Sonata for Solo Organ (Season 1, Episode 21)
Premise: An apparent mugging victim turns out to be missing a kidney, removed by someone with surgical skill.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 1, Episode 21
- Detectives
- Sgt. Max Greevey (George Dzundza), Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty), ADA Paul Robinette (Richard Brooks), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- Fritz Weaver as Philip Woodleigh, Jennifer Van Dyck as Joanna Woodleigh, Paul Roebling as Dr. James Reberty, Deborah Hedwall as Elaine Hale, Chuck Cooper as Drew MacDaniel
- Director
- Fred Gerber
- Writers
- Story: Joe Morgenstern & Michael Duggan; Teleplay: Joe Morgenstern & Michael S. Chernuchin
Summary
The Investigation
“Sonata for Solo Organ” begins with a man named Drew MacDaniel found unconscious on a park bench, apparently the victim of a mugging. At the hospital, doctors discover a professionally closed incision and realize one of his kidneys has been taken. Drew has no memory of an operation, and he is bleeding internally from surgery that was not finished properly.
Greevey and Logan learn that a stolen kidney only makes sense for a patient who needs an unusually close tissue match. Working through transplant records, they find a recent operation that can’t be traced to a legitimate donor. The recipient is Joanna Woodleigh, the daughter of wealthy businessman Philip Woodleigh, whose body had rejected earlier transplants. The surgeon who performed the operation is Dr. James Reberty, assisted by a nurse, Elaine Hale. Drew has no connection to the family. He was singled out because his tissue type happened to match, information gathered from medical records without his knowledge.
The Trial
Hale and Reberty are arrested, and Reberty agrees to cooperate with the prosecution in exchange for a deal. Stone then sets his sights on Woodleigh, arguing that a man who pays a fortune for an organ and asks no questions bears responsibility for how it was obtained. Woodleigh’s lawyers argue that prosecuting him would endanger his health, and Woodleigh tells the jury that any father would have done the same.
Stone presses Woodleigh on whether his willingness to do anything for his daughter extends to murder, and the prosecutors keep looking for proof that Woodleigh knew exactly what he was paying for. The case also puts the transplant system itself under scrutiny, raising the question of whether enough money can buy a place at the front of the line. Robinette then learns that Woodleigh quietly bought Reberty’s beach house soon after the surgeon’s arrest.
Spoiler, the ending: Reberty produces a recording of Woodleigh telling him to get the kidney by any means necessary, including killing the donor. Woodleigh is convicted and files notice of an appeal.
Why it stands out
- One of the series’ early cases about wealth buying access to medical care.
- The prosecution turns on a co-defendant’s secret recording rather than on the forensic evidence.
- The case asks how far a parent’s love can excuse a crime, without giving the father an easy answer.