MDA

Ella becomes involved with an unqualified and anarchic Russian doctor Mikhail Voronin.

Richard Savage is determined to secure the biggest damages claim in Australian history when he represents a top tennis star whose career may be over after shoulder surgery.

Happy's son Jason tells Happy he's seeing a psychiatrist and wants Happy to come to his next therapy session.

Happy Henderson is trapped into representing a rude and egotistical surgeon, suspected of euthanasia, at a coronial inquest. Happy needs Simon Lloyd's help, but the two are at odds when Simon returns from Germany and resigns.

Happy Henderson has a very busy day. Negotiating with Richard Savage to contain a potentially huge damages claim, Happy also tries to avoid being sacked while lobbying to keep Mark Matthews as President of MDA.

The group of doctors suing MDA now personalise their grievances and attack Happy in the media. But Happy fights back—with some help from a retired Flying Doctor. The old doc is being sued for negligence in delivering a baby, but Jamie discovers he can’t remember the incident at all.

The press takes an interest as Happy and Amanda gear up for an appeal hearing in the Supreme Court. On the plaintiff’s side, Caitlin is doing all the work and Richard is taking all the credit—as usual.

Layla tries to help an old school friend whose sister is brain damaged after a pethidine overdose. Before long, Happy and Jamie are dealing with a writ naming five defendants, who cannot agree on damages or tactics. Meanwhile, Richard finds the plaintiff’s family equally hard to handle. Simon and Amanda argue heatedly about representing a med student accused of sexual misconduct. Caitlin, still vulnerable, identifies with the victim.

Ella, unhappy at Happy and Amanda's legal tactics over representing a deceased MDA member, tells Happy that she's been offered a fulltime job at St Albans Hospital. As she thinks it over - and then accepts the job - she approaches surgeon Simon Lloyd as her replacement. When Happy realises that Ella really is leaving MDA, he regards it as a betrayal. Caitlin and Richard argue over the case of a woman left with paralysed vocal chords after a throat operation. Caitlin thinks the woman has no case, but cunning Richard finds a point of attack. The real source of tension between them is Caitlin's new lover, Justin. Over at MDA, a psychiatrist seeks Amanda's advice. The police are bugging her therapy sessions with a man they suspect of murder. Amanda realises that man is Justin. What does she do about it?

Ella and Happy face a hard fight defending a doctor who trusted a pathology report and thus missed a cancer in a nine-year-old boy. The biopsy slides and the pathologist are missing. Richard becomes emotionally involved with the terminally ill boy, and is shaken to discover that the parents absolutely refuse to tell their son he's dying. With the trial fast tracked, Ella enlists unpredictable surgeon Mr Simon Lloyd as an expert witness. His care and passion for the case and the mediation provide unexpected results and a violent response from Richard, when Simon breaks the rules and confronts the grieving parents. When the elusive pathologist shows up, she confesses she got it wrong and Ella is devastated. At Kato & Pittman, Caitlin is reminded of her junior status when Richard has her drawing up wills. But Caitlin discovers her client's husband could well have a very large med-neg claim against their GP, who failed to diagnose kidney failure. It should be an easy and big win for Caitli

The MDA team must deal with the painful aftermath of the attempted murder of Ella, Jamie and Tony. Despite eight hours in the operating theatre, Tony dies and the effect on the survivors is far-reaching and profound. While Jamie is eerily withdrawn, Ella comes to accept the loss. Caitlin waits for the injured Ella's return to work and then, goaded by Richard, announces her new job at Richard's firm. Happy will never forgive her and it is another blow for the fragile Ella. A locum legal case manager, Amanda McKay, joins MDA while Ella and Jamie recover. She works with Caitlin and Happy in defence of an IVF doctor accused of breach of contract. An IVF baby has died soon after birth, due to an undiagnosed genetic condition. MDA successfully defends the doctor, but the case could have far reaching consequences for IVF doctors and their patients. Meanwhile, Ella and Amanda go into mediation against Gretel Celeste, a medium who claims to have lost her psychic powers as a result of an appende

As Ella and Tony wait for the verdict in the negligence case against them, MDA receives a class action writ from 72 of their members, alleging MDA lied about the organisation's financial health. Jamie goes to a kids' soccer match to hear about a job offer, but gets stuck there when a boy is injured on the field. Meanwhile, Richard interviews a possible new client, a convicted murderer, who claims anti-depressants made him do it. Happy gets an unusual message from his son Jason.

Ella (Kerry Armstrong) must play medical fact against a tough judge and enormous public sympathy when the Debbie Shanahan (Suzi Dougherty) case against breast surgeon Teresa Commons (Toni Scanlan) goes to trial. Tony (Aaron Pedersen) is demoralised by the press coverage as he worries about the negligence writ against him and Ella. Layla (Petra Yared) tries an unusual way to reconcile Happy (Shane Bourne) and his estranged son, while Caitlin (Alice McConnell) and Jamie (Angus Grant) deal with an MDA member who wants a no claim bonus.

