Overview of 'Quincy, M.E.' Season 5

Episode 1 - No Way to Treat a Flower

Release Date: 1979-09-20

Quincy investigates the death of a teenager who smoked marijuana treated with a chemical that stimulates plant growth.

Episode 2 - Dead Last

Release Date: 1979-09-27

Quincy and Danny go to the tack and, while there, see a horse go wild in the stables. The horse kills one of the jockeys but, after completing his autopsy, Quincy thinks that it wasn't an accident! That someone murdered the man and tried to make it look as if the horse killed him. The problem Quincy has though is to actually prove his theory, and not even the purchasing of some horse hooves and the unusual step of autopsying a horse can help him. Though Asten has fits about the cost of both these steps to find the truth!

Episode 3 - By the Death of a Child

Release Date: 1979-10-04

The small nation of San Christos has a new progressive, America friendly, president. His hold on power is fragile and he could be toppled if the rumor of an American supplied Diphtheria vaccine is killing the children it is supposed to be saving. Quincy and Sam are sent to the country to find out the truth and save the children, if they can.

Episode 4 - Never a Child

Release Date: 1979-10-11

After performing an autopsy on a young woman Quincy finds out about a man called' Uncle Harry'. He preys on young girls, runaways, who arrive in Los Angeles alone and scared. Quincy helps Carol Treager, who runs a home for runaways whose lease is about to run out, to not only track down a missing young girl who was seen in the company of â€˜Uncle Harry' but to also try and get a new place for her and â€˜her' kids.

Episode 5 - Hot Ice

Release Date: 1979-10-18

Two customs officers want Quincy's help in catching arresting a diamond smuggling ring. A courier they were following was killed when a bus at the airport and, as Quincy is going to a Las Vegas to judge a Miss Coroner Contest; they want him to take the couriers place. He has to deliver the diamonds to a known mobster, something he really, really does not want to do!

Episode 6 - Sweet Land of Liberty

Release Date: 1979-10-25

A policeman is killed while on a routine visit to a house. The killer turns out to be an old friend of Sam's, the gentlest man Sam has ever known. Arrested he admits that he killed the policeman and then, while in a cell, kills himself. Sam is determined to find out what changed his friend and investigates. He finds radiation in the jawbone and uncovers the story of a military experience in Germany that involved torture and, possibly, the force-feeding of a radioactive drug. Can Sam prove that this is what caused his friend to kill and restore his good name?

Episode 7 - Mode of Death

Release Date: 1979-11-01

An evangelist whose church is being investigated by the government is found dead in a motel room., drugs and alcohol at his bedside table. Quincy is told to come up with the mode of death quickly, everyone wants to know how, and why, he died. The scientific results are borderline so Quincy asks Asten to authorize a psychological autopsy.

Episode 8 - Nowhere to Run

Release Date: 1979-11-08

Quincy doesn't believe Monahan's theory that a teenager pushed his pregnant girlfriend to her death. Kenneth Watson: Charles Aidman. Monahan: Garry Walberg. Jeff Cavanaugh: Bill Beyers. Asten: John S. Ragin. Lorraine Watson: Dolores Mann. Sam: Robert Ito. Cathy Watson: Jennifer McAllister. Cavanaugh: Jack Rader. Mrs. Cavanaugh: Mimi Cozzens. Dr. Maslin: Paul Richards.

Episode 9 - The Money Plague

Release Date: 1979-11-15

'R.W. Collins', a famous hijacker who escaped by parachuting out of a plane with his money five years ago is found dead, hanging from a tree in the National Park he bailed out over. He died before he hit the ground and has been hanging there, undiscovered, for 5 years now. Quincy and Sam are sent to the scene to see if they can find out whom the man really was. When they reach the park, they find that things are a lot worse than they could have imagined, the anthrax particles he used to hijack the plane were released when the body was found and are spreading throughout the area infecting people who come into contact with it.

Episode 10 - For the Benefit of My Patients

Release Date: 1979-11-22

Quincy has to autopsy a man who died at the county hospital. He is amazed at the ability of the Dr. who tried to save him. It turns out though that the patient was originally taken to a different hospital that turned the ambulance away because the man did not have any insurance. Quincy visits the hospital and, after seeing the same thing happen again, decides to make sure that the owner, Dr. Rollins, does not get to buy another local hospital and run it the same way.

