New Heart (Drama - 2007) - Serial Korean Drama TV

New Heart (Drama - 2007)

뉴하트 (Nyoo-ha-teu)

Genre : Drama

MBC | Airing dates : 2007/12/12~2008/02/28

23 episodes

Synopsis
Chest surgery is the most demanding field in medicine.
Chest surgery is the most difficult and dangerous type of surgery to perform but it is regrettably shunned by the medical community.

Chest surgeons are bombarded daily with emergency calls to operate on patients. Not only are chest surgeons at a higher risk of losing a patient on the operating table but the life-saving open heart surgery they perform for hours with a team of doctors costs the same as a simple 30-minute eye-slit operation performed by a single plastic surgeon.

Since it is nearly impossible for a chest surgeon to open his own private practice, less and less medical students are applying to become chest surgeons, causing the shutdown of entire chest surgery departments at general hospitals. Even general hospitals that are affiliated with prestigious medical schools suffer shortages of new chest surgeons. Chest surgery has become a field that is avoided by young doctors looking for a less stressful career.

Because of this deteriorating situation, patients might have to go abroad in the near future if they need heart or lung surgery. But even in these difficult situations, a few young doctors are blazing new trails. Oblivious to the falling status of their profession and worsening circumstances, they swear by the Oath of Hippocrates and save precious lives. is a medical drama that will depict the lives of chest surgeons as close to reality as possible.

Their tears... Their joy... Their troubles... All of this and more will be intertwined in an engaging, heartwarming story. The courage they display will make you realize how precious a life is...

We would like to thank them for showing us that we are not alone in this world. They are the one who make a difference in our lives.

Starring

Lee Eun-seong | actor Ji-seong
A young doctor who graduated from a small town medical school. He took the high school equivalency exam and then made his way to medical school. (He was a low-achieving student in high school) He grew up in an all-boys orphanage and tries to hide this past. With a single-minded pursuit to become a doctor, he applied to the chest surgery department of a general hospital affiliated with a prestigious medical school after learning that there was a shortage of applicants. Doctor Choi Kang-guk deems him as a dunce but Eun-seong is unfazed as he tries to become a skilled doctor. Through hard work, deft hand coordination, and a heart full of compassion, he later gains the respect of Doctor Choi. He even joins a teddy bear-making club to improve his hand coordination where he ends up making several teddy bears. (He gets along with the ladies in the club) He favors a Swiss knife that he uses during surgery and sewing teddy bears. When he has free time, he improves his image recognition skills by looking over the shoulders of the experienced doctors.

Nam Hye-seok | actress Kim Min-jeong
She scored a perfect score in the KSAT and entered medical school at the top of her class. She graduated from medical school with the highest honors and even though she was the most skilled doctor among her peers, she chose to become a chest surgeon, causing another sensation. When Professor Choi Kang-guk tells her that he cannot accept her because they do not have separate sleeping quarters for female doctors, she rails again gender inequality and threatens to file a complaint to the human rights organization. With strong principles, she will declare a patient dead if they do not respond to resuscitation efforts after 30 minutes. When she diagnoses a patient as having cancer, she’ll immediately tell them they have cancer without any hesitation. Her mother is Park Joon-hee, a famous hanbok designer. Her actual father is the chairman of Hansung Textiles but since he was marred to another woman, her uncle adopted her. So in her family register, she is stated as being her mother’s niece. She has strict morals and will pass over burn victims to other doctors if they had affairs at hotels before it caught on fire.

Choi Kang-guk | actor Jo Jae-hyeon
He considers himself to be one of the best chest surgeons in the nation but laments the fact that hardly anyone applies to the chest surgery department while the few applicants they do receive are low-achievers. He is disturbed that his department is becoming stocked with doctors who graduated at the bottom of their class. In a conversation with his colleagues from the plastic surgery and ophthalmology department, his pride is bruised when he is chided for being picky about the applicants. They tell him he should actually be thankful that anyone would want to apply to the chest surgery department. After having this conversation, he deliberately rejects Lee Eun-seong, a young doctor who graduated from a small town medical school, and Nam Hye-seok, the most promising intern at the hospital who scored a perfect score on the KSAT. He will forge documents to lower the medical bills for patients who are poor and give tips on how to sneak out of the hospital without getting detected to patients who do not have any medical insurance. He is always busy with his work and medical research and thus, he hardly has any time to spend with his family. He is glad that his wife is not clamoring for a divorce.

