In this intro to the series, Dr. Jack Morrison treats a young girl with dysentary; Dr. Annie Cavanero searches for a missing patient -- who happens to be a large, permanent resident of a local mental institution; Dr. Ben Samuels tries to recall all of his conquests after being diagnosed with VD; Dr. Daniel Auschlander's liver cancer is revealed; a bombing victim is brought into the ER, as is the young man who set off the bomb; and Dr. Wayne Fiscus and Dr. Cathy Martin begin a relationship.
Morrison treats the obnoxious bank bomber; Mr. MacAllister arrives to find his wife in a coma; Dr. Craig holds a news conference and badgers a patient into a surgical consent; and Dr. Samuels tries to teach Dr. Beale how to swim.
Cavanero tries to counsel a couple expecting a Down's syndrome child; White makes a near-tragic mistake in the E.R.; Martin and Fiscus are caught in a stalled elevator; Morrison learns his wife is pregnant; and Dr. Beale visits the bomber.
Morrison tries to help a bag woman and her retarded husband; Fiscus admits a relatively healthy woman who had fainted for some very expensive tests; V.J. feels homesick; and the bomber and his victim both leave the hospital.
Dr. Samuels becomes attached to a boy in for leg surgery; Fiscus surprises Martin with a romantic gesture; Chandler challenges a veteran nurse's competency; Dr. Craig receives his coveted `Surgeon of the Year' award; and Cavanero's weekend away is interrupted by a patient delivering her baby at home with just a teenage boy to help.
While coping with a fussy new administrator, Dr. Westphall investigates suspicious deaths in Ward Five; Martin shocks Fiscus by breaking off their affair; Cavanero has to deal with a very hostile nurse; and White goes to desperate lengths to raise the money to replace his on-call beeper.
Dr. Westphall risks his job by creating an isolation floor to stem the spread of the suspected Legionnaire's Disease (and the PR fiasco causes administrator Cummings to fall on his sword to save the hospital); Dr. Beale learns that Tweety got pregnant while in the hospital; Fiscus is assaulted in the E.R.; and Dr. Craig decides to sell his car.
The search continues for the source of the Legionnaire's Disease; Cavanero befriends a young woman facing a hysterectomy; Tweety makes a decision about her future; and Ellen Craig deals with the elusive Dr. Barnum.
Morrison regrets making a couple of house calls for an insistent old man; Fiscus has another run-in with a gang member; Ralph takes up eating garbage; White's daughter eats some mothballs; and Dr. Craig bawls Ehrlich out for spraining his little finger.
Ralph masquerades as a doctor; an obese woman gives birth unexpectedly; an old friend of Dr. Samuels joins the staff; and Ehrlich faints during surgery.
Dr. Samuels breaks up a late night poker game to perform emergency surgery on a gunshot victim; Morrison lets a Chinese couple perform a folk healing ritual on their dying son; and Ralph's manic stage reaches a crescendo.
A sadistic doctor orders White to get his first autopsy consent; an old friend of Dr. Craig's checks in a sex-change operation; Chandler takes over the case of the John Doe gunshot victim; and Drs. Samuels and Paxton argue over the care of a patient after renewing their intimate relationship.
Craig continues to regret his friend's sex-change operation; John Doe #12 becomes sullen and uncooperative when his real parents arrive to take him home; White's reconciliation falls through; and Armstrong delves deeply into a man's medical and family history to find out why he has persistent nose bleeds.
A lady flasher enlivens the halls and rooms of St. Eligius; Fiscus moves in with Ehrlich; Cavanero faces a difficult choice about a fellowship; Dr. Auschlander's cancer remission appears to be ending; Morrison and Chandler try to help a young man injured in a street beating whose brother is determined to get revenge.
Samuels operates on a hooker, who invites all her friends to visit her; Myra White gives her estranged husband some news; the racial tensions reach a climax when the truth about O'Connor's beating surfaces; and Ehrlich makes a fool of himself by drinking too much at a party given by Dr. Craig.
Cavanero helps hide her patient, a porno movie star, from a process server; Armstrong worries about the ethics of a surgeon who does unnecessary heart surgery for kickbacks; Ehrlich and Fiscus nearly come to blows over their living arrangements; and Dr. Craig considers moving.
A fisherman lobbies Dr. Westphall to let his brother die in peace and dignity; Fiscus substitutes for Ehrlich on a date with Shirley Daniels; and Helen's stress mounts as the hospital suffers computer glitches and she faces a radical mastectomy. Peter celebrates his birthday and runs into Myra and a gentleman friend.
Helen returns to work following her mastectomy; Fiscus and Daniels visit his aunt Sirca; a pregnant woman invades the OR and holds Ehrlich and Dr. Craig hostage while demanding to see the doctor who performed her husband's vasectomy.
