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 Contrary
to what might be expected from his position, it is not in his office but
in the hospital's services that the exchanges between Dr. Joseph Noah
and the practitioners of the institution take place. In fact, it was
mainly lively discussions, virile oppositions, between him and the young
doctor Scott Clark.
There
is no lack of subjects of opposition between the director of the old
generation and the doctor of the new one. First, Joseph Noah criticizes
Scott for his appearance : the image he gives is not that of a
professional doctor. He then reproaches him for giving up too easily the
positions on which he is offered to work (Scott has given up his
position with drug addicts). For
his part, Scott openly opposes his director at the time of the death of
Jerome, the black child and friend of Jake Morton's, hit by a car. This
tragic death is the pretext for Scott to question Dr. Noah, to reproach
him for the waiting times and the lack of equipment in the services. In
this altercation, Scott even accuses him of treating the rich patients
differently from the others. Dr. Noah opposes Scott, justifying that he
is doing his best to fill the gap in the state's money. However,
the real subject of opposition between the two men remains Victoria Lane
Capwell. Scott supports her candidacy for volunteer nursing assistance,
recognizing that this help is essential to the services, and that it is
also important to the former addict. Dr. Noah is opposed to this
candidacy, shocked that a former drug addict could be hired. But he is
obliged to give in in front of Scott's insistence. Joseph
Noah seizes a theft of narcotics to charge Victoria without the
slightest evidence. During their meeting, he accuses the former actress,
suspends her and demands that she gives her volunteer badge back. As
a true master on board, Dr. Joseph Noah wants to run his hospital
according to his wishes. No doubt that, later on, he would find real
support with the arrival of Dr. Arthur Donnelly; the two men sharing the
same conception of the appearance of a doctor and of authority... Portrait
written for this site by Lilian
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