Taraji P. Henson formerly guest starred in season 4 episode 20 but as "Patrice Robbins" Peter Benton's niece.
The song Dr. Benton plays for Reese at the end of the episode is John Coltrane's "Equinox," recorded in October of 1960 and released in June of 1964 on the album "Coltrane's Sound."
Jerry tells Benton that he was paged to consult on a motor vehicle accident patient with abdominal injuries that is "a probable AAA", later after the surgery Anspaugh comments on how tricky a AAA can be. AAA stands for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, which is an enlargement of the abdominal aorta, the largest artery in the abdomen that supplies blood to the abdominal organs. The most common causes are smoking, chronic over consumption of alcohol, hypertension and trauma. What makes a AAA dangerous is that most cases cause no symptoms until the artery is in immediate danger of rupturing, or already has ruptured. Prognosis for a ruptured AAA, even with immediate emergency medical care, is extremely poor, a rupture of the abdominal aorta causes massive blood loss. The mortality rate of a ruptured abdominal aorta is 90%, 65-75% of patients die before even making it to the hospital, and 85% die before reaching the operating room, the only decent chance a patient has of surviving a rupture is if it happens in the OR after the patient has already been opened up.
Commotio cordis, Latin for "agitation or disruption of the heart", is a rare condition that involves a disruption of the heart's rhythm caused by a sudden blow or impact on the chest directly above the heart at a very specific instant in the cycle of the heartbeat. Essentially the pressure caused by the impact disrupts the electrical activity of the heart leading to instant cardiac arrest, it is fatal 97% of the time if not treated within three minutes. Treatment involves CPR combined with defibrillation, first the heart needs to be restarted with CPR, then once it is pumping defibrillation is used to restore normal rhythm. It is a very rare condition, less than 20 cases per year are seen in the United States, it is most commonly seen in athletes, usually baseball players struck in the chest by a ball. It is rare because Commotio cordis can only occur if the impact is within a very narrow window of the cardiac cycle, with the window being just under 40 milliseconds in duration, which is why it is a myth that martial arts experts can learn to intentionally stop the heart with a single blow, 40 milliseconds comes and goes far too fast for humans to comprehend, even if it were possible to someone perceive another person's heart rhythm.
Julianna Margulies (Carol Hathaway) & Bernard White (Addict seeking Rapid Detox) also worked together on episode 3.15, Live from Damascus (2012), of The Good Wife (2009) as Alicia Florrick & Kassim respectively.