Lee Dong-gwon | actor Lee Ji-hoon
While shooting a scene for a TV series on location at the hospital he develops an irregular heartbeat and receives an R.F surgical procedure from Nam Hye-seok. He learns that Nam Hye-seok was an old elementary school friend but he finds it awkward to be around her. He follows the doctor’s orders to rest and stays as long as he can at the hospital where he tries to rekindle his friendship with Nam Hye-seok and take it one step further. But his relationship with Nam Hye-seok hits the gossip columns and entertainment news.

Episode guide

Episode 1

Dr. Choi Kang-guk sends a heart patient to Seoul for heart surgery and resigns

himself to his experiments with animals where he perfects heart transplants

techniques by using live pigs. The new hospital director Park Jae-hyun tries
to

dissuade Hye-seok from joining the chest surgery department but Hye-seok is

determined to become a heart surgeon. While fishing at a pier, Dr. Choi gets
into a

fistfight with some rowdy, drunken men and suffers a gash on his forehead. He
is

taken to an emergency room where Eun-seong treats him.

When Dr. Choi sees the X-Ray results of one patient, he immediately recognizes
that

the patient is in serious danger and he swipes Eun-seong’s stethoscope to listen
to

the patient’s heartbeat. After administering a life-saving procedure on the
patient, Dr.

Choi reluctantly tells Eun-seong that the patient should be taken to Seoul for
major

surgery. Eun-seong finds out that Dr. Choi is one of the top heart surgeons
in

Korea. Eun-seong is surprised to hear that Dr. Choi’s emergency procedure saved

the patient’s life. Eun-seong’s resolve to become a heart surgeon is reinforced

through the chance meeting with Dr. Choi. Hospital director Park meets with
Dr. Choi

and offers him the head position of the chest surgery department.

Episode 2

After interviewing Eun-seong and Hye-seok, Dr. Choi decides not to choose either

one of them to join the chest surgery department. Eun-seong, Hye-seok and all
the

other doctors are surprised when they hear Dr. Choi’s decision. Hye-seok hounds

Dr. Choi, asking him to explain why he rejected her. Dr. Choi tells her that
she lacks

compassion towards patients and that that is her greatest weakness as a doctor.

Hye-seok feels dejected and cries. Eun-seong, who was following Hye-seok,

closes the door to the stairways where Hye-seok is crying to give her a private

moment.

Dr. Bae Dae-ro gets furious when he hears from Dr. Lee Seung-jae that Dr. Choi

decided not to hire any interns so he tells everyone that he has had enough
and will

quit. He takes two other interns with him. Dr. Choi finds something wrong with
a

patient named Kim Pil-joo. The hospital director barges into the operating room

where Dr. Choi is operating on a patient and sternly warns him to fix things
after the

interns abruptly left their stations to show their displeasure over Dr. Choi’s
decision

to reject two qualified intern candidates. Eun-seong demonstrates alone in front
of

the hospital to protest Dr. Choi’s decision while Hye-seok and her elite medical

school classmates demonstrate as a group.

Episode 3

After waiting for Hye-seok to make up her mind, Dr. Choi decides to leave with
Eun-

seong. Facing Dr. Kim Jung-gil, Hye-seok has a troubled expression on her face.

Hye-seok is overcome with mixed emotions when she hears from Dr. Kim Jung-gil

that it was the hospital director’s idea to have her join the John Hobkins Hospital

medical staff for two years. Then she remembers what Eun-seong told her and
gets

up to leave. Hye-seok goes to see Dr. Choi and asks him to give her another

chance. She promises to him that she’ll do her best as an intern at the chest

surgery department and Dr. Choi accepts her.

A curtain is newly installed in the sleeping quarters at the hospital for Hye-seok’s

sake. Seung-jae gives Eun-seong and Hye-seok used gowns to wear. Wearing

doctor gowns, Eun-seong and Hye-seok begin their career as 3rd-year interns.

