Dr. Dixon is completely offensive, recognizes this on some level ("I have offended you.") But presses on, attempting to push the parents into releasing the organs NOW so that other lives can be saved NOW without the hope. Without the lingering. Without processing grief. Without saying goodbye.

The younger surgeons must press Dr. Dixon out of the room, "caretakers" they are despite being lower in the hospital hierarchy.

She repeats her rationale over and over again throughout the episode: "Science before emotion," just as during the first episode she continually spoke of "rules."

This portrayal of an Aspergian way of thought is highly simplistic and very limited.

As I said when first introduced to the character, someone as old as Dr. Dixon and with her educational background would know how to handle situations like brain-death with the family. She would have learned the social rules even if she didn't understand all of them.

But the truth is that most folks with Aspergers DO understand emotion. To say they do not is a great misconception. While the ability to understand emotion on other's faces may be delayed, their own experience of emotion is still there, and in many cases empathy can be too strong (hence the "shutting down" that might appear to be lack of emotion.)

People who happen to have Asperger's Syndrome have hearts. They have emotion. They have feelings.

But last night's episode suggested otherwise, at least until the end when "Dr. Dixon" smiled awkwardly, sadistically, when she asked the Chief if it was his intention to torture Christina emotionally by pitting her personal relationships with her fellow interns against her knowledge of their surgical technique (in order to bestow the first "solo surgery" on one of her peers.) Dr. Dixon was pleased that his answer was "yes." She wanted science to beat emotion. And yet, her pleasure at hearing this challenge showed emotion. But it showed negative emotion.

Are people unfamiliar with Asperger's Syndrome now going to believe that such people are not only heartless, but actually devious and take pleasure in other people's emotional pain?

There are some things that are "right" about this portrayal: Dr. Dixon loves to win. In this case, her "battle" is science versus emotion, so she enjoyed seeing science "win." I understand that. But it came off in an insulting way.

Many of the behaviors that the Dr. Dixon character shows might be present in a younger child, but probably not all at once. I have met a variety of people on the spectrum and none have been so impaired, so insulting, and so limited yet academically brilliant, as the composition of the Dr. Dixon character.

I am angry because I want the public to see people with Asperger's as closer to "neurotypical" than the stereotypes, and yet this portrayal on a popular television show has exaggerated the stereotype even further. It has shown an even greater divide between perception of folks on the spectrum and those who are not. And in this particular case, presented a villain.

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Thoughts on the February 5th Episode - in which Dr. Dixon throws a temper tantrum more suited to a toddler than a highly-trained cardiac surgeon.