LOS ANGELES — What happens when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents enter the emergency room of a hospital?

The answer to that question is what “The Pitt” attempts to dramatize in “5:00 p.m.,” Episode 11 of Season 2 of the HBO Max medical drama that premiered Thursday. At this point of the season, the show has traversed a number of topics, including healthcare costs — a running theme — drug addiction, multiple traumatic incidents and detained immigrants, which comes to the fore here.

”The Pitt” creator R. Scott Gemmill told The Times that the season would contain an episode about ICE. In recent weeks, there has been more discussion about the episode, after Gemmill told Matt Belloni on his podcast, “The Town,” that he’d been asked by HBO to “just make sure it’s balanced, and we’re not just treating the situation as if it doesn’t have other points of view.”

What exactly that means and whether it’s portrayed is debatable, but it does dramatize what’s been happening in clinics and hospitals across the country, including in California, as ICE agents carry out raids.

In the episode, a woman in zip ties is brought into the Pitt’s emergency room by a pair of ICE agents, dressed in tactical gear and face covers. They explain that the woman, named Pranita (Ramona DuBarry), took a fall onto her shoulder during a raid. “She needs to be looked at before we process her,” one of the agents tells the staff members gathered near a counter.

Dr. Cassie McKay (Fiona Dourif) begins to gently examine her shoulder, which is noticeably bruised. Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle), asks, “You said she fell?”

“We were conducting a sweep at a restaurant, everyone in the kitchen took off and she was shoved down some alley stairs,” an agent replies.

As Robby, McKay and others examine her and run a few tests, they determine she likely has rotator cuff tear, and that she’ll need X-rays to know if she has a fracture. McKay asks if Pranita would like for them to call anyone — the ICE agent interjects, “No phone calls.”

“I don’t want these guys here any longer than they need to be, so let’s find X-ray and fast track this one,” Robby tells McKay.

And his reasoning becomes more clear as the episode continues. Word begins to spread that ICE is in the building, resulting in multiple patients and workers leaving the hospital. It’s a scenario that’s been pulled from the headlines.

In June, at the height of the raids in Los Angeles, The Times reported on how medical providers in Southern California were seeing an increase in missed appointments for chronic-care management and routine checkups, as people wary of being detained by ICE chose to stay home instead. “We’re just seeing a very frightening and chaotic environment that’s making it extremely difficult to provide for the healthcare needs of our patients,” Jim Mangia, president of St. John’s Community Health, told The Times.

There have also been reports of ICE agents detaining people near hospitals and clinics, and while some were unfounded, it has led to protests and legal action. In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 81, a state law that prohibits medical establishments from allowing federal agents without a valid search warrant or court order into private areas, including where patients receive treatment or discuss health matters.

ICE agents who bring in detainees for medical care, however, are allowed to accompany them as they receive care and to remain in public areas, like the lobby. And emergencies rooms are required to provide care.

“All patients regardless of immigration status have the right to emergency care under EMTALA,” Dana says in the episode, referencing the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, a federal law that requires hospitals that accept Medicare to treat patients regardless of ability to pay, insurance status or immigration status.

But when it comes to detainees, there have been concerns about privacy, a right that patients also have regardless of immigration status.

In July, after a Salvadoran woman in Los Angeles suffered a medical emergency while being detained, ICE agents remained with her 24 hours a day, according to a report by Kaiser Health News. The woman told her attorney that agents pressured her to say she was well enough to leave the hospital, telling her she wouldn’t be able to speak to her family or her attorney until she complied.

It’s similar to the scene that plays out toward the end of the episode, when Robby tells the agents to stay with Pranita.

“You’ve been nothing but a distraction and disruption since you’ve been here. I’m already short-staffed and I just lost five nurses and half my environmental services team because you walked in,” he shouts. “You know patients come in here for help, right? Because they’re either sick or they’re injured, and documented or undocumented they have a right to emergency care. TB, measles, fractures — none of it’s getting treated ‘cause everybody’s too scared to come in.”

The speech backfires. The ICE agent returns to get Pranita and says she’s cleared to go. A nurse, Jesse (Ned Brower), says Pranita needs a sling and that it will only take a minute. The agent grabs her and she cries in pain, to which Jesse says, “Hey man, you’re hurting her.”

It results in a scuffle between the agent and Jesse, who is subsequently zip tied and led away with the detainee to a detention center.

As the doctors and nurses regroup and return to check on patients, they find that one waiting for care, having witnessed the arrest, has left.

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