Eun-seong tells Kim Pil-joo that he is glad that he survived to become his first

patient but Mr. Kim is not very happy....

Episode 4

Dr. Kim Tae-joon tells Dr. Choi that Eun-seong is not capable of handling his
duties

as an intern and requests that Eun-seong undergo a second review. When Kim

Young-hee takes a look at a CT scan of a gang member, she diagnoses the patient

as having arteriovenous fistula, which surprises Hye-seok. Eun-seong enters
an

operating room to watch an ongoing operation but Dr. Kim Tae-joon curtly orders
him

to leave because he’s not qualified as a doctor. Hye-seok is troubled that she

overlooked the patient’s condition when she was the first person who detected
it.

While shooting a scene for a TV drama, actor Dong-gwon collapses on the set
and

is taken to the hospital. He is happy to see Hye-seok when he opens his eyes.
Dr.

Choi and his fellow colleagues explain the procedure they will use to treat
Dong-

gwon and Dong-gwon blurts out that Hye-seok is his girlfriend to the surprise
of

everyone in the room. Dr. Choi Kang-guk decides to have Min Young-gyu and Kim

Jung-gil perform the operation while he will observe it.

Episode 5

Hye-seok is in a daze when she sees Dong-gwon surrounded by young fans. Eun-

seong offers coffee with milk to Hye-seok, telling her that it’s a perfect drink
to have

when you’re feeling depressed. As Min Young-gyu is about to begin the operation,

he is told that the patient’s liver is showing problems and he is ordered to
call off the

surgery. Dr. Choi tells Min Young-gyu that the patient’s life depends on his
decision

and then asks him if he can save the patient. Observing the heated exchange,
Eun-

seong and Hye-seok are touched by Dr. Choi’s passion to save a patient’s life.

Eun-seong asks Hye-seok to give a teddy bear wearing a basketball uniform to
Kim

Pil-joo on the day he will be discharged from the hospital. A friendly basketball

game between the interns of Gwanghee General Hospital and celebrities takes

place and Hye-seok finds it odd that Eun-seong is all smiles even though their
side

is losing. After finishing a photo shoot with actress Han Soo-jin at Hye-seok’s

mother’s hanbok shop, Dong-gwon decides to go to the intern admissions ceremony

where Eun-seong and Hye-seok will officially become interns.

Episode 6

Han Soo-jin slips out of the hospital to shoot a commercial but she collapse
on the

set. Dong-gwon, who was at the set with her, takes Han Soo-jin to the hospital.

After secretly mastering a new robot-assisted surgical procedure, Kim Tae-joon

asks Seol Lae-hyeon and Cho Min-ah over dinner for their support to become the

best medical team in the country. When Dr. Choi and the other doctors of the
chest

surgery department gather around to see a recent group photo of themselves in
the

alumni newsletter of Gwanghee University Medical School, Eun-seong feels left
out

and leaves the room. He comforts himself by shooting hoops in the empty gymnasium.

Eun-seong warmly hugs Soo-min on the day she will be discharged from the

hospital and gives her words of encouragement, which leaves a strong impression

on Hye-seok when she sees Eun-seong’s compassion. Hearing that Dr. Min Young-

gyu refused to operate on actress Han Soo-jin because her diseased area is very

large, Eun-seong suggests that Kim Tae-joon can perform the surgery by using
the

Da Vinci robot. Dr. Choi approves of using Da Vinci. After eating the mugwort
soup

that Eun-seong prepared for her, actress Han Soo-jin is touched and she decides

to proceed with the innovative surgery. Kim Tae-joon uses Da Vinci to successfully

cure Han Soo-jin.

Episode 7

When Dr. Choi leaves the room to tend to an emergency patient who needs surgery,

Song Ho-jae gets furious and grabs Eun-seong’s collar and begins to hit him
when

he is told to calm down. Dr. Kim Jung-gil visits Song Ho-jae and suggests that

instead of getting heart surgery, he could have a simple surgery at his internal

surgery department. Song Ho-jae promptly calls the hospital director. Song Ho-jae’s

personal aide gives Eun-seong an envelope full of money and when Hye-seok sees

this, she tries to return it. But Eun-seong accepts the money and donates it
to an

orphanage.

