Code Black

At L.A. County Hospital's Emergency Room, Code Black is when patient load dangerously exceeds staffing capacity. Welcome to C-Booth, where the county's worst cases come. Here a team of physicians and residents work in extreme conditions to save shattered lives. But the city's earthquake code spells the demise of the old hospital and C-Booth. Suddenly a new E.R. and the imposition of new laws, regulations, and budgets create a culture shock for this amazing team of “cowboys” and “soldiers.” A gulf has started opening between doctor and patient and they are determined not to surrender compassion to cost. This adrenalin-rush of a documentary could not be timelier. The camera plunges you right into the chaos with these doctors, sparing nothing of the horrors that are their reality. It is unsparing in showing their passion, their heroism, and their anger at a world that is pulling them from patient care into a pit of bureaucracy. While CODE BLACK takes no position, it also takes no prisoners. —C.R.