The midseason finale of CBS medical drama "Code Black" aired earlier this week, and according to the official Twitter account the show will not return until January.

In Episode 11 of Season 1, "Black Tag," Dr. Leanne Rorish (Marcia Gay Harden) headed off site with a group of Angels Memorial Hospital residents to the scene of a deadly traffic pileup.

The title refers to the very real practice of doctors "black tagging" patients that likely won't survive, thereby alerting the next responder so they can divert their attention and resources elsewhere.

Leading actress Harden talked with the New York Post about the intense episode.

"We have to make assessments -- very difficult moral assessments - and when we get to the [accident scene] I'm off in a tent and not overseeing the residents and mayhem ensues," said Harden. "A husband holds a gun to one of the residents and says, 'Don't you black-tag my wife' and someone else is stuck in a cement truck. It's a high-drama situation."

The victim trapped in the cement turns out to be a man named Kenny, who residents Angus (Harry Ford) and Heather (Jillian Murphy) attempt to save despite him being black-tagged. They supply the man with saline until resident Mario (Benjamin Hollingsworth) is able to pry him free with a crowbar.

Rorish herself bumps protocol as she is unable to ignore the request of a young boy to help his mother, who was also black-tagged. The disaster strikes an emotional cord with Rorish, who lost her family in a car crash. Ultimately she is able to save the woman, but at the cost of another patient who could have been saved.

Actress Bonnie Somerville also commented on the episode in an interview with Parade.

"Black tagging fits in the theme of our show," said Somerville, who plays Dr. Christa Lorenson in the show.

"It goes in the theme of Code Black. When there's more patients than resources and there's more patients than beds, then you have to think on your feet. That's the intensity level of Angels Memorial, and that's the intensity of LA County, which was the inspiration for the show. So those situations, although they seem far-fetched, really happen, and we try to make it as real as we possibly can."

"Code Black" will return to CBS on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016.