Character

Salmon Afkham

medically critical pivotal to crisis

Salmon Afkham receives urgent medical attention as Leo McGarry reports to President Bartlet in the Oval Office that Afkham entered surgery 15 minutes prior. This development collides with White House crises over Sam's congressional campaign, precinct captain misreads, and Tehran's missile tests. Afkham anchors a high-stakes transplant procedure, forcing Bartlet to weigh moral and political costs late into the night amid personal counsel and national threats.

2 appearances

emergency surgery patient

Also known as: SALMON AFKHAM

Salmon Afkham's Journey

A timeline through the narrative

2 moments

S4E9 · Swiss Diplomacy

Bartlet's Stern Blessing

Not present; referenced as a locus of urgency and human consequence.

Mentioned by Leo as the surgical patient who was wheeled into surgery 15 minutes earlier; his condition provides an immediate moral and operational concern that intrudes on the private conversation.

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S4E9 · Swiss Diplomacy

Nightfall Decisions: Nominee, Missiles, and a Surgery Underway

Implicitly fragile and dependent—too ill to act, symbolizing the human cost of the diplomatic crisis.

Referenced by Leo as the patient who was wheeled into surgery fifteen minutes earlier; he is the human stake around which diplomatic and medical urgency revolves.

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