Morrison tries to reason with a patient determined to drink himself to death; Chandler faces a malpractice suit after a patient dies unexpectedly in an elevator; White goes crazy with jealousy; and Dr. Craig enjoys the company of a visiting Hungarian surgeon.
Dr. Craig continues to enjoy Dr. Anya's companionship; Morrison worries over White's erratic behavior; and Chandler becomes upset over the casual attitude everyone seems to taking towards his malpractice suit.
White attends a drug rehabilitation program; Morrison becomes suspicious that his patient may be a surgery addict; Dr. Craig grapples with an inner-city medical scholarship group; Cathy tries to arrange a double date with Daniels and Fiscus; and a deranged bag lady tries to assault Daniels in the E.R..
Morrison's wife goes into labor; White loses a girlfriend and gains a wife, while falling under suspicion when drugs are stolen; Dr. Craig's son Steven arrives for a period of observation and cause problems for Ehrlich; Martin casts her spell over Fiscus again; and Dr. Auschlander and an old friend get into a fist fight as they reminisce about the past.
A pushy, abrasive man literally drives into the E.R. to get help for his wife; Ehrlich finds an unusual girlfriend at the laundromat; Fiscus loses both Cathy and Shirley; Dr. Craig clashes with the newly appointed city comptroller, Joan Halloran, over his proposed heart transplant for schoolteacher Eve Leighton.
Medical student Elliot Axelrod and plastic surgeon Dr. Bobby Caldwell join the staff; Eve Leighton's sister expresses reservations about the planned transplant; a resident dropped from the hospital program badgers Cavanero to reevaluate him; and Dr. Craig enlists Dr. Caldwell's help in opposing Joan Halloran's plan to shut down an outpatient surgery clinic.
The men attend a rather staid bachelor party for Kochar; White learns about the dangers of nuclear medicine; Fran Singleton refuses to see her husband, but later walks out of the hospital by his side; everyone opposes Joan's idea of including St. Eligius in a government nuclear disaster contingency plan; Martin gives Kochar a unique wedding present; and the transplant team goes into action.
Dr. Craig performs the transplant amidst a publicity barrage; Morrison tries to adjust to his loss; Luther and Fiscus split an investment in silver futures; and Rosenthal counsels a group on breast cancer.
Dr. Craig and Ehrlich both prepare turkeys for the staff forced to work the holiday; injuries from the Thanksgiving Day parade pour into the ER; and a depressed Dr. Auschlander takes a special interest in an ailing 11-year-old.
Rosenthal gets arrested just before her scheduled breast reconstruction; Mr. Entertainment sets up in a hospital elevator and meets Dr. Ridley, the new psychiatrist; and Morrison worries over an Irish teenager whose near-fatal beating brings the Catholic-Protestant conflict of northern Ireland to St. Eligius.
Martin decides she's in love with Dr. Craig; White regrets helping out an exhausted mother pleading for sedatives in the E.R.; Eve's sense of cabin fever and anger is calmed by a visit from her students; Morrison learns more about Eddie Carson and the `Troubles'.
Dr. Caldwell suffers for his work on Eddie Carson; Joan reveals a secret in the E.R.; Ehrlich meets a brand-new Roberta; Dr. Westphall's housekeeper announces she's returning to Italy; Eve Leighton takes a turn for the worse.
White diagnoses a case of AIDS in a Boston city councilman; Dr. Ridley tries to help a tennis prodigy deal with pressure from her ambitious father; and Daniels and Ehrlich try to run a blood drive amidst a blizzard and rumors about the AIDS patient.
The medical staff and Joan Halloran fight back when a large private hospital dumps an indigent, unstable emergency patient on the E.R.; Ehrlich seeks advice about his relationship with Roberta; Daniels is tied to the drug abuse charges against White; and Dr. Ridley and Morrison try to figure out a woman's violent mood swings and personality changes. Luther loses a father figure. A bored teenager wreaks havoc with the hospital's computerized records.
A blizzard causes havoc for everyone; Dr. Craig can't get to the hospital and has to depend on Kochar for survival; Dr. Ehrlich decides to pop the question to Roberta; and the roof literally falls in on Cavanero.
Dr. Auschlander asks Fiscus and Luther to help him get some marijuana to relieve his pain; White and Daniels face the medical board hearing; Dr. Westphall defends a deaf employee against his impatient supervisor; and Ehrlich meets Roberta's snobbish parents.
Joan's father enters the hospital unexpectedly; Chandler takes a practice run for the Boston Marathon that proves dangerous; and the Craigs host Ehrlich's wedding with guests such as Mrs. Craig's mother and Ehrlich's alcoholic aunt Charice.
A rape occurs in the hospital parking lot; White has trouble adjusting to his restricted status as does Tommy Westphall to the loss of his housekeeper; Cavanero must decide between the man in her life and her career; and a TV crew follows Dr. Craig around to film a documentary.
