Kerry Weaver
Encyclopedia
Dr. Kerry Weaver, portrayed by Laura Innes
, was an fictional character
on the NBC
television series ER
; she first appeared as a recurring character actor in season 2, and became a regular cast member in season 3. In January 2007, Innes left the show after 12 years and Kerry Weaver moved to Florida
.
Very little of Weaver's background was revealed to the audience early on. Audiences only saw an accomplished doctor, fueled by ambition and dedicated to administrative policies. As for her personal background, the only things initially revealed were that she was physically disabled (as evidenced by a limp in her gait which was aided by the use of a forearm crutch, caused by Congenital Hip Dysplasia
, a Birth Defect, Revealed in S11E14), and that she had lived for a period in Africa
, which was revealed when a former African boyfriend visited her at the hospital.
Weaver arrived at County General as Chief Resident and later became an attending physician
, then rose to Chief of Emergency Medicine and finally Hospital Chief of Staff. Through it all, Weaver remained unfazed by her physical disability until much later in the show's life, which required her to move about the crowded and chaotic ER with a crutch, and by her controversial standing among colleagues, several of whom regard her as abrasive, cold and officious. Having had some heterosexual relationships, Weaver is eventually revealed as lesbian
, her sexual orientation
being a key point in some of the episodes, particularly when she fights in court to keep her son, Henry.
Weaver is, just after John Carter
, the character to have appeared in the most episodes.
. These were closely guarded secrets for a woman who wanted to succeed professionally, but feared discrimination
. She was also unable to fully deal with her internalized homophobia
and regretted that she never knew her birth parents.
When she was first hired by Mark Greene
as chief resident in 1995, this let down much of the ER staff who didn't care for her detail-oriented approach in the trauma rooms. Early in her position, she would often clash with Doug Ross
and resident Susan Lewis
over most of the procedures in patient care. In addition, her strong belief in administrative policies would be dragged out into every unnecessary aspect in the workplace (in one episode, Jerry brought cake celebrating her day off). In Season 3, Kerry became an ER attending physician alongside Mark Greene, whom she would always manage to compete with or maneuver to catch the eye of her superiors.
As a result, it was difficult for anyone — the audience or any of the other characters — to really know Weaver beyond her tough and bureaucratic professionalism. In an early glimpse into her soul, Weaver defended Jeanie Boulet
(played by Gloria Reuben
, a physician's assistant who contracted HIV
from her adulterous
husband
. Later Boulet contracts Hepatitis C
from a needle stick accident involving an infected patient. She fought to keep her job and dignity, while some doctors worried about the liability involved in having an HIV-positive employee in the ER. Weaver was the first person in a position of power to side with Jeanie, and the two remained friends until Jeanie's budget-related firing and her successful pressure campaign to get her job back. They reconciled and were close friends again when Jeanie left the ER to be with her new husband and raise her adopted HIV+ son Carlos.
Weaver demonstrated a great deal of compassion and a moral commitment to civil rights
, and that helped her and Dr. Greene draft an ER policy for HIV-positive employees. This storyline developed Weaver's character beyond that of a stoic, abrasive professional. In future episodes, she agreed to look the other way when Dr. John Carter
helped a teenage runaway escape her homophobic parents who sent her away to an ex-gay
camp.
In 1997, Weaver went through a brief relationship with Ellis West (played by Clancy Brown
), an M.D. working for the Synergix Group, which was under consideration by County for a general management contract of the ER. Despite his claims to the contrary, she eventually came to the conclusion that West had begun a relationship with her in order to gain her approval of the contract. West said she was wrong, withdrew the proposal and left the show.
After Carter was fired from his RA position and had nowhere to live, he followed an ad which led him to Dr. Weaver's house; she had been renting out her basement to college students. For the first time, the audience saw the inside of her city home, and noted that she was single and independent, lived in a nice home, and had a particular taste in music. Weaver also hired a private investigator
to locate her birth mother, an effort that initially failed and revealed Weaver's fear that she was raised by adoptive parents because her mother could not accept a disabled daughter.
In 1998, during Season 4, Kerry was briefly debilitated when an explosion at chemical plant sent victims flooding in, creating a toxic benzene spill in the ER. Weaver dropped to the floor having a convulsive seizure from the effects of the toxins. She was treated by Dr. Carter and Dr. Anna Del Amico
, who took charge for the first time, Dr. Greene out of town.
