While at the hospital for a nosebleed, Monk stumbles upon a mystery when he finds a Dr. Graydon Whitcomb dead in his office from being attacked by a patient. Evidence points to it being a doctor named Dr. Scott who had checked himself in, allegedly to get close to the murdered doctor to prevent the other doctor from testifying against him in a malpractice lawsuit, but the doctor was supposedly in his bed the whole time. How will Monk prove his case?
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Actor Allusion: Mr. Johansen, a cranky Korean War veteran, is played by Charles Durning, who served in Europe during World War II.
- And I Must Scream: Monk getting his wish granted, being admitted to the hospital. Unfortunately, it was only because Dr. Scott put him there. And Monk can barely move, or even speak (due to getting injected with a drug in his larynx).
- Bloodless Carnage: Well, there is blood, but Dr. Whitcomb's corpse is in pretty good shape for a man who had his skull smashed in with a heavy oxygen tank.
- Bludgeoned to Death: Dr. Whitcomb is murdered by having his head caved in with an oxygen tank.
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: After getting frustrated with Monk fretting about his (not) Deadly Nosebleed, Natalie leaves Monk in the care of the hospital to go on her date. Eventually, however, she starts to feel bad for not being there to support her boss and returns to the hospital...just in time to save him from being killed with allergens by Dr. Scott.
- Deadly Doctor: On top of murdering Dr. Whitcomb to prevent him from testifying against Scott in a malpractice lawsuit, when Dr. Scott finds out that Monk is on to him, Dr. Scott beats Monk up with a crutch and then arranges to have the injured "Mr. Butterworth" be accidentally given intravenous tetracycline (which Monk is allergic to), all in the name of preserving his reputation as a miracle doctor.
- Deadly Nosebleed: What Monk originally goes into the hospital for. Of course, it's far from a dangerous nosebleed, but circumstances conspire to make poor Monk increasingly worry about it until Dr. Scott finally stops it.
- Disability Alibi: Hank Johansen is quickly ruled out as Dr. Whitcomb's killer due to suffering from arthritis so bad that putting on his own pants by himself is out of the question, let alone swinging an oxygen tank hard enough to kill.
- Fake Alibi: Dr. Scott slipped into Hank's room via a connecting wall into his room and made himself an alibi by putting his heart monitor on Hank's chest, giving the impression he never removed it, and with the security guard agreeing he never left his room, he seemed to have an ironclad alibi. Monk soon figures out that this would mean both he and Hank's EKG output would look exactly identical, which screws the whole thing up.
- Grumpy Old Man: Mr. Johansen, the cranky Korean War veteran in the hospital room next to Dr. Scott's. He fusses at Monk and the police the whole time they're investigating his room, derisively calls Monk "Soft Serve", and then nearly screws Monk over completely by calling Dr. Scott and telling Scott about Monk breaking into his room through the closet while investigating (resulting in Dr. Scott going to get Monk out of his way).
- He Knows Too Much: Once Dr. Scott realizes that Monk is hot on his tail, he injures Monk and then arranges for a hospital error to befall Monk and get him out of the picture.
- Karma Houdini: Johansen is not shown getting any comeuppance, punishment or even just a reprimand for telling Dr. Scott about Monk's discovery, which led to the doctor making an attempt on Monk's life.
- Malicious Misnaming: Mr. Johansen almost exclusively refers to Monk as "Soft Serve".
- Red Herring: At first it appears that grumpy old man Mr. Johansen is the crook, as the murderer used his walker to move around the hospital and killed Dr. Whitcomb with his oxygen tank, and it appears that Dr. Scott was in his bed the whole time. In the end, though, it turns out that Johansen has arthritis that's severe enough that he wouldn't have been able to make it up to Whitcomb's office and hit him with the tank without a ton of assistance. What really happened is that Scott sneaked into Johansen's room through the closet separating their two rooms, stuck his cardiogram on Johansen, then used Johansen's walker to get to Whitcomb's office and bludgeon him with Johansen's tank.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Dr. Scott fancies himself as the hospital's "miracle doctor", and when an error he makes during an operation causes him to lose a patient on the operating table and get pegged with a malpractice lawsuit, he refuses to let his previously squeaky-clean reputation be tarnished and concocts a scheme to get rid of the biggest witness against him, Dr. Whitcomb. His Motive Rant to the incapacitated Monk at the episode's climax makes it even more clear that he is more concerned with being seen as the hospital's best and most beloved doctor than actually helping his patients.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: After Monk explains his summation to Mr. Johansen, Mr. Johansen pretends to agree with what Monk is saying before calling Dr. Scott to tell him about Monk's (ridiculous to him) theory that Dr. Scott was the one who killed Dr. Whitcomb and warning Scott that he is about to be hassled by Monk, unaware that Monk is indeed correct and he just blew the whistle on him to a murderer willing to get rid of anyone who gets in his way.
- We Are Not Going Through That Again: As Monk is leaving the hospital after busting Dr. Scott, Monk injures himself again by closing the trunk on his thumb. Even though he is bleeding, the attempt on his life prevents him from stepping foot back into the hospital again.
- Weaponized Allergy: Dr. Scott tried to cause a nurse to give Monk tetracycline, which he is allergic to.
