THE PHYSICIAN
"I am a doctor first. Everything else came after." — Miriam Adelson
ONE
THE DOCTOR
INT. TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY, MEDICAL SCHOOL - DAY (1975)
A lecture hall in Tel Aviv. YOUNG MIRIAM OCHSHORN, 29, sits in the front row, taking meticulous notes. A PROFESSOR lectures on substance abuse disorders. Most students look bored. Miriam is riveted.
Tel Aviv University, Sackler School of Medicine. 1975.
PROFESSOR
Addiction is not a moral failure. It is a disease of the brain. The challenge is that society treats addicts as criminals rather than patients. Until that changes, treatment will remain inadequate.
YOUNG MIRIAM
(raising her hand)
Professor, if addiction is a brain disease, then shouldn't treatment focus on the neurochemistry rather than the behavior? Shouldn't we be developing pharmacological interventions?
PROFESSOR
That is the future, Ms. Ochshorn. But the present is underfunded and stigmatized. No one wants to fund addiction research. It is not glamorous.
YOUNG MIRIAM
Then I will find a way to fund it myself.
She says it matter-of-factly. No bravado. Just certainty.
INT. ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK - DAY (1986)
DR. MIRIAM OCHSHORN, now 40, works in a research lab. She has emigrated to the United States and is completing fellowship work in addiction medicine. Test tubes and medical journals fill her workspace.
1986. Dr. Miriam Ochshorn specializes in addiction medicine and substance abuse pharmacology at Rockefeller University in New York.
COLLEAGUE
Miriam, there's a fundraiser tonight for the Israel Bonds organization. A businessman named Sheldon Adelson is hosting it. You should come. He's very pro-Israel.
MIRIAM
I don't go to fundraisers. I work.
COLLEAGUE
He's single. And very wealthy.
MIRIAM
(not looking up from her microscope)
I don't need wealthy. I need published. My naltrexone paper is due Friday.
COLLEAGUE
One hour. It's for Israel.
Beat. Miriam looks up.
MIRIAM
One hour.
INT. WALDORF ASTORIA, NEW YORK - BALLROOM - NIGHT (1986)
A crowded gala. Crystal chandeliers. Tuxedos and evening gowns. MIRIAM stands at the edge of the room, uncomfortable, holding a glass of water. SHELDON ADELSON, 53, approaches her. He's stocky, direct, and radiates the energy of a man who has argued his way to the top.
SHELDON
You look like you'd rather be anywhere else.
MIRIAM
I would rather be in my lab. But my colleague said this was for Israel.
SHELDON
Everything I do is for Israel. I'm Sheldon Adelson. What do you do?
MIRIAM
I am a physician. I study addiction. And you?
SHELDON
I make money. Lots of it. Trade shows, conventions, and now I'm thinking about casinos.
MIRIAM
(raising an eyebrow)
A casino owner and an addiction doctor. That is an interesting combination.
SHELDON
(laughing)
I like you already. You're honest. Nobody in this room is honest.
MIRIAM
I am Israeli. We don't have time for dishonesty.
MIRIAM (breaking the fourth wall)
Sheldon was the loudest person in every room he entered. I was the quietest. Somehow that worked. He saw in me a partner who would never flatter him or fear him. I saw in him a force of nature who shared my deepest conviction: that Israel's survival is not negotiable. We were married within a year.
CUT TO:
TWO
THE EMPIRE
INT. LAS VEGAS SANDS CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAY (1999)
The skeleton of the Venetian Hotel and Casino rises on the Las Vegas Strip. SHELDON and MIRIAM, both wearing hard hats, walk through the construction site. SHELDON is arguing with a CONTRACTOR. MIRIAM studies architectural plans.
1999. The Venetian opens on the Las Vegas Strip. Sheldon Adelson's vision: the most luxurious casino resort in the world. Cost: $1.5 billion.
SHELDON
(to the contractor)
The marble is wrong. I said Carrara marble. This is not Carrara marble. Rip it out and start over.
CONTRACTOR
Mr. Adelson, that will cost —
SHELDON
I don't care what it costs. I care that it's right. When a guest walks into the Venetian, they should feel like they're walking into Venice. Not a discount version of Venice. The real thing.
Miriam pulls Sheldon aside.
MIRIAM
(quietly)
He's right about the cost, Sheldon.
SHELDON
And I'm right about the marble. Miriam, I didn't survive growing up poor in Boston to build something mediocre. This will be the greatest hotel in the world. Or it will be nothing.
MIRIAM
(firmly)
Then make it the greatest. But stop yelling at the contractor. He is not the enemy.
SHELDON
(softening)
You're the only person who can tell me to stop yelling and I actually stop.
INT. MARINA BAY SANDS, SINGAPORE - ROOFTOP - NIGHT (2010)
The infinity pool atop Marina Bay Sands. The Singapore skyline glitters below. SHELDON and MIRIAM stand at the railing, looking out at the city. The casino below generates $3 billion in annual revenue.
2010. Marina Bay Sands opens in Singapore. It costs $5.5 billion to build. It becomes the most profitable casino on earth.
SHELDON
Miriam, look at this. A Jewish kid from Dorchester, Massachusetts, and an Israeli doctor from Tel Aviv. And we built this. In Singapore.
MIRIAM
You built this, Sheldon. I helped you not kill the contractors.
SHELDON
(pulling her close)
You did more than that. You kept me human. When I get too angry, too obsessed, too certain — you are the one who reminds me that there are things more important than winning.
MIRIAM
Like what?
SHELDON
Like Israel. Like our family. Like your research. Like the things that matter when the casinos close.
INT. THE ADELSON CLINIC, LAS VEGAS - DAY (2012)
A modern addiction treatment clinic. DR. MIRIAM ADELSON walks through the facility she founded, speaking with patients and staff. This is her domain — not the casino floor, but the examination room.