Ever since her arrival at County General, Kerry has been very ambitious in pursuing higher administrative titles, such as Chief of Emergency Medicine. This was after Dr. Morgenstern's long, extensive absence, that a new position needed to be filled. For a short period she is made interim acting chief of emergency medicine until a suitable replacement was found. Yet, after an incident involving the hiring of a doctor who turned out to be a very accomplished if bizarre non-physician, Kerry's chances were luckily left open. But, the hospital wasn't really considering her for the position. When she found out, she immediately quit as interim chief of the ER. Unfortunately, Dr. Romano jumped at the opportunity to become interim chief of the ER. At the start of Season 6, word spreads that Romano might be up to the position as Chief of Staff; news that both Kerry and Mark Greene resented and tried to prevent. However, in the end Kerry backed Dr. Romano up for Chief of Staff and in return she is given the position of Chief of Emergency medicine.
In 1999, Weaver welcomed the chance to hire Dr. Gabe Lawrence (played by Alan Alda
), who had been her mentor
. She initially refused to accept Dr. Mark Greene
's assertion that Lawrence was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease
, but she ultimately faced facts and said goodbye to her role model
.
Throughout the 1990s, the series occasionally dropped hints that Weaver was a lesbian
, from her taste in music, to her house, and to her awkward rejections of advances from some male coworkers. Yet, until season seven, Weaver was simply a single, ambitious professional woman with a - somewhat hidden - kind heart.
) was identified as a lesbian through cryptic dialogue and a humorous scene where she takes Carter to a shooting range
and eventually hides from her jealous ex-girlfriend.
Yosh Takata (Gedde Watanabe
), a nurse, was identified as gay in a similar fashion as Doyle, and was a recurring character until Watanabe left the show in 2003. Doyle and Takata never got the chance to demonstrate that they had romantic lives, however, and thus remained asexual characters that always played second fiddle to the series' heterosexual characters. This changed when Weaver took very slow steps to come out
as a lesbian.
In mid-season, Weaver fell in love with staff psychiatrist
Kim Legaspi (played by Elizabeth Mitchell
), but was afraid to admit it to Legaspi or herself. While Legaspi was openly lesbian and willing to pursue a romantic relationship with Weaver, she became frustrated that Weaver was not only in the closet, but also suffered from internalized homophobia and thus the relationship got off to a slow start. Once Weaver was able to admit to herself that she was gay, she was still paranoid about her coworkers finding out and the discriminatory consequences it might have on her career. This was despite their relationship becoming an "open secret" among most of the people in the ER.
During that story, we also learned that Kerry had been married to a surgical resident before her career at County General started.
The first coworker Weaver came out to was the bigoted Dr. Robert Romano
, who planned to fire Legaspi over trumped up allegations that she sexually harassed
a female patient. Weaver's act of courage kept Romano from firing Legaspi, but it also emotionally drained Weaver, whose fears of discrimination ruining her career resurfaced. She was therefore unable to provide emotional support to Legaspi, who kept her job, but at the cost of seeing the entrenched homophobia of the hospital administration and her own girlfriend, who remained in the closet. Legaspi broke up with Weaver and decided to take a job offer in San Francisco rather than face the homophobia
from Romano or the lack of emotional support she received from Weaver.
Kerry also runs afoul of Elizabeth Corday in Season 7 when she has Mark Greene evaluated for professional competency after he shows noticeable personality changes after returning from brain tumor surgery. As a result, Kerry is not invited to Elizabeth and Mark's wedding, and while she and Mark seem to mend fences in Season 8, she and Elizabeth remained mostly unfriendly until Kerry's partner Sandy Lopez died. Elizabeth sympathized and the two doctors were on better terms until Dr. Corday departed the show in Season 11. They were never close friends though. In fact, Elizabeth's departure comes when she deliberately performs an illegal, life-saving transplant from an HIV+ donor into an HIV+ individual and does so in large part because she knows it'll anger Kerry, leading to Kerry to offer a demotion that Elizabeth declines before quitting.