The women of St. Eligius take rape prevention classes, but can't prevent the occurence of another rape, this time inside the hospital; an old love of Dr. Auschlander checks in; Cavanero dumps her boyfriend when he can't take no for an answer; Roberta broadcasts her marital problems to the whole staff; and Morrison tries to treat a high-rise construction worker for dizziness who's reluctant to give a complete medical history.
Morrison learns a lesson from another doctor who makes the diagnosis of Mr. Keuhnelian; Dr. Craig prepares to accept his anticipated `Doctor of the Year' award; Dr. Caldwell and Ehrlich both make decisions about their romantic futures; Cathy's disappearance raises questions; Shirley fends off an imagined attacker; and the rapist strikes again.
Dr. Craig tries to stop the TV documentary; Cathy has a rough first day back; Mr. Entertainment finds his true calling; Armstrong continues to feel traumatized; and Rosenthal finally has her breast surgery.
White returns to work to face a hostile staff; Axelrod accidentally destroys Fiscus' beloved Boston Red Sox baseball cap; Cavanero has to tell a college student he has testicular cancer; Chandler questions himself about why Amanda remains distant from him; and Martin decides to come forward against her rapist.
Three women in a room become close despite their differences; an old woman facing the loss of her independence; a mother trying to deal with violent surges of erratic behavior; and a bland young woman searching for 'character' through a nose job.
Ehrlich tries to deal with his Aunt Charice and her romantic designs on Dr. Westphall as he crams for the National Boards; a stressed-out Armstrong makes a tragic misdiagnosis; White chooses to take a polygraph test before his trial begins; Shirley tells Cathy that she ""asked for it"", and Cathy's past is used to decimate her on the witness stand.
Fiscus poses in provocative attire for a newspaper feature; Dr. Caldwell and Joan try to take a spontaneous trip to Paris; Armstrong reacts to the pressures she faces; and everyone waits to hear about who will be dropped from the residency program.
The residents scatter as vacation begins; Morrison meets a charming young woman; the E.R. faces major structural repairs; Steven Craig returns home after licking his drug problem; and Luther tries to find a Cheshire cat for a skeptical little girl. Dr. Auschlander collapses in an elevator. Elliot Axelrod has an interview for a position as a resident.
Morrison and Clancy argue over what to do about her unexpected pregnancy; Rosenthal and Dr. Auschlander fail to agree about anything as a nurses' strike looms; the emergency room receives three seriously burned firefighters; and Dr. Westphall collides with a strong-minded Mother Superior over life support for a critically ill nun.
Dr. Westphall bans Sister Dominica from the hospital; the firefighters try to adjust to their injuries; Fiscus meets a fairy godmother; White returns to work; Clancy takes matters concerning her pregnancy into her own hands; and a Federal mediator joins the stalled contract talks.
The rapist returns to St. Eligius; Daniels stays on the job as Rosenthal leads most of the other nurses out on strike; Ellen persuades Dr. Craig to go to a therapist about their marital problems; Luther learns one of the firefighters is fighting his pain in his own way; and Lizzie Westphall leaves for college.
Luther and Warren do some plumbing for Dr. Craig during their temporary layoff; Papandrao leaves the picket line to help Ehrlich in an emergency operation; Dr. Caldwell tries to find new ways for the firefighters to deal with their continuing pain; and Martin finds herself confronting the rapist again.
Dr. Caldwell performs plastic surgery on Manny while Jerry fights off cabin fever; Dr. Auschlander hires Joan Halloran as his new assistant; Axelrod becomes a hypochondriac; White reunites with his family; and a disturbed Daniels decides to do something about White.
Dr. Caldwell performs plastic surgery on Manny while Jerry fights off cabin fever; Dr. Auschlander hires Joan Halloran as his new assistant; Axelrod becomes a hypochondriac; White reunites with his family; and a disturbed Daniels decides to do something about White.
Dr. Westphall finds himself a suspect in the Peter White shooting; Morrison finds a psychological cause for a boy's asthma attacks; many of the residents interview for a TV job; and the city honors the surviving firefighters.
Dr. Westphall suffers sleepless nights; a young man from the Philippines is apparently frightened to death by his dreams; Luther dreams of sweet revenge with the help of some `ZZ Top' impersonators; Ehrlich dreams of being washed up on an island of Amazon women; and Morrison suffers from nightmares of Peter White when he and some other residents take part in a dream research project.
A bone-marrow specialist arrives to perform a transplant between two feuding brothers and quickly befriends Annie; the last firefighter gives Caldwell a parting gift; Morrison's next door neighbor experiences a tragedy while baby-sitting Pete; Rosenthal overcomes her fears and begins an affair with Richard; and White's killer is cornered on the hospital roof.