Dong-gwon sends a bouquet of flowers to Hye-seok but she decides to throws
it

out. Dr. Bae Dae-ro asks if he can have the bouquet, which he gives to one of
the

young interns called Mimi. Hye-seok heads to the OBY/GYN department when she

is told that a pregnant woman is hemorrhaging. Dr. Choi is also there and he
says

they need to revive the woman’s heart first. While Dr. Choi is operating on
the

patient, Eun-seong tells him that Song Ho-jae’s blood vessel collapsed. Dr.
Choi

operates on Song Ho-jae after having him moved to the chest surgery department.

Episode 8

Eun-seong carefully wraps bandages around Hye-seok’s blistered hands. Hye-

seok is thankful that Eun-seong did that for her. As they ride on a scooter
back to

Seoul, Hye-seok hugs Eun-seong tightly and leans her face on his back. Dr. Choi

bows deeply to Song Ho-jae and apologizes for putting his life at risk. Eun-seong
is

surprised that Dr. Choi would apologize to a patient over such a matter.

Knowing that Eun-seong came to give her a ride to work even though it is his
day

off, Hye-seok tries to thank him but can’t get the words out of her mouth. Suddenly
a

street sweeper collapses in the street right in front of them. Eun-seong and
Hye-

seok drink a cup of coffee inside a tent they erected next to the Han River.
Hye-seok

tells Eun-seong that she wanted to say thank you to him before the end of the
day.

Dr. Choi operates on a patient whom Kim Tae-joon rejected but then the patient’s

condition gets worse after the operation. When the hospital director hears about
this

he sternly warns Dr. Choi not to proceed with dangerous operations.

Episode 9

When the hospital director tells Dr. Choi not to operate on the janitor, he disobeys
him and heads to the operating room to save the man. So Dr. Lee Seung-jae follows
Dr. Choi and tries to dissuade him but to no avail. During an operation, Min Young-gyu
leaves the delicate valve procedure to Kim Tae-joon who has no choice but to follow
orders. Dr. Choi asks Eun-seong to have the janitor sign papers of consent for
open heart surgery and offers a special bonus if he gets it done. The janitor
finds the will to live.

While operating on the man, Dr. Choi finds it difficult to proceed so he takes
a break to use the bathroom. Eun-seong suggests that they take the man’s heart
out, operate on it, and then put it back in. Dr. Bae Dae-ro laughs in a mocking
tone. The hospital director directly calls the operating room, telling Dr. Choi
to cease the operation, but Dr. Choi proceeds with the surgery. When Dr. Choi
tells everyone that he’ll suture a vein from the patient’s leg onto to the heart,
everyone looks at Eun-seong in surprise. Dr. Lee Seung-jae and Hye-sook operate
on a rapist who suffered a knife wound and blood spurts on them. Eun-seong tells
them that he thinks the rapist has AIDS and everyone starts to worry.

Episode 10

After kissing Hye-seok on the lips, Eun-seong turns around and sees Dong-gwon
looking at him. Dong-gwon leaves after witnessing their kiss. Hye-seok tells
Eun-seong not to be bothered about Dong-gwon and holds him back but Eun-seong
catches up with Dong-gwon and tells him that what he saw wasn’t what he thinks
it is and then reveals that Hye-seok might have contracted AIDS. During an internal
conference, Kim Young-hee asks how Dr. Choi was able to successfully operate
on the janitor when Dr. Choi Chung-won failed. Dr. Choi answers that he was
able to pull it off thanks to the anesthesiologist.

The son of the janitor creates a big commotion at the hospital and demands that
Dr. Choi make his father speak again and compensate his dad’s lost wages. Dr.
Choi diagnoses an old lady who is brought to the hospital on a stretcher and
then tells Nurse Cho Bok-gil and the physicians to look after her. The old lady
begins to gasp for air and her blood pressure starts to fall. But Bok-gil quickly
spots the problem and brings her pulse back to normal. After seeing Hye-seok’s
haggard face, Dr. Choi tells her to go home and get some rest. He also tells
Eun-seong to take Hye-seok home. Hye-seok asks Eun-seong to take her on a drive.