. Kerry was still quite paranoid about anyone discovering her true status even though her sexual orientation
was already known to some of her coworkers. Weaver did, however, begin a new relationship with firefighter
Lt. Sandy Lopez (played by Lisa Vidal
) who she met in a rain storm while trying to rescue a pregnant woman out of a crashed ambulance. As the two get close, Lopez told Kerry she refused to date a woman that was in the closet. Lopez forcibly outed Weaver with a passionate kiss in front of her coworkers. What followed was a groundbreaking story for network television as the development of the romance between the two women was treated with the courtship, passion and arguments often reserved for heterosexual couples.
Lopez said, "I did you a favor," after the kiss in the ER; a few episodes later, Weaver admitted to her that she was right. At the season's end, Weaver accepted herself as a lesbian, and became eager to combat homophobia wherever it appeared.
In Season Eight's second episode "The Longer You Stay", Weaver failed to answer repeated pages from Doctors Malucci & Chen when a patient being tended to by them has complications. Weaver is finally hauled in by Dr. Carter when he ran from the ER to get her personally from Doc Magoo's, sustaining a painful fall in the process. But after the patient dies and she flatly barks at the three "You killed him.", she is seen back at Doc Magoo's where she finds the pager she left in the bathroom stall.
Desperate to cover up her irresponsibility when the hospital is sued by the patient's family, Weaver callously fires Malucci in third episode "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic" on a trumped-up charge of misconduct, and by the fourth episode "Never Say Never", she's managed to pin the malpractice on Malucci and Chen, stripping the latter of her authority and she quits, but brings a wrongful termination suit against Weaver and the hospital in the twelfth episode, "A River In Egypt". Chief of Staff Romano, having learned about the pager incident and trying to avoid a scandal, forces Weaver to reinstate Chen.
In "Bygones", Kerry is stunned when she realizes a lonely young woman murdered her roommate because of unrequited love. Kerry then mends fences with Sandy Lopez and the two of them make their first ER-social appearance at an impromptu drinking party after Mark Greene has died. Kerry is visibly saddened by Mark's death and for the first time loses her patience and breaks down in the workplace after hearing the news of his passing. She later tells Sandy she knew his demise was coming but never thought it would affect her as deeply as it did. She realizes she had lost a friend, and regrets the years they spent in bitter competition for various ER posts and promotions. At Dr. Greene's funeral, Kerry is again seen crying, shakened by the loss of a dear friend of 7 years.
felt Lopez should carry the child. Lopez, however, did not want to get pregnant, because it would impact her firefighting career. The couple did not get much screen time that season, and Weaver was given another story thread about the consequences she faced when she failed to report a local politician who tested positive for syphilis
; Alderman Martin Bright provided funding for County and a plum position for Kerry, but forced her to do an off-the-record treatment of his closeted gay lover that ended with the lover's accidental death from an allergic reaction to penicillin
. Later, Dr. Anspaugh became fed up with Dr. Romano's attitude and neglect on the job. Anspaugh offered to lighten Romano's work load by sharing his administrative duties with Kerry Weaver. When Romano refused this, he was replaced with a somewhat surprised Weaver, who offers Romano the Chief of Emergency Medicine
position.
is killed in a helicopter
accident
, like many others, Kerry isn't saddened at all by his death. Later in early 2004, Weaver dedicates a Center of LGBT healthcare in the memory of Romano, which secretly serves as post mortem payback, since Romano was no supporter of gay rights. In her personal life, Lopez changed her mind about having a baby, and she gave birth to baby Henry in the hospital, happy that she and Weaver started a family. Later on in the season, Lopez died due to injuries she suffered while fighting a fire. Sandy's parents (who had never approved of her sexual orientation) took custody of Henry and for the remainder of the season, Weaver's storyline focused on a child custody battle between herself and Lopez's parents. The custody situation was eventually settled when the Lopezes and Weaver agreed to her having primary custody, with the Lopezes taking care of Henry while Kerry was at work.
