But if the script is a paradigm of Aristotelian structure, it is its adroit courtroom give-and-take that bespeaks a ruthlessness that would have been more recognizable on a battlefield. No other courtroom drama in memory is as ruthless in its examination of that much-honored profession, sparing no one, not even Frank Galvin, in its revelation that the client is seen too often as an irrelevant blip on an agenda filled with ego and avarice. When Galvin turns down an opportunity to settle the case out of court, he is confronted by the husband of the plaintiff's sister:
Doneghy, "You guys, you guys, you're all the same. The doctors at the hospital, you...it's 'What I'm going to do for you'; but you screw up it's 'We did the best that we could. I'm dreadfully sorry...' And people like me live with your mistakes the rest of our lives.'"
Later when Galvin interviews the nurse who knows the …