| "Be Patient" | |
| Season 6, Episode 15 | |
 | |
| Air date | February 24, 2000 |
| Written by | Jack Orman |
| Directed by | Jonathan Kaplan |
| Episode Guide | |
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Be Patient is the 15th episode in the sixth season of "ER".
Plot[]
It's tough times for Carter who is in rehab, still recovering from his near-death experience at the hands of a psychotic patient and who's also struggling to come to terms with Lucy's death.
Kovac treats a child who was hit by a car and when the driver shows up in the ER, he snaps while Hathaway treats a teenager who has been diagnosed with HPV after attending a sex party while a romance between Elizabeth Corday and Mark Greene turns sad when Greene learns that his father is terminally ill.
NBC Description[]
DR. KOVAC GAMBLES TRYING TO SAVE LIFE OF YOUNG HIT-AND-RUN VICTIM: An off-duty Dr. Kovac (Goran Visnjic) witnesses a hit-and-run accident that leaves a young girl (guest stars Kelsi and Kayli Degregorio) fighting for her life, but he second-guesses himself when he elects to transport her to the hospital himself rather than wait for the paramedics and wonders if his desperate measures might ultimately kill her.
Nurse Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) discovers that a promiscuous 14-year-old schoolgirl (guest star Cara Delizia) has cervical cancer and is torn when the frightened teen refuses to tell her parents.
Drs. Greene (Anthony Edwards) and Corday (Alex Kingston) react differently when they discover that their parents (guest stars Judy Parfitt and John Cullum) are getting to know each other very well.
New medical student Abby (Maura Tierney) disagrees with Dr. Weaver's (Laura Innes) quick assessment of a sick patient (guest star Christopher Rich).
Dr. Greene learns some sobering news from a patient's x-rays. Eriq La Salle, Noah Wyle, Michael Michele, Erik Palladino and Ming-Na also star.
Synopsis[]
Mark Greene and Elizabeth Corday are walking to the hospital when Elizabeth realizes that she forgot her notes back in her apartment. Upon her return to her apartment, she finds her mom and Mark's dad having breakfast. She waits for Mark's Dad to leave before she talks to her mom. They get into an argument over the situation and her mom asks her why she thinks every relationship will fail. Elizabeth says because theirs did. Elizabeth tells Mark about their parent's affair. Mark's Dad shows up at the ER and Mark teases him about the situation. He is there to get some scans taken of his lungs. Elizabeth's mom tells Elizabeth that she checked into a hotel and that she's sorry if she set such a terrible example. Elizabeth runs into Mark's Dad. He apologizes for what happened in the morning. They talk for a while before he suggests that they go out later that night and bury the hatchet. Mark goes looking for his Dad's scans and finds them. He learns that his Dad has lung cancer. Elizabeth, Mark, and their parents go bowling. Elizabeth and her mom makeup and Mark's dad tries to teach them how to bowl. Later that night, Mark tells his Dad that he has lung cancer. He says that he knows. That he's known for a while. Mark asks why he didn't tell him. He says he didn't want his cancer to define him.
Luka Kovač almost hits a kid while driving home. It's a near miss, but the kid is hit by another oncoming car. The driver freaks out and speeds away while Luka gets out to help the little girl. Luka manages to splint the girl's leg and enlists the help of a plumber to take the little girl to the hospital because the ambulance is taking too long. While on the way to the hospital, the girl's lung collapses so Luka goes to use a needle to reinflate it. As he does this, the car hits a bump and he accidentally nicks an artery. He calls ahead and tells the hospital that he's coming in with a major trauma. He tells them that they waited seven minutes for an ambulance to show up and Mark tells him that it arrived two minutes after they left. While working on the girl, they realize that her chest is full of blood and that he did nick an artery. They call for an OR. Peter Benton refuses to let Luka scrub in even though it's his patient. Peter tells Luka to go home. While talking to Abby, Luka notices a man being cleaned up by a nurse. He realizes that it's the same guy that hit the little girl. He tells Abby Lockhart to call the police. The guy tries to leave buy Luka corners him. He asks if the little girl is alright and Luka says he doesn't have the right to ask that. Later, Peter tells the Mom that her daughter had a successful surgery and that she can go see her now. Luka apologizes to Peter about getting upset earlier for not being allowed to scrub in. Peter tells Luka that he made the right call and that it took guts to do so.
