Chicago Hope: Aaron, the staff, and the patients are caught in the crossfire when Antoine Metcalf, a gangbanger and career criminal, follows his latest victim into the E.R. to finish off the job he started, and sprays a room with automatic gunfire before hospital security shoots him down. Karen joins the staff, and successfully teams with Paula to remove hematomas that are preventing Marcus Lavelle from walking, but the trauma of witnessing his mother's being injured in the E.R. shooting leaves the little boy afflicted with hysterical paralysis and still unable to move although the surgery has left him physically fine. Reluctantly operating on the shooter, Aaron jokes about how easy and perhaps appropriate it might be to cause Metcalf's death through a surgical hiccup, a remark which comes back to haunt him later when Metcalf dies soon after surgery and his family sues Aaron and the hospital for failure to provide adequate care. Arthur engages in a little ex parte communication to put in a good word for Aaron with Harold Aldrich, an old friend who also happens to be the judge presiding over the Metcalf lawsuit. Filled with a mixture of anger, fear, and guilt that he may not have done everything possible to save Metcalf, and furthermore, doesn't mourn his death, Aaron is unable to function and Ray's attempts to help only make matters worse. Harold takes Arthur's words to heart and throws the case out, but not before berating and humiliating the Metcalf family's attorney in open court for filing a frivolous suit. Jeffrey's emotional support helps Aaron see the way out of his emotional paralysis and, in turn, help Marcus overcome his physical paralysis.

Starring:

Adam Arkin, Christine Lahti, Hector Elizondo, Jayne Brook, Mandy Patinkin, Mark Harmon, Peter Berg, Rocky Carroll, Thomas Gibson, Vondie Curtis-Hall

Genre:

Drama