Dr. Auschlander suggests a controversial liver dialysis procedure for Wegener's little girl, using her father's liver to do the work; Cavanero is stung by the same rumor she started about Dr. Holtz; and Chandler reports an old voodoo woman for practicing medicine without a license. Dr. Craig is called before the fees commission. Rosenthal meets Richard's wife.
Mrs. Wegener returns to find both her ex-husband and her daughter near death; Clancy moves in with Morrison after a burglary; Martin gives Fiscus a letter concerning Daniels; and Lizzie returns from Vassar with a boyfriend.
Fiscus pressures Martin into taking a step outside the psychiatric ward; Judge Farnham questions Dr. Auschlander about the ethics of Mr. Wegener's role in his daughter's treatment while Mrs. Wegener decides to take the child back to Chicago; Tommy's school asks Dr. Westphall to withdraw him; an angry Mitzi confronts Rosenthal about the affair; and Ehrlich tries to help the nymphomaniac wife of a patient.
An old friend of Dr. Auschlander returns from Africa to locate a kidney donor for a young African; Helen celebrates her birthday; removing a bullet in E.R. proves risky to both the patient and the doctor; and Mrs. Hufnagle returns to the hospital.
A donor is found for Tshalla but Ehrlich misses out on the operation; Chandler tries to juggle the multiple wives of a bigamist patient; and Morrison faces a personal problem when Luther is recruited by a Caribbean medical school with doubtful credentials.
Dr. Wyler puts Dr. Auschlander onto a new way of life; Halloran interviews Morrison's co-workers in an effort to build a case for him; Ehrlich takes the Craigs out for a disastrous dinner; and Mrs. Hufnagle loses a chance at a new life.
Westphall places a new doctor in charge of the E.R., and she immediately clashes with Fiscus; Axelrod's visit to Mrs. Hufnagel's apartment sends her back to the hospital; Rosenthal and Richard reconcile; Dr. Craig celebrates his 30th wedding anniversary with a visit from his estranged brother; Dr. Caldwell begins treatment of a disfigured girl suffering from a massive facial fibromatosis; and a junkie admits his very pregnant, 14-year-old girl friend.
Dr. Woodley tries to help Maddy decide what to do after her baby is born while Dean sets up a disastrous drug deal; Ehrlich offends a disabled cafeteria worker with his `Health Spot' segment; and Lizzie runs away from pressures at college and tries to reunite her family.
A violent storm brings down a news helicopter; Dean takes off for Florida, leaving Maddy alone to face the future; Myra gives birth to a son, Peter; Hufnagel haggles over her latest bill; Rosenthal struggles with life in the ER; the phone repairman is electrocuted; Dr. Auschlander, angry about his portrait, cancels the dedication ceremony; and Martin returns to medical practice.
Westphall's old friend, Capt. Gloria Neal, arrives to make sure everything is prepared for an emergency as the First Lady passes through the area; Ehrlich creates anguish for a mother and child when he casually reports suspected child abuse; Richard faces Rosenthal's children when he decides to move in; and Shirley, out on bail and awaiting trial, returns to St. Eligius.
Dr. Westphall decides to sell his house; Andrea Fordham sees her new face for the first time; Shirley returns to the morgue where she shot Peter White; Rosenthal believes she's pregnant again; and Mrs. Hufnagle faces surgery.
Craig questions Mrs. Hufnagel's death; rejoining the staff, Daniels plays sick jokes; Caldwell coddles his patient.
A young woman's multiple sclerosis worsens, threatening her life as a circus clown; Dr. Craig helps Dr. Westphall look for a condo; and Morrison feels the pressures of his responsibilities as a doctor and father.
Luther loses his hearing in an explosion; Morrison finds an explanation for his poorer than usual performance; and Axelrod learns that he is Mrs. Hufnagle's beneficiary and meets her son.
Mrs. Auschlander faces major heart surgery; Dr. Craig is disturbed to see the ravages of time on his mentor, Dr. David Domedion; Ehrlich searches for a religion; the messiah shows up for a Celtics game; and Dr. Westphall announces his resignation at a friendly little bar called Cheers.
The hospital review board acquires a new member from the psychiatric floor; Chandler experiences long-suppressed resentments when he treats a Vietnamese patient; and Dr. Turner counsels an upwardly mobile couple who can't conceive a child.
The Craigs meet their pregnant daughter-in-law, Yvonne; the Valeres continue to explore ways of having a child; Westphall's new policies irritate the residents and Auschlander; and Luther rides with a paramedic team preoccupied with their personal grievances.
The Craigs face a tremendous loss as their first grandchild is born; a newly inspired Dr. Westphall returns to work full of ideas; and Fiscus invites himself up to Dr. Caldwell's Cape Cod retreat, where he sees a different side to the surgeon. Elliot and Marcy discover a common interest in food.