As Happy is pre-occupied searching the city for his estranged son Jason, Caitlin takes over the breast enhancement case against Richard - with some surprise help from Jamie. A country GP, under-qualified in obstetrics, loses a mother after childbirth. Unfortunately, it's not his first disaster. Tony loses confidence and grows increasingly anxious over the impending civil action against him and Ella. She, meanwhile, is just beginning her battle for a top surgeon charged with misdiagnosis of cancer, amid huge and growing public sympathy for the dying woman.

MDA and Richard Savage actually work together to sort out an angry and guilty young man, who is desperate to blame a palliative care doctor for the loss of his cancer sufferer father. Richard represents an aspiring model and actress against a plastic surgeon for an ""unnatural"" breast enhancement. Loser lawyer Helena finally gets a strong case of ""vicarious responsibility"" against a psychiatrist whose patient jumped from a window in her absence. Richard sets up a job interview for Caitlin with a prestigious law firm.

Happy represents Ella and Tony at the Coronial Inquiry, discovering that Sam, Layla's med student boyfriend, witnessed the incident in question. But Happy also strongly suspects that Caitlin is leaking information to Richard Savage. While Jamie worries about Wendy and her imminent manslaughter trial, he also has to deal with case of a man suing over a pubic area shave. Ella and Caitlin advise a GP who thinks a child may be the victim of sexual abuse.

All on the one night: As Ella and Tony deal with one emergency after another at St Albans Hospital, Layla makes her first public speech to first year med students - and wins a heart. Richard draws out a straightforward mediation till late at night to impress his client - but not Caitlin - and the mediator notices something going on between them. Back at MDA, the Board grapples with the collapse of their insurance company and whether MDA will defend Wendy Rossi on her manslaughter charge.

Happy represents Dr Wendy Rossi at the Coronial Inquest into the patient who accidentally died at her hands in ICU. Jamie is frantic: he's Wendy's case manager, but he's fallen in love with her too. As MDA's reinsurer goes bust, leaving the organisation financially exposed, Ella and Happy fight Richard Savage on behalf of a doctor who allegedly mismanaged a delivery, thus causing a child's spina bifida. Caitlin deals with the case of an obstetrician who let slip the sex of a baby, preventing the mother having a termination. And arrogant plastic surgeon Mr Phillips is in trouble yet again.

Ella calls on the services of a long lost love Paul Bennett, a romance from Uni days to provide an Expert Opinion in the tragic case of a woman claiming damages because her doctor failed to diagnose one of her twin babies with Spina Bifida. Failure to detect spina bifida twelve years earlier has the mother, Kathy Langley, briefing Richard Savage to claim for negligence and financial hardship. Happy, preoccupied with his own imminent colonoscopy, tries to understand why an up-tight doctor would give a patient with a swollen ankle a vaginal examination. Meanwhile Caitlin and Jamie look into the case of the radiologist in trouble for a highly unusual practice involving his dog And Ella and Caitlin employ a creative tactic in an attempt to appease an angry man who wants to sue his doctor because his wife had an abortion behind his back.

Deanna Raye, a very recent gender reassignment patient is rushed into Dr Ella Davis' hospital Emergency Department after a suicide attempt. Now Ella finds herself in a conflict of interest. Deanna claims that she was an inappropriate candidate for her procedure and is suing her surgeon, the apparently arrogant Mr Vince Phillips. Dr Jamie Lawless and Caitlin King take on the case, once again locked in conflict with Richard Savage. Happy Henderson and Ella, meanwhile, represent Dr Michael Forsythe, a country doctor being sued by a man he had thought of as an old mate for a post-operative hernia. Or is the old mate just trying to pay for his new fence - and ruining Dr Forsythe's reputation into the bargain?

When a GP is caught having sex with a beautiful blonde patient in his surgery, Ella must make a decision about whether MDA should fight to save his practice. He claims it was a one-off but his devastated wife is sure he's been having an affair. As Ella battles to keep her own emotions out of the case, Nick surprises her with his decision about the job offer in Philadelphia in an emotional showdown at the MDA office. Meanwhile Happy and Jamie attempt to out-manoeuvre Richard in the case of a vain but popular gym complex owner whose cosmetic surgery resulted in some unusual complications. And Caitlin unravels the mystery of a woman who claims her doctor gave her unwanted tattoos.

Ella Davis' long time friend Olga Stiles, an obstetrician, is facing charges in the Supreme Court for contributing to the massive brain injuries of a young woman, Kim Cusack, following complications with her Caesarean delivery. Opposing counsel Richard Savage employs a dramatic, emotive tactic to win the hearts of the jury, forcing Ella and Happy to call an adjournment to rethink their options. Meantime, Caitlin cuts her teeth on a case of surgery politics involving two doctors at each other's throats. The resolution for this one will need some truly lateral thinking. Jamie enlists Caitlin's help in some hands-on sleuth work to discover the truth about a woman's claim of sexual misconduct. As they prepare to enter final negotiations on the Cusack case, Richard confronts Ella with information that forces her to draw on all her resources to balance her own emotions with the tragedy suffered by a young couple.