ER {E.R.}: SUCH SWEET SORROW (TV)
Summary
One in this series of dramas about the emergency room team of an inner-city Chicago hospital. In this episode, Carter struggles to sleep as Abby is roused from a too-brief nap for a patient, and Carol, arriving at the hospital with Tess, tries to explain her uncertain feelings for Doug to a conflicted Kovac. Abby diagnoses the patient with the easily treatable pelvic inflammatory disease, and Weaver storms in to find only new volunteer Frank Martin on duty and many patients waiting. She roundly scolds the other doctors for their seemingly too-relaxed attitudes, and then attends to Sheila O'Brien, an end-stage cancer patient who has signed a "do not resuscitate" order. A fatigued Carter juggles two simultaneous patients, Mrs. Wyatt, who has pyelonephritis, a kidney infection, and Zakar Papazian, an asthmatic. Weaver gently tells the O'Briens that Sheila is experiencing liver failure and will likely pass away soon, and Abby is shocked when her PID patient suddenly collapses and is found to have a ruptured tubo-ovarian abscess, a far more serious condition.
Greene, still processing his father's death, makes an unceremonious return to the hospital, and Mrs. O'Brien pleads to be sent home to die in peace, though Carol tries to suggest some other life-extending methods of treatment. Carter makes a serious error when he doses Mrs. Wyatt with a drug to which she is allergic, and he hastily covers his mistake before privately breaking down in tears at the near-miss. Corday is furious to learn that Abby, still a medical student, treated the TOA patient on her own without Malucci's required oversight, and she informs the doctor that he has a known pattern of "lazy and sloppy" behavior. Chen notices Carter's erratic demeanor and suggests to Greene that he might be suffering from mental illness or some degree of lingering trauma from his attack and Lucy's murder.
Weaver is angered when Carol makes the decision to partially override Mrs. O'Brien's DNR to allow her husband just enough time to fetch their two daughters, and Corday returns Greene's mother's pearls, suggesting that Rachel deserves to own them. Greene tactfully questions Carter, offering to recommend a helpful therapist, and thanks to Carol's intervention, Mrs. O'Brien is able to say goodbye to her husband and children before she dies. Mr. O'Brien thanks Carol for tending to his "soulmate" and, deeply struck by this, Carol finally makes a decision and bids an emotional farewell to Kovac, assuring him that he will someday find someone to truly love him the way she loves Doug. Greene invites Rachel to accompany him to San Diego to scatter his father's ashes, and Carol boards a plane to Seattle, where she happily reunites with Doug. (George Clooney made an uncredited cameo in this episode, which also marked Julianna Margulies' final appearance as a regular cast member.) Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: November 30, 1999 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: N/A
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 110329
- GENRE: Drama, medical
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, medical; Romance; Asian American Pacific Islanders Collection
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1994-2009
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Lydia Woodward … Executive Producer
- John Wells … Executive Producer, Director, Writer
- Michael Crichton … Executive Producer, Created by
- Neal Baer … Co-Executive Producer
- Jack Orman … Co-Executive Producer
- R. Scott Gemmill … Supervising Producer
- Penny Adams … Producer
- Patrick Harbinson … Producer
- Jonathan Kaplan … Producer
- Wendy Spence Rosato … Producer
- Richard Thorpe … Producer
- Michael Salamunovich … Co-Producer
- Vicki Voltarel … Associate Producer
- Teresa Salamunovich … Associate Producer
- Christopher Chulack … Consulting Producer
- Martin Davich … Music by
- James Newton Howard … Theme Music by
- Anthony Edwards … Cast, Mark Greene
- Noah Wyle … Cast, John Carter
- Julianna Margulies … Cast, Carol Hathaway
- Laura Innes … Cast, Kerry Weaver
- Alex Kingston … Cast, Elizabeth Corday
- Paul McCrane … Cast, Robert Romano
- Goran Visnjic … Cast, Luka Kovac
- Maura Tierney … Cast, Abby Lockhart
- Michael Michele … Cast, Cleo Finch
- Erik Palladino … Cast, Dave Malucci
- Ming-Na (see also: Ming-Na Wen) … Cast, Jing-Mei Chen
- Eriq La Salle … Cast, Peter Benton
- Ellen Crawford … Cast, Nurse Lydia Wright
- Troy Evans … Cast, Frank Martin
- Yvette Freeman … Cast, Nurse Haleh Adams
- Louis Mustillo … Cast, Steve O'Brien
- Conni Marie Brazelton … Cast, Nurse Connie Oligario
- Laura Cerón … Cast, Nurse Chuny Marquez
- Deezer D. … Cast, Nurse Malik McGrath
- Ken Davitian … Cast, Zakar Papazian
- Gloria Gifford … Cast, Mrs. Wyatt
- Angela Landis … Cast, Kathy
- Rachel Singer … Cast, Sheila O'Brien
- Gedde Watanabe … Cast, Nurse Yosh Takata
- Yvonne Zima … Cast, Rachel Greene
- Monté Russell … Cast, Dwight Zadro
- Adeline Allen … Cast, Jennifer O'Brien
- Mary Bogue … Cast, Matronly Woman
- Lisa Digangi … Cast, Clerk
- Madison Eginton … Cast, Hannah O'Brien
- Heather Ireland … Cast, Stewardess #1
- Alexandra Margulies … Cast, Another Stewardess
- Duane Shepard … Cast, Janitor
- George Clooney … Cast, Doug Ross