The mystery surrounding Emma's gender and testicular torsion explained

June 21, 2024

Chicago Med is one of the most popular medical drama series on NBC. The drama centers on a renowned hospital in the titular city, along with a committed team of medical professionals who work hard to maintain harmony. They frequently encounter unexpected cases and contentious interactions in the midst of the pandemonium of an emergency room.

One of the most perplexing medical cases yet has been featured on Chicago Med season 3 episode 16. It was the case of testicular torsion faced by a nine-year-old girl Emma.

There was a lot of mystery surrounding the fact that a little girl was faced with a testicle problem which made for one of the most complicated medical cases shown in the season. The particular episode also opened up a lot of questions about the gender identity of children.

Here is a look back at season 3 of Chicago Med to uncover the mystery of Emma's testicular torsion.

Chicago Med season 3 episode 16 - Exploring the mystery of Emma and testicular torsion

Dr. Natalie Manning (played by Torrey DeVitto) faced one of the most perplexing medical cases in her life in episode 16, of season 3 titled An Inconvenient Truth. Dr. Natalie had to deal with a truly unusual situation with Emma, a patient who appeared to be a nine-year-old girl on the surface but had male organs inside and was afflicted by testicular torsion.

Dr. Charles (Oliver Platt) and Natalie described Emma's condition to Emma's mother and cautioned that Emma might develop "male attributes" with age. Emma's mother wants to go a step further and have the testicles entirely removed in order for Emma to transition into a female.

Natalie insisted they wouldn't conduct that without first getting the child's full consent, despite the patient being nine years old. All of this led to a lot of confusion as it is extremely unusual for a nine-year-old girl to have a testicle. This raised a lot of questions about the actual gender of the character.

Emma's condition would result in more masculine-looking attributes when the nine-year-old hit adolescence, which really irritated her mother. It makes sense that a mother wouldn't want to lose her child, but the choice to remove the testicle was mainly motivated by ethical considerations.

Together with Dr. Charles, they struggled to persuade the mother to allow them to adequately explain the situation to her nine-year-old. Finally, Nat adopted a mother-to-mother stance and, in a desperate situation, pleaded for people to accept her child no matter what gender they identified with.

Is Emma a boy on Chicago Med season 3 episode 16?

The unusual case of nine-year-old Emma in Chicago Med season 3 episode 16 revealed that Emma was actually a person with the body of a female but the reproductive organs of a male. Thus, Emma was not a boy but most likely a transgender person.

The series has eight seasons and 164 episodes so far. Michael Waxman and Charles S. Carroll are the authors of the drama. All episodes of this series are available for streaming on NBC.

More from Sportskeeda

" modalPopup.closeOnEsc = false; modalPopup.setHeader("Why did you not like this content?"); modalPopup.setContentText(modalText); modalPopup.addCancelOkButton("Submit", resetRatingAndFeedbackForm, sendRating); modalPopup.removeCloseModalIcon(); modalPopup.disableDismissPopup(); modalPopup.open(); } else { sendRating(index); } } function sendRating() { var requestPayload = { "post_id": 1696901, "rating_value": ratingValue } if (ratingValue > 3) { requestPayload.rating_feedback_type = null; requestPayload.rating_feedback = null; } else { if (!$('input[name="drone"]:checked') || !$('input[name="drone"]:checked').value) { showErrorMessage('option'); return; } if (!$(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea") || !$(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea").value) { showErrorMessage('note'); return; } var selectedOption = $('input[name="drone"]:checked').value; var feedbackNote = $(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea").value; requestPayload.rating_feedback_type = selectedOption; requestPayload.rating_feedback = feedbackNote; } pureJSAjaxPost(addratingAPI, requestPayload, onsaveRatingSuccess, onsaveRatingFail, function() {}, true); } function resetRatingAndFeedbackForm() { var activeStars = Array.from($all('.rating span.rating-star.active')); for (var i=0; i < activeStars.length; i++) { activeStars[i].classList.remove("active"); } if ($('input[name="drone"]:checked')) { $('input[name="drone"]:checked').checked = false; } var userNote = document.querySelector(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea"); userNote.value = ''; modalPopup.close(); } function onsaveRatingSuccess() { modalPopup.close(); savePostIdInUserRatedPostsCookie(); $("#post-rating-layout").classList.add("hidden"); $("#post-rating-message").classList.remove("hidden"); window.setInterval(function showMessage() { $("#post-rating-widget").classList.add("hidden"); }, 3000); } function onsaveRatingFail() { console.error('Saving post rating failed!'); modalPopup.close(); } function savePostIdInUserRatedPostsCookie() { userRatedPostIds.push(1696901); var expiryTime = new Date(); expiryTime.setMonth(expiryTime.getMonth() + 12); // Expiry after 1 year setCookie("user_rated_post_ids", JSON.stringify(userRatedPostIds), expiryTime); } function isPostRatedByUser() { var userRatedPostIds = getCookie('user_rated_post_ids'); if (userRatedPostIds) { try { userRatedPostIds = JSON.parse(userRatedPostIds); } catch (err) { console.error(err); return false; } } else { return false; } if(userRatedPostIds.indexOf(1696901) >= 0) { return true; } else { return false; } } function getRatingCountByPostId(postId) { return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) { pureJSAjaxGet( getRatingCountBaseURL + postId + '/rating/count', function(data) { try { data = JSON.parse(data); if (data.meta_value) { resolve(data.meta_value); } reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); } catch (err) { reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); } }, function(err) { reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); }, true); }); } function showErrorMessage(messageType) { var messageContainerId = '#' + messageType + '-error'; $(messageContainerId).classList.remove('hidden'); window.setInterval(function () { $(messageContainerId).classList.add("hidden"); }, 5000); } (function() { var callFired = false; function lazyLoadPostRating() { if (callFired) return; callFired = true; if (!isPostRatedByUser()) { getRatingCountByPostId(1696901) .then(function(ratingCount) { if (ratingCount < 10) { $("#post-rating-widget").classList.remove("hidden"); } }) .catch(function(err){ console.error(err); }); } } document.addEventListener("scroll", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); document.addEventListener("mousemove", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); document.addEventListener("touchmove", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); })();

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tLzOq6uso5WasaJ6wqikaKifpXqkwcutrKudX5i1qq%2FAoKZmpZWZerW0xGaksqukmr%2B6edKuqaunpaOxqrrGZpympZFiwG6zxKebnqpdqbK0wMicrKWZomLBsL7SoqanZZWtva2tyKecnQ%3D%3D