Episode 11

When Dr. Choi is notified that the son of the janitor is suing him for malpractice,
he calmly dismisses the notice and makes his rounds around the patient rooms.
Dr. Bae Dae-ro tells Dr. Lee Seung-jae and Nurse Cho Bok-gil about the malpractice
suit. Dr. Choi enters the operating room where Kim Tae-joon is performing surgery
and this flusters Kim. When Dr. Choi offers to help him with the surgery, Kim
Tae-joon gets upset. While ice-skating with Dong-gwon, Hye-seok falls down and
the PDA in her back pocket gets broken. At the repair shop, Hye-seok asks the
service repairmen to fix her PDA at any costs because it contains important
stuff.

When Eun-seong tells Hye-seok that the rapist who spurted blood several days
ago does not have AIDS, she feels much better and cries tears of joy. At the
hospital, Hye-seok searches for Eun-seong everywhere in a rush. She says high
to Eun-seong, who is having a drink with Dr. Bae Dae-ro, in a merry voice. After
finishing a practice surgery, Min Young-gyu tells Eun-seong that he would make
a good member on his team and tells him to join him in his next operation. When
a rowdy patient gives Hye-seok a hard time, Eun-seong intervenes and gets punched
in the face.

Episode 12

Dr. Choi enters the operating room with a tense expression and pushes away Min
Young-gyu who tells him not to interrupt him. But the old lady on the operating
table is already dead. Dr. Choi tells the son of the old lady that he should
have done everything he could to save his mother’s life and says sorry before
he starts to cry. Upon returning home, Dr. Choi receives a threatening phone
call from the son of the janitor while his wife tells him she’s going to leave
for America with the kids.

The hospital director tells Min Young-gyu to submit his resignation. Min Young-gyu
goes to see Dr. Choi and asks him to vouch for him so that he can hold on to
his job. Upon overhearing the conversation between the vice director and Dr.
Choi, Hye-seok tells Dr. Choi that Eun-seong got hit while trying to protect
her. Entering the patient’s room, Hye-seok feels uncomfortable when she sees
Eun-seong look at Mimi with such tenderness. Kim Tae-joon’s paper is published
in a prestigious medical journal and Hye-seok is fascinated that her name is
included as one of the co-authors of the paper.

Episode 13

When Hye-seok asks Eun-seong why she can’t be his girlfriend, Eun-seong tells
her that it’s because she’s too special for him. Dr. Choi tells everyone that
they need to find the best treatment for a particular patient and assigns Dr.
Kim Jung-gil of the chest surgery department to handle the patient’s case. At
a pig’s feet restaurant, Dr. Choi has a drink with Dr. Lee Seung-jae and Kim
Young-hee and expresses his sorrow over losing the old lady on the operating
table. When Dr. Choi meets Eun-seong in front of the hospital, he tells him
to be a warmhearted doctor first and foremost and ignore people who call him
an imbecile. Dr. Choi bumps into a cop and it leads to a shoving match. When
the cops check his criminal record, they learn that Dr. Choi missed a court
order summons and they keep him at the precinct to interrogate him.

After being released from the hospital, Dr. Choi tells Dr. Lee Seung-jae that
he’s only guilty of saving a person’s life. When Hye-seok asks Dr. Choi when
he’ll be ready for the next operation, the doctor tells her to have Min Young-gyu
and Kim Tae-joon handle the next operation instead. This shocks Eun-seong. Eun-seong
gets dismayed with Dr. Choi when he sees him drinking all day at the lab. When
Eun-seong is harshly scolded by Kim Tae-joon over a matter that was caused by
Mimi, Eun-seong decides to call it quits and starts packing his things.

Episode 14

Dr. Choi informs Dr. Lee Seung-jae and Kim Young-hee that he’s thinking about
bringing Ha Tae-jin to head their department. But they object because Ha Tae-jin
is not a graduate of Gwanghee University’s Medical School. Kim Tae-joon hears
about Dr. Choi’s choice through the hospital director and brimming with confidence,
he proposes that the department hold an open hiring process. Kim Young-hee tells
Dr. Choi that the department is leaning towards Kim Tae-joon’s side and that
Kim Tae-joon is cherry picking the easy operations.

