Chicago Hope

Siamese twins are flown to Chicago Hope for a separation procedure. Geiger claims that its nearly impossible for both twins to survive. The parents insist on a difficult operation to try to save both twins. Watters removes Thurmond in the middle of surgery after Thurmond's shaky hands nick an artery.

rc: Laurie Geiger

Dr. Geiger convinces a grieving widower to permit his late wife's body to be used in a test of a mechanical heart. Geiger faces the consequences when the husband threatens a lawsuit, prompting the hospital board to threaten Jeffrey with dismissal unless he apologizes. Dr. Shutt operates on a woman with a large tumor behind her nose. Dr. Thurmond tries to convince Phillip to put him back in the surgical rotation.

rc: Dr. Daniel Nyland

Geiger and Thurmond vie for the right to use a baboon in an experimental procedure. Geiger hopes to transplant its heart into a dying man, extending his life a little longer. Dr. Thurmond wants to perform an experimental AIDS test. Hackett dies while wedged inside an MRI machine with Angela.

rc: Nyland

A troupe of circus acrobats, The Flying Travellis, is brought into the ER following a fall. While their youngest member battles for his life, Dr. Watters attempts to convince the head of the family to give up the act. Jeffrey bashes a driver's windshield with a golf club in a dispute over a parking space. Dr. Shutt clashes with a patient who insists on a Jewish doctor instead of Dr. Winslow.

rc: Nyland

The staff is between a rock and a hard place when they have both a 'headless' baby and an infant with a bad heart. The original plan to transplant the good heart falls through when the child's mother refuses to give up her child. Watters enlists Thurmond's aid to preserve his interim chief of staff position when he's challenged for bringing yet another charity case into the hospital.

rc: Nyland, Judge Harold Aldrich

A teenage boy walks into the ER and opens fire, shooting randomly until a security guard brings him down. Dr. Shutt operates on the shooter against his better judgment. During the surgery, he offhandedly suggests that it might be better if the boy died on the table. After the boy subsequently dies, Aaron faces legal action and begins doubting whether he did everything to save his patient. Dr. Antonovich accepts a position at the hospital.

rc: Nyland

Dr. Antonovich suffers a seizure during a moment of passion with Aaron. Watters forces Dr. Geiger to treat an overweight mob informant. Meanwhile, younger doctors, tired of Geiger's relentless persecution, plot revenge.

rc: Dr. Geri Infante, Nyland, Nurse Maggie Atkisson, Aldrich

Shutt and the staff are prepared to euthanize Karen Antonovich when a young nurse alerts management. Watters stops the procedure and gives orders that Antonovich is not to be touched. Dr. Shutt and the Eel go to court to argue Antonovich's right-to-die. A caustic new plastic surgeon, Dr. Geri Infante, brings a Venezuelan girl with a cleft palate to the hospital for surgery.

rc: Nyland

Camille recognizes an incoming patient as the rabbi that performed her wedding to Aaron. During Rabbi Taubler's heart transplant operation, Camille accidentally drops his new heart, sending it skidding across the floor. Dr. Thurmond fires a young nurse due to her jitters, only to hire her back after she pleads her case. The new nurse files a sexual harassment complaint against Thurmond after she feels he came on to her.

rc: Nyland, Maggie

Half the staff is quarantined after a patient with the Ebola virus passes through the hospital. Nyland and Geiger are quarantined because they treated the patient. Humorous situations arise as character after character joins the party. Birch relishes his position as 'acting chief of staff'.

rc: Laurie, Nyland, Geri, Maggie

A patient comes into the ER with an odd problem. He inhaled some sort of drug to aid him in his 'first night' with his girlfriend. The patient becomes irate after more and more problems pile up. Aaron and Camille have their first date since their break-up. Dr. Geiger leads a Christmas pageant at his wife's asylum.

rc: Nyland

Dr. Watters treats an aspiring boxer who suffered a seizure while in the ring, discovering evidence that the boxer's father may have been injecting steroids into his son. Alan Birch tries to find a home for a teenage girl's child while helping her cope with labor pains.