Christian
, originally from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
and currently living in Indiana
. Kingsley (Frances Fisher
) explained to Weaver that, as an unmarried, teenage mother with limited options for raising a child, she gave Weaver up for adoption in hopes of her having a better life when she was fourteen days old. She was in town for a Christ Crusade and decided to meet her daughter. When Kingsley learned her daughter was a lesbian, she and Weaver clashed over faith
and sexuality
, with Weaver insisting that her mother love and accept her. Kingsley said she could love her daughter, but because she could not accept homosexuality as moral, she could not accept Weaver's lifestyle. This episode not only ended the mystery behind Weaver's mother, it also revealed for the first time the reason for Weaver's crutch: Helen inquires about Weaver's limp, and Weaver explains that she suffers from congenital hip dysplasia
, a birth defect. Weaver is surprised to learn that Helen knew nothing about it, and her long-held fear that the birth defect was the reason she was given up for adoption is resolved.
Aside from this episode, Kerry Weaver almost exclusively plays supporting roles and is frequently absent from entire episodes.
to fix her hip dysplasia
, that's been giving her pain over the last few months. In the episode "No Place To Hide," Kerry walks for the first time on the series without the aid of her forearm crutch
. (Reportedly, this storyline was done, at least in part, because Laura Innes really was starting to develop hip and back problems after ten years of walking with a fake limp for the sake of her role.) Laura Innes described this arc as the character, "Shedding some of her hardness and moving on in her life."
At the end of the season, Kerry faces criticism for hiring Dr. Victor Clemente (John Leguizamo
) as an attending physician, who compromised patient care leading to possible liability and lawsuits to the hospital. Kerry tries to divert the fire towards Dr. Luka Kovač
(Goran Visnjic
), the Chief of Emergency Medicine, risking his job as a result.
) begin to develop a close relationship, one Kerry hasn't felt since her deceased partner Sandy Lopez. Courtney tells her how her great news broadcasting could open a successful career for her. However, Kerry wasn't too convinced about leaving County General for her news track. This was until ER chief Luka Kovač
had to enact budget cuts and had to consider firing her. Kerry fought her position explaining how it was her sacrifice that saved Luka's job (leaving out the facts that her bad decisions and treachery had put his job in jeopardy before she did the right thing in the end). Yet after some thought during the care of an amputee patient and Katrina survivor, she felt it was time to move on. She later reconsidered accepting a television show offer at WTVJ
in Miami, despite Kovač's last minute efforts to convince her to stay.
Kerry Weaver's last regular appearance on ER was in the Season 13 episode called "A House Divided" Episode number 280 in which Abby Lockhart
expressed to Dr. Weaver that if it had not been for her, she'd never have become a doctor or a mother. As Kerry packed up and walked out of County General's doors for the last time, she only asked Luka to take care of the place for her and advised him not to make her mistake-getting involved in hospital politics
.
Laura Innes' last appearance as a series regular on the show was on January 11, 2007. Following her departure from the program, NBC received some pressure from GLAAD to introduce more LGBT
characters.
sequence in the Season 15 episode entitled "Heal Thyself", which was set back in 2002, just months before Greene's death. In her scene, she walked into Trauma 1 and expressed how worried she was about Dr. Mark Greene, because of his fight with brain cancer
. She told him to step down and take a break from treating Banfield's son. After he refused, Dr. Weaver reluctantly left the room.
During the 15th and final season of ER, at the end of the episode "The Book of Abby," long-serving nurse Haleh Adams shows the departing Abby Lockhart
a closet wall where all the past doctors and employees have put their locker name tags. Amongst them, the tag "Weaver" can be seen.
During Season 15 episode 19, former co-worker Dr. Doug Ross
asked both Sam Taggart and Neela Rasgotra
about Weaver (as he found out that they were from County), curious if she was still working there.
In the series finale, she flew from Florida to attend the dedication and opening of the Carter Center. She meets up with Elizabeth Corday
, Susan Lewis
, John Carter
, and Peter Benton
after Carter's opening. The old colleagues go out to eat at an old tavern and catch up with each other. At the end of the night, she then tells the group that she couldn't stay any longer, as she needed to catch a flight back to Florida
. Kerry gave everyone a hug and left Chicago
.
Laura Innes
Laura Elizabeth Innes is an American actress and director, probably best known for her role as Dr. Kerry Weaver on ER, and most recently, as Sophia on the NBC thriller The Event.-Career:...
