| "The Longer You Stay" | |
| Season 8, Episode 2 | |
 | |
| Air date | October 4, 2001 |
| Written by | Jack Orman |
| Directed by | Jonathan Kaplan |
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"The Longer You Stay" is the second episode of the eighth season of ER. The episode first aired on October 4, 2001 on NBC. It was written by Jack Orman and directed by Jonathan Kaplan. Originally off-duty John Carter handles gridlock in ER when newly-appointed chief resident Jing-Mei Chen panics as she and Dave Malucci made a fatal error on one of the patients.
Synopsis
Carter is forced to handle patients who suffered injuries from a rock concert when he was supposed to go off-duty. Chen makes a fatal decision on a patient that she and Malucci were treating. Greene and Corday face difficulties over the care of their baby as well as their careers as doctors. Abby and Luka break up when the latter neglects her. Benton receives news that Reese is hospitalized and Carla has been killed in a car accident. Weaver meets a man with a lead regarding her birth mother.
NBC Description
OFF-DUTY CARTER CAN'T ESCAPE DESPERATE E.R. WHILE BENTON IS JOLTED BY ACCIDENT; JULIE DELPY GUEST-STARS: Just when Dr. Carter (Noah Wyle) thinks he's done for the day, the ER sucks him back in frenetic fashion as he is swamped with problematic patients including several heavy metal roadies and musicians after concert accidents while Dr. Benton (Eriq La Salle) is shocked to hear the full report when his young son (guest star Matthew Watkins) is involved in a car accident.
Newly appointed chief resident Chen (Ming-Na) panics when she is overwhelmed with patients (one of whom she misdiagnoses) while Dr. Weaver (Laura Innes) is suddenly AWOL on personal business just as several lives are in the balance.
Meanwhile, Abby (Maura Tierney) feels neglected by a distracted Dr. Kovac (Goran Visnjic) on an ugly night out, and she especially resents his flirty relationship with an attractive French waitress (guest star Julie Delpy, "Killing Zoe").
Anthony Edwards, Alex Kingston, Paul McCrane, Michael Michele and Erik Palladino also star.
Plot
After returning to talk to Weaver about an Attending position, Carter who's off-duty finds himself being dragged back into the ER as Chen manages him to get to treat a patient, only for things to take hectic when the ER is swamped with victims from a rock concert.
Weaver soon meets a private investigator who has a lead into her birth mother.
Meanwhile, Malucci and Chen treat a man who is also an artist and who they believe is suffering from a heart attack but things take a tragic turn when Carter discovers that the man has Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder where the sufferer has a tall stature and loose joints. Things take a tragic turn when Malucci and Chen reveal that they injected the patient with tenecteplase which draws Carter's anger and has him realizing that the patient is bleeding into his chest due to that. Carter eventually leaves the ER to head to Dr. Magoo's to get to Weaver with the two racing back to the Trauma Room where they find Chen and Malucci still working on the patient. Weaver grimly informs the team to stop what they're doing as their actions have cost the patient his life.