "Congratulations."
Kip was elated by the news, wasting no time questioning his sister's results. "I see the blue envelope in your pocket. What does it say, Caty?" Kip asked.
"Also negative," Lenox said with a smile.
"I just assumed that we were —" Kip began, referring to the siblings' shared sense of doom.
"Me too," Lenox admitted before asking Archer the cause of her brother's tremors, which proved to be injury-related. Kip and Lenox couldn't have been happier about the development, and Archer was keen to check in on Lenox later in the shift. Archer asked if the results changed anything for Lenox, and she shrugged him off and said it changed nothing.
"Don't underestimate the significance of a negative result," Archer cautioned. "Your future is more certain now."
Ever the pragmatist, Lenox rolled her eyes at Archer's sentiment, telling her colleague that she prefers to get back to the grind at Gaffney rather than allow test results to inspire some major life change. However, Lenox wasn't truthful to Kip or Archer about her results.
In the final moments of Chicago Med Season 10, viewers learned that Lenox tested positive for the GSS prion, meaning she's statistically likely to meet the same end as her mother. Lenox's lifelong worst fear has become her reality, and as she finally broke down in tears over the secret truth, viewers were left heartbroken.
Chicago Med showrunner Allen MacDonald breaks down Lenox's shocking news
"Lenox has spent her whole life with the possibility that she could have Prion Disease hanging over her head. That's why she's more interested in achieving and accomplishing to burnish her legacy as a doctor and avoiding personal relationships; she might have limited time," MacDonald told NBC Insider. "But until now, she also had the possibility she was negative and would live a full life. Now she knows an early death is in the cards…"
RELATED: What to Know About Chicago Med Season 11: Premiere Date, Cast, Details
Lenox has kept her guard up since her steely arrival, but this diagnosis will undeniably shift how she functions in Season 11 of Med.
"The certainty [of Lenox's diagnosis] is most definitely going to affect how she behaves moving forward," MacDonald revealed. "And I think the audience will be as surprised as Lenox will be."
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