Episode 11 - Murder by S.O.P.

Release Date: 1979-11-29

On his way to a Forensic Pathologist convention in Sacramento, the Sheriff of a small town stops Quincy on the road. He was trying to stay awake by sticking his head out of the window. The Sheriff decides to put Quincy in jail for his own good. That night a fire starts in the cells and four men die. The towns' authorities call all the deaths accidental but Quincy, doing some of the autopsies to help the local Dr. is convinced that one of the victims was murdered.

Episode 12 - Honor Thy Elders

Release Date: 1980-01-10

After Quincy's traces an old man's death to his son's physical abuse he is faced with a similar case involving the exploitation of two elderly women by their unscrupulous nephew.

Episode 13 - Diplomatic Immunity

Release Date: 1980-01-17

President Sarejo, the ruler of a small South American country, has come to America for some urgent hospital treatment. He brings with him most of his cabinet so that he can keep an eye on them while away. What with them and the large number of his countrymen protesting outside the hospital there are an awful lot of people who may want him dead. It isn't him who dies though; first one of his cabinet and then another die of suspected heart attacks.

Episode 14 - Riot

Release Date: 1980-01-31

Quincy and Sam are called to a prison to help investigate the murder of one of the inmates. Once there they soon find themselves held hostage by the prisoners when they begin a riot.

Episode 15 - Cover-Up

Release Date: 1980-02-07

A nurse seeks help from Quincy when a heart-attack victim dies at the medical center where she works. Her boss and the two doctors involved want her help in trying to cover up the true circumstances of what happened. She fears for her job if she doesn't help and her career if she does.

Episode 16 - Unhappy Hour

Release Date: 1980-02-14

Dr. Asten's niece is involved in a car accident while drunk and it is up to Quincy to try and establish whether she was the driver of the car or whether it was her friend, who died in the crash, who was driving. Asten gets Quincy to swap jobs with him for a day so that he can find out how hard it is to run the place.

Episode 17 - The Winning Edge

Release Date: 1980-02-21

While investigating the sudden death of a high school gymnast Quincy begins to think that her teacher was giving her and her other students more than just coaching and advice. His discoveries lead him to think that she has been supplying them with steroids and other drugs.

Episode 18 - New Blood

Release Date: 1980-02-28

Asten forces Quincy to take some unwanted vacation time and brings in a temporary replacement, Dr. McCracken, a pathologist rather than a Medical Examiner. That very same day the body of a controversial Congressman, Laurence Bridges, is found at the bottom of a flight of stairs in his office. With the press and police wanting a quick answer to what happened to Brideges Quincy is convinced that McCracken will not do a thorough enough job. A personality clash occurs between him and McCracken as he tries to get himself involved in her case.

Episode 19 - TKO

Release Date: 1980-03-13

Two days after winning a boxing championship a young boxer collapses and dies while looking at new cars. At the same time Danny's chef, Alfredo, goes to a cheap doctor for a hernia operation. A routine procedure but he dies during it. Quincy's investigations lead to a connection between the two. Frustrated with Quincy never being around when he needs him Asten supplies him with a pager. That way he can contact Quincy whenever he wants, much to the annoyance of Quincy.

Episode 20 - The Final Gift

Release Date: 1980-03-20

Two old Korean war buddies of Quincy's, Charlie and Max, have an accident in one of the planes owned by their company. Although the most badly injured of the two should have survived for some reason he dies in hospital. The police think that Charlie could have killed his partner because of another, bigger, company wanting to buy up theirs and Quincy sets out to prove that he would not have done such a thing to his best friend and partner.

Episode 21 - Deadly Arena

Release Date: 1980-03-27

Three deaths due to food poisoning are linked to a football stadium where a big championship game is due to take place. Quincy has three days to find the source before 90,000 spectators come to watch and are put in jeopardy.

Episode 22 - No Way to Treat a Patient

Release Date: 1980-04-30

A young physician may lose his license over his alleged mishandling of a gunshot victim.