The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse Treatment and Research. Founded by Miriam to bring evidence-based addiction treatment to Las Vegas.
CLINIC DIRECTOR
Dr. Adelson, our outcomes are among the best in the country. The naltrexone protocol you developed is being adopted by twelve other clinics.
MIRIAM
Good. But outcomes are not enough. We need to change the conversation. Addiction is treated as a choice in this country. It is not a choice. It is a disease. And until America treats it as a disease, millions will suffer unnecessarily.
CLINIC DIRECTOR
With your resources, you could fund a national awareness campaign.
MIRIAM
Resources from casinos funding addiction treatment. Yes, I understand the irony. But irony does not save lives. Medicine does.
CUT TO:
THREE
THE LOSS
INT. ADELSON RESIDENCE, LAS VEGAS - BEDROOM - NIGHT (2021)
A large, quiet bedroom. SHELDON lies in bed, frail, connected to monitors. MIRIAM sits beside him, holding his hand. The monitors beep steadily. Outside, the Las Vegas Strip glows — the empire he built.
January 11, 2021. Sheldon Adelson dies of non-Hodgkin lymphoma at age 87. His net worth at the time of death: $35 billion.
MIRIAM
(whispering)
Sheldon. Sheldon, can you hear me?
A faint squeeze of her hand. He opens his eyes.
SHELDON
(weakly)
Miriam. Promise me. Israel. Don't let them abandon Israel.
MIRIAM
(tears streaming, voice steady)
I promise. I will never let them abandon Israel.
The monitors slow. Sheldon closes his eyes. Miriam holds his hand tighter.
MIRIAM (breaking the fourth wall)
When Sheldon died, the world lost a fighter. I lost my partner. The man who yelled at contractors and gave billions to Israel and loved me in a way that was overwhelming and absolute. But grief is not the end. Grief is a doorway. And I walked through it into the responsibility he left behind.
INT. LAS VEGAS SANDS BOARDROOM - DAY (2021)
Weeks after Sheldon's death. MIRIAM sits at the head of the boardroom table. Executives line both sides. ROB GOLDSTEIN is at her right.
GOLDSTEIN
Dr. Adelson, the board wants to know your intentions regarding the company.
MIRIAM
My intentions are simple. Las Vegas Sands will continue exactly as Sheldon built it. World-class resorts. World-class execution. I am not here to reinvent his company. I am here to honor it.
BOARD MEMBER
And the political commitments? The donations?
MIRIAM
The political commitments continue. Sheldon and I shared the same values. America and Israel. Freedom and security. Those values did not die with my husband.
INT. REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION - BACKSTAGE - NIGHT (2024)
Backstage at a political event. MIRIAM, 78, reviews notes. An AIDE approaches.
Miriam Adelson becomes the single largest donor to Republican political causes in the United States. Her donations exceed $100 million per election cycle.
AIDE
Dr. Adelson, the media is calling you the most powerful Republican donor in America.
MIRIAM
I am not a donor. I am a citizen who uses her resources to support the policies she believes in. Sheldon taught me that democracy is not a spectator sport. If you believe in something, you fight for it. With your voice, your vote, and yes, your resources.
AIDE
The opposition says your influence is —
MIRIAM
Let them say what they wish. I am an Israeli-born American physician who believes in strong defense, free markets, and the unbreakable alliance between America and Israel. I will not apologize for any of that.
CUT TO:
FOUR
THE GUARDIAN
INT. YAD VASHEM, JERUSALEM - DAY (2022)
The Holocaust memorial museum. MIRIAM walks through the Hall of Names alone. Photographs of the six million line the walls from floor to ceiling. She stops. Places her hand on the wall.
MIRIAM
(V.O.)
My parents survived the Holocaust. They came to Israel because there was nowhere else that would have them. And they built a life. They gave me an education. They gave me values. Every dollar I donate to Israel, every politician I support who stands with Israel — it is for them. For the memory of what happens when the Jewish people have no homeland and no allies. Never again is not a slogan. It is a medical directive. A prescription for survival.
INT. ADELSON RESIDENCE, LAS VEGAS - STUDY - EVENING (2024)
Sheldon's study, preserved exactly as he left it. His desk, his photographs, his awards. MIRIAM sits in his chair. On the desk: a framed photo of Sheldon and Miriam in Jerusalem.
2024. Miriam Adelson's net worth exceeds $40 billion. She is the majority owner of Las Vegas Sands and the Dallas Mavericks (a recent acquisition). She continues to fund addiction research, Israel advocacy, and Republican political causes.
MIRIAM
(to the photograph)
I kept my promise, Sheldon. Every day. Israel is not abandoned. The company is strong. The clinics are open. The family is together. You would yell at me for sitting in your chair. But someone has to sit here. And I am the only one you trusted enough.
EXT. JERUSALEM, OLD CITY WALLS - SUNSET (PRESENT DAY)
The golden walls of Jerusalem at sunset. The Dome of the Rock. The Western Wall. The city that has stood for three thousand years. MIRIAM stands on a balcony overlooking the Old City.
MIRIAM (breaking the fourth wall)
I am a physician. I took an oath to do no harm and to heal the sick. I have tried to live by that oath in everything — in my clinic, in my family, in my politics, in my defense of Israel. Sheldon gave me the resources to do it on a scale I never imagined. But the oath came first. It always comes first. I am Dr. Miriam Adelson. The doctor came before the billionaire. And the doctor will remain long after the money is gone.
FADE TO BLACK.
Miriam Adelson is one of the wealthiest women in the world. She continues to operate the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse Treatment. She is the majority owner of Las Vegas Sands Corporation. She has donated over $500 million to political causes, medical research, and Israel advocacy. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018.