Dr. Westphall tries to deal with his critical sister-in-law and a reluctant hospital board; Luther becomes Axelrod's personal trainer; Roxanne asks Chandler to her recital; Rosenthal worries over the threats of an assaulted teenager; Dr. Caldwell's questionable behavior continues at the hospital; and Dr. Craig proves to be of little help to his grieving wife.
Dr. Westphall drives himself too hard and is hospitalized; Yvonne's parents arrive to see their daughter and to claim their grandchild; Terri has in-vitro fertilization; Fiscus makes a donation; and Dr. Caldwell picks up the wrong woman. Helen goes back to work on the floor. Dr. Westphall's insightful moving man checks into the hospital.
An astronaut lecturing in Boston collapses and is brought to St. Eligius; Papandrao and Rosenthal continue to clash; Axelrod loses both Marcy and his battle with the bulge; Dr. Craig impatiently assumes the responsibility of explaining the facts of life to a mentally retarded young woman; and Dr. Westphall hears some hard to take truths from his sister-in-law,
Dr. Craig arranges to take Yvonne home to her parents; Ehrlich advises a plastic surgery patient behind Dr.Caldwell's back; Capt. Neal arrives to evaluate the astronaut's condition and to supervise his transfer to Walter Reed, despite Westphall and Morrison's objections; Chandler and Dr. Turner plan a vacation together; and John Doe #6 decides he's Mary Richards and plans a party to celebrate.
Mr. Galecki brings Barbara back to the Craigs; Dr. Turner leaves unexpectedly for her sleepy hometown down South; Rosenthal slaps Lucy; Jack takes his remedial exam and Colonel Cochrane reconciles himself with God.
Dr. Westphall learns that his new housekeeper is an illegal immigrant who was tortured by the death squads in El Salvador; a nervous Ehrlich tries to get out of his OB-GYN rotation, and later delivers a baby; crackdowns on the homeless unearth a sarcophagus and an old acquaintance of Wayne's; Dr. Caldwell is chastised for letting his joking comments to Papandrao go too far in front of a patient.
Life goes on as the generator fails during a city-wide blackout; Caldwell takes leave to visit a dying friend; Westphall shares a stuck elevator with an Irishman; Dr. Craig and Wade perform emergency surgery; Pru returns to the hospital, as do the Valeres; Rosenthal is subpoenaed; Fiscus finds the emergency romantic; and a man who believes he's a vampire appeals to Morrison and Axelrod for help.
Axelrod tries to keep Santa Claus alive after he collapses at a children's party; Ehrlich tries to brighten the holiday for his only obstetrical patient; Lizzie's boy friend finds the Westphalls' Christmas depressing; and Dr. Craig overindulges at his Christmas party.
An anti-abortionist targets the hospital for bomb threats and Chandler is involved in trouble at the Boston Women's Clinic; Rosenthal decides what she must do with her youngest son; Luther loses his favorite racing pigeon, whom he left in Axelrod's care; and Morrison tries to explain abortion to Pru. Dr. Westphall's housekeeper has her INS hearing. Mona and Wayne quarrel.
Fiscus reluctantly does his outreach work with a couple of feisty old people; Chandler is near yet another explosion; John Doe #6 is claimed by a couple who seem as wacky as he is; Rosenthal and Papandrao settle out of court; and the Valeres consider adoption and divorce as they come to the medical end of the line for their fertility problem.
Dr. Auschlander resents the wealth and influence of the matriarch of an old Massachusetts family admitted for tests; Morrison feels his impending knee surgery; Axelrod tries to get to know an animal researcher; the Valeres make a decision about surrogacy; Fiscus meets the woman who will unknowingly bear his child, and regrets his impulsive proposal to Mona as he realizes their diverging ideas of married life.
The Endicotts learn that their family's medical problems are hereditary; Dr. Caldwell prepares for surgery to eliminate his facial scar, but learns that he carries a more permanent reminder of his carelessness; and Fiscus and Morrison play romantic games with Clancy and Mona.
The Endicotts try to adjust to losing a family member but gain good news about another; Dr. Caldwell's diagnosis of AIDS causes concern for his friends and a cooling in Fiscus and Clancy's relationship; and Ehrlich's outreach assignment involves the normal sized son of dwarf parents.
St. Eligius' 50th anniversary spurs memories, including: it's opening in 1935 under the leadership of Father Joseph McCabe, the arrival of recently emigrated Helen Rosenthal and Mark's return as chief of surgery, Mark's bypass on Patrick O'Casey and the death of Maureen Westphall. Morrison struggles to diagnose a difficult patient and cope with the loss of Pete to a kidnapper.
St. Eligius' 50th anniversary spurs memories, including: the growing up of Donald Westphall, the arrival of young Daniel Auschlander and his first meeting with Katharine, a drunken and embittered Father McCabe's departure, and the residency of Mark Craig under Dr. David Domedion. The O'Casey family's long history with St. Eligius leads Morrison to a diagnosis. Pete is returned.