Abby is treating a patient with hemorrhoids. He tells her that he needs to head back to Denver for his girlfriend's birthday. She says that isn't likely and orders a bunch of tests to figure out whats wrong with him. The tests come back normal but Abby wants to do another test just in case. Weaver comes in and tells her that the test is nessecary and that she needs to discharge him. Abby doesn't listen and takes the sample to the lab. That test comes back normal as well so Weaver tells her again to discharge him. While walking her patient out of the hospital, Abby tells him that if he's not feeling good in 15-20 minutes that he should come back to the hospital. He asks if there's something wrong with him but she doesn't say. Kerry Weaver is confused when she's told that Abby's patient has returned. He is now being treated by Jing-Mei because he was bleeding from his rectum. Weaver tells Abby that they were incredibly lucky that her patient checked himself back in. Weaver says that Abby was right. Abby says that it was just a gut feeling.
Carol Hathaway is approached by two school girls who ask if what they tell her is confidential. Carol says that everything they tell her is confidential. They tell her that they might have caught syphilis. Weaver examines one of the girls. She says that there is no sign of syphilis but that they are going to run an HIV test. The girl asks if she's alright but Carol tells her to wait for the test results. Carol returns with the results and asks to speak to one of the girls privately. She tells her that she might have cervical cancer. That she needs to be admitted to the hospital because if she isn't treated she can get very sick. Carol also says that they need to inform her partner. The girl asks which one and Carol asks how manys she's had. She says she's unsure because they have sex parties. Weaver tells Carol that she has to call the school and tell them because it's a public health issue now and that the other kids need to be examined. Carol goes to talk to her patient but she left with her friend. Carol goes looking for them. She goes to their school and runs into them. They're upset because she told the school about their situation. Later, one of the girls returns to the hospital having been found on the floor after having taken a bunch of pills. Her friend shows up and tells Carol what pills she might have taken. She wakes up and Dave orders for her to eat charcoal. Afterward, Carol tells her that she only told the school but didn't tell her parents. She was hoping that she'd do it. She tells the girl that if something happened to them wouldn't she want to know. The girl shakes her head.
Jing-Mei Chen is doing chart reviews for Carter and Lucy Knight's patients. She gives John updates on his patients. He asks if she's doing Lucy's patients too and she says yes. He asks how the memorial service was and she says it was nice. She asks how he's doing. He says he's fine that he's getting a lot of visitors. That it's okay he'll be back in a couple of weeks. Jing-Mei tells him to take it easy. Carter is walking down the hall with the assistance of a walker. His nurse tries to get him to take a break but he says he can make it back to the room. As they start walking again, Carter runs into Lucy's Mom. Lucy's mom and Carter talk about Lucy and how she had a lot of respect for him. She asks if she can ask him something. She asks what it felt like to be stabbed. Carter tells her that it happened really fast and that he didn't know what was going on but that he didn't feel anything. No pain. Lucy's mom seems relieved. Later, Carter is wheeling down the hallway with Peter. He tells him how he lied to Lucy's mom about how being stabbed wasn't painful.
Characters[]
- Luka Kovač
- Peter Benton
- Carol Hathaway
- Mark Greene
- Elizabeth Corday
- Abby Lockhart
- Kerry Weaver
- Jing-Mei Chen
- John Carter
- Dave Malucci
- Cleo Finch
- Peter Benton
Trivia[]
- This is the first episode not to include Kellie Martin as Lucy Knight since her first episode (Day For Knight).