, was an fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television series ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
; she first appeared as a recurring character actor in season 2, and became a regular cast member in season 3. In January 2007, Innes left the show after 12 years and Kerry Weaver moved to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
Very little of Weaver's background was revealed to the audience early on. Audiences only saw an accomplished doctor, fueled by ambition and dedicated to administrative policies. As for her personal background, the only things initially revealed were that she was physically disabled (as evidenced by a limp in her gait which was aided by the use of a forearm crutch, caused by Congenital Hip Dysplasia
Hip dysplasia (human)
Hip dysplasia, developmental dysplasia of the hip or congenital dysplasia of the hip is a congenital or acquired deformation or misalignment of the hip joint.-Terminology:...
, a Birth Defect, Revealed in S11E14), and that she had lived for a period in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, which was revealed when a former African boyfriend visited her at the hospital.
Weaver arrived at County General as Chief Resident and later became an attending physician
Attending physician
In the United States, an attending physician is a physician who has completed residency and practices medicine in a clinic or hospital, in the specialty learned during residency. An attending physician can supervise fellows, residents, and medical students...
, then rose to Chief of Emergency Medicine and finally Hospital Chief of Staff. Through it all, Weaver remained unfazed by her physical disability until much later in the show's life, which required her to move about the crowded and chaotic ER with a crutch, and by her controversial standing among colleagues, several of whom regard her as abrasive, cold and officious. Having had some heterosexual relationships, Weaver is eventually revealed as lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, her sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
being a key point in some of the episodes, particularly when she fights in court to keep her son, Henry.
Weaver is, just after John Carter
John Carter (ER)
Dr. John Truman Carter III, portrayed by Noah Wyle, is a fictional character from the television series ER. The character, called simply "Carter" by most other characters, was introduced in the pilot episode and appeared for eleven consecutive seasons. Wyle decided to leave the show as a regular...
, the character to have appeared in the most episodes.
Seasons two through six
During Innes' first six seasons on the show, little was revealed about the details of Weaver's background which would later become some of her defining traits: her sexual orientation, political beliefs, and even the precise nature of her disabilityDisability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
. These were closely guarded secrets for a woman who wanted to succeed professionally, but feared discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
. She was also unable to fully deal with her internalized homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
and regretted that she never knew her birth parents.
When she was first hired by Mark Greene
Mark Greene
Dr. Mark Greene was a fictional medical doctor from the television series ER, portrayed by the actor Anthony Edwards. For most of his time on the series, Greene's role was that of a mediator and occasional authority figure, and he was considered the main character of the series for the first eight...
as chief resident in 1995, this let down much of the ER staff who didn't care for her detail-oriented approach in the trauma rooms. Early in her position, she would often clash with Doug Ross
Doug Ross
Dr. Douglas "Doug" Ross is a fictional character from the television series ER, portrayed by George Clooney. George Clooney's removal from the main cast opening credits was in the 16th episode of season 5.-Plot details:...
and resident Susan Lewis
Susan Lewis
Dr. Susan Lewis, played by Sherry Stringfield, is a fictional doctor on the television show ER between 1994–1996, and again from 2001-2005....
over most of the procedures in patient care. In addition, her strong belief in administrative policies would be dragged out into every unnecessary aspect in the workplace (in one episode, Jerry brought cake celebrating her day off). In Season 3, Kerry became an ER attending physician alongside Mark Greene, whom she would always manage to compete with or maneuver to catch the eye of her superiors.
As a result, it was difficult for anyone — the audience or any of the other characters — to really know Weaver beyond her tough and bureaucratic professionalism. In an early glimpse into her soul, Weaver defended Jeanie Boulet
Jeanie Boulet
Jeanie Boulet is a fictional character from the television series ER. She was portrayed by Gloria Reuben as a recurring character midway in the first season, then as a regular from season 2 onwards. Reuben left the serial in the 6th season, but in 2008 she reprised the role for one episode.Jeanie...
(played by Gloria Reuben
Gloria Reuben
Gloria Reuben is a Canadian singer and actress of film and television, known for her role as Jeanie Boulet on the popular medical drama ER and for her role of Rosalind Whitman in the TV show Raising the Bar.-Life and career:...