In a tired, weary state, Hye-seok drags herself to the sleeping quarters and
recollects the good times she had with Eun-seong. Jae-seob kicks Eun-seong out
of his flat so Eun-seong decides to stay at a friend’s gold course for one night.
While lying down on the grass, he looks at the stars in the skies and calls
out Eun-seong’s name. The former British prime minister suddenly clutches his
heart at the same golf course where Eun-seong is staying and collapses. Eun-seong
delivers emergency treatment to the ex-prime minister and boards the helicopter
that takes them to Gwanghee University Hospital.

Episode 15

The aide to the former British prime minister tells the hospital director that
he’d like Dr. Choi and his team of heart surgeons to handle the operation. The
hospital director promises that the ex-prime minister will be able to fully
recuperate from the surgery within a week.. The hospital director and Kim Jung-gil
plead with Dr. Choi to perform the operation but he tells them that he’s sick
and tired of patients and recommends Ha Tae-jin. Worried about the health of
the janitor, Dr. Choi heads to the house of his former patient where he happens
to meet Eun-seong.

Hye-seok goes to the Hope Orphanage to find Eun-seong but doesn’t find him there.
At the orphanage, Sister Song tells her why Eun-seong decided to become a doctor.
After Hye-seok sincerely pleads with Eun-seong to come back, Eun-seong returns
to the hospital where he gets down on his knees, asking the doctors to forgive
him. When the ex-prime minister’s aide learns that Dr. Choi took a leave of
absence, he decides to have the ex-prime minister operated in England but on
their way to the airport, the ex-prime minister’s condition worsens and they
have no choice but to turn back to the hospital. Dr. Bae Dae-ro, Eun-seong,
Hye-seok, and Lee In-ho visit Dr. Choi and plead with him to return once more.

Episode 16

After consulting with Ha Tae-jin on a case that Kim Tae-joon and Min Young-gyu
wanted to toss to the brain surgery department, Ha Tae-jin tells Dr. Choi that
he will lower the body temperature of the patient during the operation. Eun-seong
and Hye-seok assist Ha Tae-jin during the surgery and they are amazed to see
how he makes incisions without making the patient bleed. Dr. Choi gets tears
in his eyes when his daughter in America tells him that she saw his face on
the cover of an American news magazine.

The son of the janitor meets with the hospital director to inform him that he’ll
drop the lawsuit against Dr. Choi. Then the hospital director asks Dr. Choi
to sign a statement that he will never perform risky operations again. The five-member
resident staff, Eun-seong, and Hye-seok prepare a special event for the patients
on Lunar New Year’s Day. While attending the special event with Eun-seong, Hye-seok
freezes when she passes by the hospital director who is with his family. She
tells Eun-seong about her painful past.

Episode 9

When the hospital director tells Dr. Choi not to operate on the janitor, he
disobeys him and heads to the operating room to save the man. So Dr. Lee Seung-jae
follows Dr. Choi and tries to dissuade him but to no avail. During an operation,
Min Young-gyu leaves the delicate valve procedure to Kim Tae-joon who has no
choice but to follow orders. Dr. Choi asks Eun-seong to have the janitor sign
papers of consent for open heart surgery and offers a special bonus if he gets
it done. The janitor finds the will to live.

While operating on the man, Dr. Choi finds it difficult to proceed so he takes
a break to use the bathroom. Eun-seong suggests that they take the man’s heart
out, operate on it, and then put it back in. Dr. Bae Dae-ro laughs in a mocking
tone. The hospital director directly calls the operating room, telling Dr. Choi
to cease the operation, but Dr. Choi proceeds with the surgery. When Dr. Choi
tells everyone that he’ll suture a vein from the patient’s leg onto to the heart,
everyone looks at Eun-seong in surprise. Dr. Lee Seung-jae and Hye-sook operate
on a rapist who suffered a knife wound and blood spurts on them. Eun-seong tells
them that he thinks the rapist has AIDS and everyone starts to worry.