Dare on Law & Order: SVU

The March 14, 2018 episode of “Law & Order: SVU” (“Dare”) was particularly poignant and heartbreaking in its theme, so surprise! We’re not going to point out glaring flaws in the story, except that we don’t see why the SVU team was called in on this case to begin with. There was no sex crime involved.

NYPD: How the Police Handles Missing Persons Cases

Nevertheless when Zoe Bergkamp goes missing, SVU was called in. After getting off the bus at the school, her two friends, Lisa and Lily, talk about doing something that Zoe does not want to go along with. She reluctantly agrees, Lisa whispers in her ear and Zoe runs over and kisses a random guy getting on a motorbike. Lisa and Lily run off shouting “Red Parrot.” When Zoe can’t be found, Lisa and Lily say that was the last time they saw her.

They are able to locate this random dude. His name is David Gidumal. They find out where he lives and Carisi and Rollins bust in his door when he’s not home. David walks in on that but he doesn’t have a clue where Zoe is because she ran into the school after she kissed him and he never laid a finger on her. It’s back to the schoolmates who are taken in for questioning. Meantime, Benson finds Zoe unconscious under the bleachers in the school gym. The girls woefully confess that Zoe was running around the gym in her underwear on another “Red Parrot” dare when she fell off the bleachers.

At the hospital, Fin and Benson were talking to Zoe’s parents when Dr. Franchella asked them to step outside. It was her sad duty to inform the parents that Zoe could not be saved because of swelling on her brain. After Franchella informs the detectives, they hang around to comfort the parents. Mrs. Bergkamp says she wants her mother’s ring back before Zoe is taken to the morgue. Benson and Fin accompany them to get it. When Mrs. Bergkamp pulls the sheet down covering the body, she sees a sutured incision on her daughter’s chest. Benson rushes off to ask Franchella what the deal is. Franchella freely admits that she harvested Zoe’s organs to help other children without checking with the parents. In fact, the heart is on a helicopter about to be flown to a little boy in Buffalo who is a match for it. Benson rushes up to the roof to stop that from happening. The helicopter pilot says he has to leave with it to save the boy. Benson goes back to ask the parents if they will consent but Mrs. Bergkamp refuses. Back on the roof, the pilot begs Benson to let him leave. He says he will take the fall and turn himself in after the boy gets the heart. Fin says they can say they got there too late. Benson is just so torn but says “I can’t” and takes the heart back in the hospital.

What to prosecute an unrepentant Franchella for is next. They turn up 31 records where she forged parental consent in an effort to expedite things and charge her with forgery. Mrs. Bergkamp gets on the stand and says Benson tried to guilt trip her into giving consent after she just learned that her daughter was dead and her body was violated in this way. Franchella’s attorney, Nikki Staines, shows the jury lots of pictures of the children that Franchella saved and even brings in little Harry Lonegan, the boy who did not get Zoe’s heart. Mr. Bergkamp is blown away by that and wants to drop the charges but his wife refuses. He apologizes to the Lonegans.

What turns the case in Peter Stone’s favor is finding out that Franchella had a son who died from a congenital heart problem. He suggests to the doctor that she didn’t try hard enough to save Zoe and the doctor said that 2 physicians have to make the call that the patient is dead, so don’t even try that. Then he wanted to know if she would have been so quick to harvest the organs of her own son. She had no answer for that. She gets convicted of every count of forgery that she was charged with.

Stone and Benson debated what Franchella’s sentence should be. He wanted the doctor to do some jail time. “Don’t be a bully,” Benson said. She thought the loss of the medical license was punishment enough. Rollins suddenly appeared at the door to inform them that Harry Lonegan had died. Stone and Benson look at each other stunned and that was the end of the episode.

It’s always tragic when a child dies young. This story showed how fragile life is: youngsters can die in the most unforeseen circumstances and it also highlighted the shortage of organ availability for children who have the possibility of a longer life with a transplant.

We can’t pass judgment on Mrs. Bergkamp because surely she had every right to be outraged about what Franchella did. Think about it, even if “presumed consent” existed in New York, there would still be people who might not be aware of that. Franchella should have worked to get the law changed rather than taking it into her own hands to violate other people’s parental rights.

Here is an article from the BBC that discusses the opt-out systems used in various countries around the world.

For information from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, visit organdonor.gov. A good place to start is on their Organ Donation Myths & Facts page.

Selected Cast of In Dare:
Mariska Hargitay – Olivia Benson
Kelli Giddish – Amanda Rollins
Ice-T – Odafin Tutuola
Peter Scanavino – Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr.
Philip Winchester – Peter Stone
Janel Moloney – Dr. Franchella
Jenn Gambatese – Meredith Bergkamp
Alfredo Narciso – Dylan Bergkamp
Nicolette Pierini – Zoe Bergkamp
Eloise Lushina – Lily Winterburn
Lillian Ellen Jones – Lisa Dixon
Adit Dileep – David Gidumal
Callie Thorne – Nikki Staines
Stacey Raymond – Coach Clare
Robin S. Walker – Callie Lydell
Joey Curtis-Green – Harry Lonegan
Matt Golden – Mr. Lonegan
Mary Theresa Archbold – Mrs. Lonegan