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"Waste"
SVU, Episode 4.08
Production number: E3111
First aired: 15 November 2002
  th of 502 produced in SVU  
th of 502 released in SVU
  th of 1271 released in all  
Benson Stabler Warner Waste
Written By
Dawn DeNoon & Lisa Marie Petersen

Directed By
Donna Deitch

An emergency visit for a coma patient reveals the woman to be seven weeks pregnant. The investigation is hampered when the victim's doctor attempts an abortion.

Summary[]

The team investigate the rape of a woman in a coma. The trail leads them to a doctor whose stem cell research is funded by a billionaire with Parkinson's disease. They discover the tycoon is working in tandem with the medic to find a cure, but the pair's unethical procedures eventually come under scrutiny in court.

Plot[]

The investigation into the rape of a comatose woman named Stephanie Rawley leads to a doctor whose stem cell research is funded by a billionaire with Parkinson's disease who is desperate for a cure. The woman's parents petition for custody of the child who was intended to be harvested for stem cells, while the defense argues that their experimentation on a patient who will probably never wake up serves the greater good.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

  • Mountcastle Rehabilitation Center
  • Necrophilia
  • Audrey Logan (victim)
  • Stephanie Rawley (victim)

Quotes[]

Tutuola: I don't even want to think how underreported coma rape is.
Munch: Well, victims don't tend to come forward.
Cragen: Counselor, question - what would it take to blanket DNA an entire facility?
Cabot: A constitutional amendment.

Tutuola: Questioning the father as a suspect is never a crowd-pleaser.
Munch: Verbal vitriol you'd expect, anyone else think the father protests a bit too much?
Stabler: You're not a father.
Tutuola: You don't have a raped daughter in a coma with a devil cake in the oven.

Munch: Still, I've never had a keeper with a stranger rape before.
Stabler: John, Olivia's mother was raped by a stranger.
Benson: My mother made a choice.
Stabler: Look, Olivia, we were just talking...
Benson: No, save it. If the same thing happened to me, morning-after pill, no question.

Tutuola: What was that?
Munch: Good Police work, here's your DNA.

Upson: Oh, Wesley wasn't our thief, but I'm afraid we did catch him on tape.
Munch: Doing what?
Upson: The late Mrs. Thurguston.

Stabler: Don't split hairs with me, Wesley! Come on!
Wesley Dilbert: People snap out of comas all the time.
Stabler: Well, what about the hooker that you hired, huh? She was alive and kicking, pal.
Wesley Dilbert: And I bet she told you what a miserable failure I was.
Stabler: Yes, she did, and we had a big laugh at your expense.
Wesley Dilbert: I knew she'd talk. You can't trust a woman with a pulse.

Cragen: Well, at the very least, let's save the late Mrs. Thurgeston another spin in her grave.

[about two coma patients who were impregnated]
Stabler: Where's the greater good in rape?
Dr. Garrison: They weren't raped. They were inseminated.

Dr. Graham Mandell: Don't you get it? Medical advances have a price. Now, the first ten bone marrow transplants ended in death. Now if we'd given up, thousands of people would have died like they'll go on dying from Parkinson's if you stop me from doing my job.
Benson: Don't you get it? You're going to jail.
Dr. Mandell: I haven't broken any laws.
Stabler: You impregnated two girls against their will.
Dr. Mandell: What will? They barely have a pulse. Audrey is in no worse condition now than she was before, and I could have said the same about Stephanie if you hadn't stopped the procedure.

Cabot: Because it's illegal to buy and sell body parts, by law they have no monetary value.
Dr. Huang: [metaphorically speaking] You mean, I could go to jail for stealing a toaster, but not for stealing a woman's eggs?

Mrs. Rawley: [to Dr. Mandell] We trusted you. You promised you would do everything you could for her. Your job was to help Stephanie, not use her as a human petri dish!

Cabot: Mr. Langley, are you aware that you have just confessed to being a co-conspirator in this crime?
Davis Langley: Young lady, look at me. Prison couldn't compare with what I'm facing now.

Benson: I don't get it. Why would Davis Langley want custody of that baby? Guilt?
Cabot: Survival. If he's granted custody, along with the baby comes the umbilical cord.
Stabler: I've cut four of them, it's not exactly something you save for the scrapbook.
Cabot: Cord blood is chock full of stem cells.
Benson: Half of which will be his perfect genetic match.

Background information and notes[]

  • While discussing the baby's paternity it is mentioned that the baby's blood type is Type AB and the mother's blood type is Type A. Wong concludes that the father's blood type must be Type B. This isn't necessarily true as the father's blood type could be either Type B or Type AB.
  • Munch mentions that he has never heard of a rape victim who was impregnated by her rapist keeping the child; he then acts surprised when Stabler tells him that Olivia was the product of rape and that her mother both kept and raised her. Yet Munch already knew this, Stabler told him about Olivia's father being a rapist and impregnating her mother in a season one episode.

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3

Leake Walley Architecture
702 Lexington Avenue
Monday, October 21

Mountcastle
Rehabilitation Center
Riverdale, New York
Monday, October 21

Mountcastle
Rehabilitation Center
Recreational Patio
Tuesday, October 22

4 5 6 7

Arraignment
Part 50
Thursday, October 24

Forensic Lab
Friday, October 25

Langley Residence
Westchester, New York
Friday, October 25

Trial Part 74
Monday, October 28

Previous episode:
"Dolls"
"Waste"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 4
Next episode:
"Juvenile"
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