Extreme Measures (1996)

Gene Hackman: Dr. Lawrence Myrick

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Quotes 

• Dr. Lawrence Myrick : I'm 68 years old, I don't have much time. Three years with a rat to get to a dog, and after five years - if I'm lucky - maybe I can work on a chimp? We have to move faster than that. I'm doing medicine here no one's ever DREAMED of! This is baseline neuro-chemistry, Guy!

  Dr. Guy Luthan : You're killing people.

  Dr. Lawrence Myrick : [Shrugs]  People die every day. For what? For nothing. Plane crash, train wreck? Bosnia - pick your tragedy. Sniper in a restaurant, fifteen dead, story at eleven. What do we do? What do you do? You change the channel, you move on to the next patient. You take care of the ones you think you can save. Good doctors do the correct thing - GREAT doctors have the guts to do the right thing. Your father had those guts. So do you. Two patients on either side of the room - one a gold-plated cop, the other a maniac that pulled a gun on a city bus. Who do you work on first? You knew, Guy. You knew. If you could cure cancer by killing one person, wouldn't you have to do that? Wouldn't that be the brave thing to do? One person and cancer's gone tomorrow. You thought you were paralyzed. What would you have done to be able to walk again? Anything. You said it yourself. Anything. You were like that for... twenty four hours.

  [Puts his hands on Helen's shoulders] 

  Dr. Lawrence Myrick : Helen hasn't walked for twelve years. I can cure her... and everyone like her. The door's open. You can go out there and... put a stop to everything and it'll all be over. Or we can go upstairs and change medicine forever. It's your call, Guy.

  Helen : [after a nervous pause]  ... Guy?

  Dr. Guy Luthan : ...maybe you're right. Those men upstairs, maybe... there isn't much point to their lives. Maybe they are doing a great thing for the world. Maybe they are heroes.

  [Helen and Dr. Myrick look relieved] 

  Dr. Guy Luthan : But they didn't choose to be. You chose for them. You didn't choose your wife... or your granddaughter... you didn't ask for volunteers. You chose for them, and you can't do that. Because you're a doctor. Because you took an oath. And you're not God. So I don't care, I don't care if you can do what you say you can. I don't care if you can find a cure for every disease on this planet! You tortured and murdered those men upstairs. And that makes you a disgrace to your profession. And I hope you go to jail for the rest of your life.

  [Helen begins to cry] 

  Dr. Guy Luthan : ... I'm sorry.

• Dr. Lawrence Myrick : I've seen your chart, it's a terrible thing. I'd like to try to help.

  Dr. Guy Luthan : [not looking at him]  If you want to help me... let me die.

  Dr. Lawrence Myrick : That's a common request.

  Dr. Guy Luthan : Please... 400 of potassium chloride in my IV.

  Dr. Lawrence Myrick : What if there was hope?

  Dr. Guy Luthan : No. There isn't.

  Dr. Lawrence Myrick : [walks closer]  What if there was hope? What would it be worth, to be able to walk again, to be able to feed yourself? To go back to your old life, to be a doctor? What would you endure?

  Dr. Guy Luthan : [finally looks at him]  What are you talking about?

  Dr. Lawrence Myrick : I'm asking you a question. What do you think that would be worth?

  Dr. Guy Luthan : I can't live like this.

  Dr. Lawrence Myrick : With proper care, you can live 20 years like this. What would you do? What would you risk to change that?

  Dr. Guy Luthan : [stubbornly]  I have a C6 break in my cord.

  Dr. Lawrence Myrick : What if I told you that there was a chance you could be healed? That there was a procedure that offered you... a good chance... that you might walk again? What would you do to make that happen?

  Dr. Guy Luthan : ...anything.

  Dr. Lawrence Myrick : Anything?

  [pause] 

  Dr. Lawrence Myrick : You'd better think about that.

  [leaves] 

  Dr. Guy Luthan : What do you mean? What do you mean? Wait! Dr. Myrick? Dr. Myrick!

• Dr. Lawrence Myrick : What if there was hope? What would it be worth to be able to walk again? To be able to feed yourself? To go back to your old life? To be a doctor? What would you endure?