Darlene Landon has been rushed to Blair General Hospital suffering from a mysterious ailment.
As she lapses in an out of consciousness, Dr. Kildare slowly pieces together the story. The high schooler is pregnant,
and to induce abortion, she has swallowed a near fatal homemade concoction. Not only is the abortion attempt unsuccessful, it almost kills the girl. As the teen struggles for her life,
other struggles are taking place. Bob Quincy (Tony Dow) is the father, and he is
struggling with impending fatherhood,
an overprotective mother and a bullying father. His parents only communicate during screaming matches. Darlene's parents are not much better.
Her father is a nonentity, overshadowed by his wife, whose only concern is how this will affect her daughter's social standing.
Finally, it is the young father who snaps under the burden of guilt, reject and concern, and as the episode ends, he is under the scrutiny of both Kildare and his associate, psychiatrist Dr. L. Richard Starke. The episode was concluded on the next episode of The Eleventh Hour.
A compelling and fairly controversial episode about teen sex, unwed parents
and abortion at a time when TV's married couples still slept in separate beds. Tony Dow, fresh off the set of Leave it to Beaver,
is the big name guest star (quite a departure from the squeaky clean Wally Cleaver), and he has a lot of air time as
he begins to crumble under the strain. As such, Marta really has little opportunity to shine in this appearance; if she's not delirious or
unconscious, she's bedridden. But when her moments arrive, her performance is chilling; when she realizes Kildare
already knows of her pregnancy, she launches into a venom-laden attack on the illusion and futility of love.
NOTES:First aired 09-03-1963 on NBC
TV Guide Profile
This two parts of this episode shared the 1964 American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Television Program - Harry V. Knapp for Dr. Kildare and Joseph Dervin for Eleventh Hour.