Dr. Gloria Nathan
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Dr. Gloria Nathan is fictional character played by Lauren Vélez, on the HBO drama Oz. She is prison doctor who leads the prison hospital in providing care for several of the inmates within Oz. A good person, she deals with conflict all the time, whether it is from the inmates such as Ryan O'Reily, or state medical boards. She manages to come out calmly throughout any conflict.
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[edit] Season 2
Dr. Nathan is Oz's chief physican who does her job with as much compassion and fairness as possible. She's close to Sister Pete and she often seeks her advice on many of the patients. She has a good working relationship with her fellow staff, but Emerald City Unit Manager Tim McManus decides he wants more from her. She's open to the suggestion because her marriage is crumbling at home, and the two of them engage in a few dates. When Tim exhibits aggressive behavior, she backs off.
Dr. Nathan diagnoses Ryan O'Reily as having a cancerous tumor in his breast, and then lobbies for its removal, instead of just a lumpectomy. Warden Glynn refuses and approves the lumpectomy for budget reasons. Ryan pulls through, but while recovering, he falls in love with the doctor, causing her much stress and confusion. She passes his enamorata off as a phase but soon realizes it has grown into a dangerous obsession. Her husband is murdered and she soon finds out it was Cyril, Ryan's brother, who did the deed. Disgusted and filled with anger, she confronts Ryan.
[edit] Season 3
Appalled that the new hospital administrator eliminated Miguel's medication to cut costs, the good doctor fights back by contacting the press. Even though the administrator fired her, the Gov. appeals for her not to talk to the press in exchange for her job back and he promises to "handle" the Doctor. She gets her job back and the administrator is forced out.
[edit] Season 4
Dr. Nathan decides to participate in Sister Pete's victim offender counseling program which requires she and her in-laws to face Cyril and Ryan. Her dilemma is she has to work in Oz always knowing that Ryan gave the order to Cyril to commit the murder. During the session, her in-laws express their feelings. The session escalates when Cyril starts crying while apologizing for killing her husband. Gloria's anger ensues and Ryan responds by professesing his "never ending" love for Gloria, something she doesn't understand. How can a man love you one minute, then order the murder of someone you love? This adds to her torment. One evening on her way home, Gloria is attacked and raped. Although she returns to work quickly, she soon realizes that she needs more time to recover so she takes an indefinite leave from Oz.
Dr. Gloria returns to Oz after taking some time to recover from her attack. This time, the Wygert corporation decides to test an experimental drug on the inmates that would allow them to age faster. Although she's morally against it, she administers the drug to willing inmates--two of which are Cyril and Ryan O'Reily. To make matters worse, Ryan O'Reily constantly reminds her of how much he loves her. She confronts him about Keenan's death and he admits to doing it. All this confuses her and she confesses to Sister Pete that she thinks she may actually be in love with Ryan. Sister Pete warns her that his love is not unconditional and that she should be very careful. Back to the experimental drug project, after one of the inmates taking the drug dies, the project is halted. Dr. Nathan gets word from the prison authority that she will be investigated for her part in the program and her mishandling of the drugs causing the experiment to fail. For this, she could lose her job when all she was doing was following instructions.
[edit] Season 5
Dr. Nathan has a flashback to her rape while examining an inmate. This inmate kept touching her in a sexually suggestive manner and she kept telling him to stop. When he didn't stop, she became enraged and started beating him. After this incident, she immediately went to Sister Pete to discuss how this happened. She can't understand why she would attack a patient so violently. Sister Pete understands Dr. Nathan's feelings and explains that Dr. Nathan's actions were a means to act out her anger. She further suggests Dr. Nathan contemplate exactly why she continues to work at Oz after all that's happened to her. Later, Dr. Nathan also begins to reveal more compassion for Cyril O'Reily's plight when he gets brought up on murder charges. When Pancamo arrives to the infirmary after being shanked, she treats him for the wound only, it gets infected and his condition worsens. Dr. Nathan now feels responsible for this and she's conflicted again. After talking with McManus, she dedicates herself to getting Pancamo better.