A former nurse returns to St. Eligius as a medical student; a jock desperate to prolong his mediocre career learns the steroids he's using are killing him; Morrison has difficulty telling a young boy he will lose an arm to cancer; Fiscus and Axelrod see southern California through different eyes during a medical conference; and Ellen Craig feels the pressure of caring for Barbara and her continuing grief over Steven's death.
Chandler does his outreach work at a crisis hotline, where he draws a suicide on his first night; Ehrlich earns Dr. Craig's approval after he performs well during an emergency; and Carol Novino renews her friendship with Dr. Westphall and his family. Ellen Craig kicks Mark out of their home.
Novino treats a famous cartoonist whose hands are being crippled by arthritis; Ehrlich ends his OB-GYN stint by examining Mrs. Craig; and Morrison's outreach work at a state prison ends tragically with a riot.
Dr. Turner returns to St. Eligius in time to deliver the baby of an old patient; Chandler has very bad luck as he searches for her all day; and Dr. Auschlander is trapped in a crack house that has been bequeathed to the hospital.
Rosenthal's first husband and youngest son both return to her life; Chandler comes under fire for his activism against apartheid; Dr. Turner finds it hard to let go of the Ettings' baby; The Valeres' wish is finally granted, and everyone wants to date Novino.
The residents worry over who will be asked to return next year; the Craigs worry over the ""Doctor of the Year"" award dinner; Fiscus grows obsessed with opening a locked door; Martin drops by with a new look; Dr. Auschlander fears death as Halley's Comet blazes overhead; and a mugging victim named Boston Massachusetts waits for treatment in the E.R.
A depressed Father Joseph McCabe returns to St. Eligius; Morrison receives a visitor from Seattle; Dr. Craig seeks help for his injured hand from an old classmate; one of Axelrod's patients awakens in the morgue; and Luther plays musical air conditioners.
Wade tries to get a grip on her marital problems; Fiscus throws an engagement party for Morrison; Rosenthal figures out the self-serving Griffin; and John Doe #6 returns.
Dr. Craig behaves boorishly to his replacement, Dr. Paulette Kiem; Birch finds a radioactive patient; Papandrao claims Ehrlich as an escort to a family birthday party; a friend of Fiscus' is admitted with a major stroke; and a hospital neighbor becomes very upset when she observes Dr. Craig's imminent departure.
The Craigs try out yet another new maid; fellow employees stab Luther in the back; Axelrod is embarrassed and rude about a patient's colostomy; and Fiscus helps Mr. Ewell's daughter take him home to die.
Dr. Westphall helps a terminally ill teenager reach his parents; Griffin plays Birch and Novino off against each other to escape blame in a patient's death; Morrison calls Chandler on it when Dr. Turner gets involved in a dispute involving a sick child; and Dr. Craig tries to start his memoirs.
Dr. Turner faces a dilemma as she performs surgery on a Jehovah's Witness, who has forbidden any blood transfusions; Griffin takes positive steps to blame Birch for the patient's death; Ehrlich announces his night with Papandrao; and Dr. Craig's new typist encourages him to use his imagination.
Lizzie gets involved with Griffin; a man falls while trying to scale the hospital; Luther befriends a bag lady with Tourette's Syndrome; and John Doe #6 disappears with Dr. Craig's book.
Mandatory drug testing causes a deep division of opinion; Morrison is haunted by his day at the prison; Axelrod is assigned to guide a 14-year-old medical student around; Griffin gets a warning from Dr. Westphall about hurting Lizzie; and Dr. Craig tries to perform magic tricks for some young patients and his housekeeper.
Dr. Fiscus is shot. Afterwards, he experiences the afterlife and meets some old friends. Such people include old patients who died in the hospital, a few in limbo and a couple in heaven. However, he is condemed to hades and finds Dr. White swiming in circles for all eternity in a boat with only one oar. Meamwhile, the docs at St. Eligus try their hardest to keep Fiscus alive.
Fiscus awakens but is deeply depressed, despite a visit from his father; Dr. Craig returns to work and his office, disregarding Dr. Kiem's feelings; Dr. Westphall decides to stop seeing Novino and his moving man comes in for a penile implant.
Dr. Westphall tries to help an alcoholic poet he once admired; Dr. Craig puts his usual worst foot forward as he tries to persuade the Soviets to release Masha's husband; Rosenthal confronts McPhail about her drug problem; and Ehrlich makes friends with Papandrao's new boyfriend.
Dr. Turner finds her confidence shaken when she learns her new patient, about to undergo a risky transfusion procedure, has a malpractice suit pending at another hospital; Dr. Peltrovich arrives but has trouble getting licensed to practice medicine; and Morrison explodes during a mock war with paint guns.
