Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
John Carter returns from Atlanta rehabilitation to a changed County General and must earn permission to resume clinical work. Abby Lockhart becomes his support in recovery, first as his temporary sponsor, while he tries to rebuild confidence and later slips by taking Vicodin. After admitting the relapse, Carter starts his recovery conditions over and makes amends. Abby’s own plans unravel when unpaid tuition forces her out of medical school; her mother Maggie, who has bipolar disorder, arrives and disrupts the household. Abby and Luka Kovač begin a relationship, though their differing needs and her family responsibilities repeatedly pull them apart.
Mark Greene and Elizabeth Corday decide to buy a home and marry, but Greene develops confusion, seizures and an abrupt change in behavior. He keeps his diagnosis from Corday while she is absorbed in a malpractice case. Once they learn his brain tumor is inoperable, the couple searches New York for another option. A surgeon offers an experimental procedure, and Greene undergoes an operation that removes the tumor. He survives and begins recovering, although his changed judgment worries Weaver enough that she arranges a competency review. The surgery is a reprieve, not the end of the illness.
Chen gives birth and places her baby for adoption, while Weaver struggles to acknowledge her relationship with psychiatrist Kim Legaspi. After the staff respond to a major train wreck, Corday and Greene marry; their daughter Ella is born soon afterward. Carter’s past addiction costs him a bid for chief resident. In the finale, an abusive father, Derek Fossen, goes on a shooting rampage after losing custody of his son. When the wounded gunman needs resuscitation, Greene deliberately withholds the lifesaving shock and lets him die.