My Butterfly

"My Butterfly"
Scrubs episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 16
Directed by	Henry Chan
Written by	Justin Spitzer
Production code	312
Original air date	March 16, 2004
Guest stars
Martin Klebba as Randall Winston Charles Chun as Dr. Wen Robert Maschio as Todd Quinlan Aloma Wright as Nurse Laverne Roberts Frank Encarnacao as Dr. Mickhead Donald Sage MacKay as Doctor Zaid Farid as Mr. Strauss Lily Goff as Gaby Renee Ryan as Mrs. Janitor Brandon Waters as Young Janitor
Episode chronology
← Previous "My Tormented Mentor" Next → "My Moment of Un-Truth"
List of Scrubs episodes

"My Butterfly" is the 62nd episode of the American comedy-drama Scrubs. It originally aired as Episode 16 of Season 3 on March 16, 2004. The premise of the episode is an example of the butterfly effect, wherein a minor, seemingly innocuous change can drastically alter a chain of events.

Plot

A butterfly landing on a woman's chest sets off a chain of events. This results in Elliot not finding a girl's lost stuffed animal, Carla forgetting Turk's lucky do-rag, and a patient's aortic dissection not being discovered until the last minute. After the patient's death, J.D. thinks about how things may have turned out if the butterfly had landed on a nearby man instead of the woman. In this parallel situation, things seem to be better, as the do-rag and the stuffed animal are found. Also, Dr. Cox and J.D. catch the aortic dissection early. However, the patient still dies in surgery.

Notes

John Ritter, who played J.D.'s father in "My Old Man" and "My Lucky Day", was a famous victim of an aortic dissection, having died seven months prior to the airing of this episode.

Featured music

• "What a Wonderful World" by Joey Ramone

External links

• "My Butterfly" at the Internet Movie Database
• "My Butterfly" at TV.com