Dr. Craig becomes jealous when Dr. Peltrovich is finally allowed to pursue his work with lasers; Fiscus experiences an emotional rollercoaster as he returns to work with a critical leukemia patient; and Ehrlich hits highs and lows as he accepts his ""Orphan of the Year"" award.
Axelrod allows Novino and Griffin to override his judgement; Dr. Kiem worries about her long distance marriage as she tries to help an inseparable couple make a final farewell; Luther tries to help Polly make it through a day without her medication; and Ehrlich goes to great lengths to confirm the Oseranskys' story.
Novino uncovers a pathologist selling body parts when one of her patients dies; Dr. Westphall learns that Lizzie is pregnant; Chandler and a visiting private practitioner learn something from each other, and John Doe #6 surfaces again, along with Craig's novel.
Novino tangles again with Chandler about admitting a blind street person who's not really sick; Dr. Auschlander learns he has a son he never knew; the Craigs face their grief all over again when Ellen offers Griffin a place to stay; and Wade fears for her future when she learns she needs glasses.
Rosenthal tries to help her obese daughter cope with her problems; Axelrod's father brings a dog to the hospital for chemotherapy; Dr. Turner reluctantly reveals the ultrasound results to a couple looking for the perfect baby; and Dr. Westphall continues to try and find a way to keep the hospital open.
Morrison testifies at Nick Moat's parole hearing; Dr. Kiem buries herself in work when she learns her son has taken off from home and is missing; Fiscus diagnoses multiple sclerosis in an old college friend; and the rumors fly that St. Eligius is about to become a billing center for Boston General.
Fiscus waits for a woman artificially inseminated with his sperm to give birth; three young men explore life and the hospital to relieve the boredom of their stay; Dr. Westphall relives part of his past when a childhood friend reminds him of an old pact; and Drs. Craig and Auschlander continue to search for hospital financing.
Shirley Daniels returns to the hospital as a patient; Mrs. Craig offers Griffin a place to stay; Chandler and Novino compete to see who can correctly diagnose a difficult patient; and Ehrlich and Papandrao face wedding rumors when they return from Mexico.
The representative of a foreign medical group interested in the hospital visits to absorb the psychic `aura' of the place (via flashbacks) but collapses from a heart attack before he can recommend the sale.
Luther turns sleuth to find out who is responsible for the mercy-killings; Dr. Turner takes a chance doing experimental fetal heart surgery; Axelrod gets back at Novino and Griffin; Morrison buys a gun to protect his family; Yvonne Galecki Craig comes to claim her daughter, and Ehrlich and Papandrao have second thoughts about marriage when the new owners fire everyone in the hospital.
Auschlander tries to stop the demolition of St. Eligius.
One month after St. Eligius was shut down, it is reopened by The Ecumena Corporation and its head of medicine Dr. John Gideon. Meanwhile, Dr. Craig is offered the opportunity to design an artificial heart, which the younger doctors jokingly call the ""Craig 5000.""
Gideon and Westphall argue over an AIDS clinic, Ehrlich looks for a mysterious woman on his wedding day, Kiem experiments with hypnosis, and Joanne blames Boomer for letting her kids go back to Seattle with her ex-husband.
The AIDS clinic becomes a showdown between Dr. Westphall and Dr. Gideon; Griffin tries to avoid his AIDS patient's homosexual lover; Fiscus' mother drops by for a visit; and Luther tries to help a man who insists he's pregnant and about to deliver.
The orderlies ask Auschlander to talk with Gideon about their grievances, Wade puts up with temporary lodgers, Rosenthal confronts an epileptic nursing student, and Craig gives Ehrlich marriage tips while they start work on a sheep's heart.
It's Halloween at the new and improved St. Eligius, and the craft-matic bed where Mrs. Hufnagel was crushed to death is apparently haunted. Meanwhile, Wade, Craig, and Ehrlich look for a heart transplant recipient and Chandler sucks up to Gideon in order to get promoted.
Dr. Craig and Ehrlich attend a meeting of the Cushing Society, an all male medical society; Wade gets herself into more surgery than she bargained for; Novino takes a special interest in two lonely children; Dr. Gideon offers Ellen a new career; and Chandler is made new chief resident.
Dr. Craig and Ehrlich attend a meeting of the Cushing Society, an all male medical society; Wade gets herself into more surgery than she bargained for; Novino takes a special interest in two lonely children; Dr. Gideon offers Ellen a new career; and Chandler is made new chief resident.
Craig proceeds with his artificial heart implant despite some questions about his choice of candidates; Morrison tries to deal with the departure of Joanne for Seattle and Dr. Craig becomes suspicious about the relationship between Ellen and Dr. Gideon. AIDS patient, Brett Johnston, and his lover are victims of gay bashingan and as a result of his injuries, Brett is readmitted into the hospital.