rc: Geri, Dr. Billy Kronk, Nyland, Aldrich

The victim of a mugging, a concert flutist, is brought into the ER minus a finger. Watters and visiting surgeon Billy Kronk remove the finger from the mugger's stomach. Dr. Infante reattaches the finger only to discover it's not the flutist's finger. Godfrey Nabbott sues Chicago Hope for emotional distress resulting from his disastrous stay. Watters invites Kronk to join the staff.

rc: Laurie, Billy, Dr. Dennis Hancock, Geri, Aldrich

Dr. Kronk operates on a 17-year-old with breast cancer. Laurie Geiger tells Jeffrey she's going to divorce him and marry a fellow mental patient. Shutt agrees to perform a partial lobotomy which may leave Laurie incapacitated. Laurie's fiancée goes to court to contest Geiger's guardianship.

rc: Geri, Billy, Dennis

A man, Kevin Fitzpatrick, takes an OR hostage when his brother is passed over yet again for a heart transplant. Fitzpatrick demands that his brother receive the heart or he'll start shooting. Meanwhile, Nyland undergoes surgery after exploding bullets in the body of a wounded police officer go off, severely damaging two fingers. Aaron and Camille work very carefully to remove the remaining bullets.

rc: Billy, Dr. Diane Grad, Dennis, Geri, Maggie

Chicago Hope is flooded with reporters when a boy trapped in freezing water for three hours is brought into the ER. The boy's ear accidentally comes off during life-saving procedures. Dr. Infante throws herself at Geiger.

rc: Billy, Geri, Maggie

The staff is stunned when a man walks into the ER with a metal bar through his skull. The bar damages the man's frontal lobe, severely changing his personality. Nyland treats a man with a hair-eating disorder. The patient refuses treatment until he mistakes Camille for the reincarnation of Judy Garland. Kadalski persuades Camille to dress like Dorothy and sing 'Over the Rainbow', enraging the more sedate members of the psychiatric unit, who call for Kadalski's dismissal.

rc: Billy, Diane, Dennis, Geri

Aaron and Jeffrey perform simultaneous operations on an ailing man. Aaron needs to 'freeze' the body to remove an aneurysm, while Jeffrey needs to strengthen the patient's weakened heart. Rayfield Health, Dr. Hancock's HMO, terminates his contract when he refuses to raise rates. The Eel goes to court to get Dennis reinstated. Dr. Kronk discovers that his girlfriend used to be a man.

rc: Billy, Diane, Dennis, Maggie

Billy faces possible criminal charges after he uses a chainsaw to amputate the leg of an accident victim. Aaron plans to perform a controversial procedure, harvesting a fetus for its tissue to stave off Parkinson's disease. Nyland and Geiger have their hands full with Allyson, one of Nyland's old flings, who seemingly has a microscopic tumor.

rc: Billy, Diane, Geri, Aldrich

A panic runs through the hospital when three patients die from post-operative infections. A health inspector threatens to shut down Chicago Hope over Watters' vigorous objections. A resident contracts a variant of the 'flesh-eating virus' after being bitten.

rc: Laurie, Diane, Dennis, Geri

Geri persuades Geiger to broaden their relationship. Jeffrey invites Geri, as well as Aaron and Camille, to have dinner with he and Laurie in an effort to exorcise whatever demons are holding Jeffrey back. The meal goes poorly, sending Jeffrey into a downward spiral of madness. Meanwhile, Dennis treats a dying AIDS patient.

rc: Laurie, Billy, Dennis, Geri

Geiger's medical license is suspended after Dr. Joseph files a report with the state medical board describing Jeffrey's actions at Russo's. His professional future is at stake as Jeffrey's conduct...and sanity is reviewed.

47th Annual Prime Time Emmy Awards

Category                          Winner  Nominee
Outstanding Drama                   N     Chicago Hope
Lead Actor                          Y     Mandy Patinkin
Supporting Actor                    N     Hector Elizondo
Cinematography                      Y     "Over the Rainbow"
Directing                           N     Lou Antonio: "Life Support"
Single-Camera Editing               N     "Pilot"
                                    N     "The Quarantine"
Main Title Theme Music              N     Mark Isham
Sound Mixing                        N     "Internal Affairs"