In the latest episode of the medical drama, which stars Freddie Highmore as an autistic savant surgical resident, Rio Gutierrez (Emmett Preciado) – a transgender man – discovers he is pregnant while seeking treatment for a brain tumour.
Highmore’s character, Shaun Murphy, is left baffled, and asks Rio’s fiancé Eliz (Jonathan Sousa) if he considers himself gay or not, because he has “vaginal intercourse” before he’s shut down by his fellow doctors.
He later says: “He is very confusing to me, too. Rio has worked so hard – he had a bilateral subcutaneous mastectomy and takes hormone replacement therapy, but now he is choosing the most female act [giving birth].” Eliz hits back at Murphy: “It’s not female if Rio’s doing it.” The episode also