Fiscus pulls one last prank on Gideon before turning thirty; Morrison and Novino compete to deliver the 100,000th baby at St. Eligius; Dr. Craig puts on the boxing gloves again; and Lucy walks the Freedom Trail with a dying man.
Axelrod's cousin Pee-Wee checks in and checks out Novino; Fiscus tries to help his father deal with his stroke; Mr. Spooner takes his first post surgery steps with the media in full attendance; and Dr. Auschlander considers his future medical treatment.
A man claiming to be the true inventor of the Craig 9000 kidnaps Ehrlich; AIDS patient Brett Johnston's rib injuries have led to pneumonia and he is now determined to break with his lover; Dr. Kiem helps Amy Jeffries, a lonely St. Eligius neighbor; Griffin treats a driven young broker determined to make a million before he dies; Lucy worries that she might be pregnant; Helen returns to work; the company that owns the hospital finds itself sued for infringement and Mrs. Spooner ends her husband's suffering.
Mr. Bevine returns for foreskin reconstruction; Dr. Auschlander seeks an alternative for a fellow cancer patient; Novino frets over Pee-Wee and tests Lucy, who has trouble telling Victor the news; Fiscus returns to work. but has trouble putting his father's death behind him; Morrison's false confidence as `Dr. Adam Logan' evaporates when Pete is rejected by an exclusive private school.
Judge Farnham checks into the hospital with an inoperable cancer (and asking for Floyd the Barber); Rosenthal takes Bobby Caldwell's death very hard; Dr. Craig searches for a date for a skating rink opening; Dr. Kiem is in the middle when she saves the life of a young black man shot by a Vietnamese gang member; Griffin befriends the new chaplain, who's a descendant of the hospital founder, Father McCabe; Novino and Luther compete on the ER simulator and Ehrlich tries to find his elusive parents.
Morrison counsels a family about genetic testing and Huntington's disease; Rosenthal's drug problem causes a death; artist Alex Corey does a shocking piece of performance art; the Craigs proceed with their divorce and the hospital undergoes a name change.
Phil returns from a training course at the Weigert home office; someone takes a shot at Dr. Gideon; Dr. Craig loses Flash during a rescue attempt by animal activists; the new security cameras upset Rosenthal, who continues to lose control; Novino tries to correct a misdiagnosis made 60 years ago, and a show is performed in the children's ward.
Fiscus can't understand his nihilistic cystic fibrosis patient or her punk friends; Dr. Gideon suspends Dr. Craig because of the Spooner malpractice suit; Ehrlich and Lucy are unable to console each other when she miscarries; and Rosenthal admits herself to the chemical dependency unit.
Dr. Craig, Ellen, Lizzie and Novino drive to Peterborough, New Hampshire to visit Dr. Westphall on his birthday; Ellen tries to deal with changes to her hometown; Novino stirs up a lady carpenter; Lizzie finally expresses her resentment; and Dr. Craig almost destroys his friendship with Dr. Westphall.
Wade and Kiley liberate their psyches during a study of OR infection vectors; Dr. Auschlander meets the son he never knew; Morrison and Novino grow closer as they work in the ICU; and Rosenthal adjusts to life in the chemical dependency unit.
Ehrlich stands up to Dr. Craig's verbal missiles; Griffin fails in an attempt to pass along spiritual support; Axelrod faces emergency heart surgery as a patient; Rosenthal finds it hard to face her children during family therapy; and Luther uses Penny's video equipment to record Dr. Gideon.
Brett Johnston's parents come to visit; even in death Axelrod doesn't get any respect; Rosenthal waits for her release while her roommate runs away; Luther proposes to Penny; and Dr. Craig returns to St. Eligius to do a multiple transplant.
An ebullient Novino pursues Morrison; Fiscus tries to revitalize his mother's life; Rosenthal returns to duty; Wade tries to help a dying child deal with her bitterly divided parents; Griffin tests positive for AIDS; Dr. Turner returns and helps Chandler come to a decision about his future; and the Oseranskys return to take Lucy to the ""Doctor of the Year"" dinner, which ends in a flaming disaster.
The Craigs' reconciliation faces its first test; Drs. Auschlander and Gideon struggle together to save St. Eligius when Weigert decides to get out; Novino pushes Morrison to decide between her and Joanne; Griffin places his future in God's hands; Ehrlich returns from his odyssey; and Fiscus' last E.R. patient is a lady from the opera... But is it really over? The jaw-dropping climax culminates in a blue-collared dad placing his young autistic son Tommy Westphall's miniature St. Eligius snow globe on the living room TV set, having summoned him to dinner. ""St. Elsewhere's"" entire six-year saga had all been a figment of little Tommy's imagination!
Interviews with cast members about Cora and Arnie episode.
Interview with cast member and creators
Featurette on Tim Robbins
Featurette on Jack Morrison as played by David Morse