, a physician's assistant who contracted HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
from her adulterous
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
husband
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
. Later Boulet contracts Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease primarily affecting the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus . The infection is often asymptomatic, but chronic infection can lead to scarring of the liver and ultimately to cirrhosis, which is generally apparent after many years...
from a needle stick accident involving an infected patient. She fought to keep her job and dignity, while some doctors worried about the liability involved in having an HIV-positive employee in the ER. Weaver was the first person in a position of power to side with Jeanie, and the two remained friends until Jeanie's budget-related firing and her successful pressure campaign to get her job back. They reconciled and were close friends again when Jeanie left the ER to be with her new husband and raise her adopted HIV+ son Carlos.
Weaver demonstrated a great deal of compassion and a moral commitment to civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
, and that helped her and Dr. Greene draft an ER policy for HIV-positive employees. This storyline developed Weaver's character beyond that of a stoic, abrasive professional. In future episodes, she agreed to look the other way when Dr. John Carter
John Carter (ER)
Dr. John Truman Carter III, portrayed by Noah Wyle, is a fictional character from the television series ER. The character, called simply "Carter" by most other characters, was introduced in the pilot episode and appeared for eleven consecutive seasons. Wyle decided to leave the show as a regular...
helped a teenage runaway escape her homophobic parents who sent her away to an ex-gay
Ex-gay
The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that seek to get people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexual desires, to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual relationship...
camp.
In 1997, Weaver went through a brief relationship with Ellis West (played by Clancy Brown
Clancy Brown
Clarence J. "Clancy" Brown III is an American actor and voice actor. He is known for his roles in live action as The Kurgan in the cult classic film Highlander, Byron Hadley in the award-winning The Shawshank Redemption, Brother Justin Crowe in HBO's critically acclaimed Carnivàle, and Career...
), an M.D. working for the Synergix Group, which was under consideration by County for a general management contract of the ER. Despite his claims to the contrary, she eventually came to the conclusion that West had begun a relationship with her in order to gain her approval of the contract. West said she was wrong, withdrew the proposal and left the show.
After Carter was fired from his RA position and had nowhere to live, he followed an ad which led him to Dr. Weaver's house; she had been renting out her basement to college students. For the first time, the audience saw the inside of her city home, and noted that she was single and independent, lived in a nice home, and had a particular taste in music. Weaver also hired a private investigator
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
to locate her birth mother, an effort that initially failed and revealed Weaver's fear that she was raised by adoptive parents because her mother could not accept a disabled daughter.
In 1998, during Season 4, Kerry was briefly debilitated when an explosion at chemical plant sent victims flooding in, creating a toxic benzene spill in the ER. Weaver dropped to the floor having a convulsive seizure from the effects of the toxins. She was treated by Dr. Carter and Dr. Anna Del Amico
Anna Del Amico
Dr. Anna Del Amico is a fictional medical doctor from the television series ER. She was portrayed by Maria Bello.- Life and Time at County :Del Amico first appeared in the show in 1997, guest starring in the last 3 episodes of the third season...
, who took charge for the first time, Dr. Greene out of town.
Ever since her arrival at County General, Kerry has been very ambitious in pursuing higher administrative titles, such as Chief of Emergency Medicine. This was after Dr. Morgenstern's long, extensive absence, that a new position needed to be filled. For a short period she is made interim acting chief of emergency medicine until a suitable replacement was found. Yet, after an incident involving the hiring of a doctor who turned out to be a very accomplished if bizarre non-physician, Kerry's chances were luckily left open. But, the hospital wasn't really considering her for the position. When she found out, she immediately quit as interim chief of the ER. Unfortunately, Dr. Romano jumped at the opportunity to become interim chief of the ER. At the start of Season 6, word spreads that Romano might be up to the position as Chief of Staff; news that both Kerry and Mark Greene resented and tried to prevent. However, in the end Kerry backed Dr. Romano up for Chief of Staff and in return she is given the position of Chief of Emergency medicine.
In 1999, Weaver welcomed the chance to hire Dr. Gabe Lawrence (played by Alan Alda
Alan Alda
Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo , better known as Alan Alda, is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and author. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H...
), who had been her mentor
Mentor
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...
. She initially refused to accept Dr. Mark Greene
Mark Greene
Dr. Mark Greene was a fictional medical doctor from the television series ER, portrayed by the actor Anthony Edwards. For most of his time on the series, Greene's role was that of a mediator and occasional authority figure, and he was considered the main character of the series for the first eight...
's assertion that Lawrence was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
, but she ultimately faced facts and said goodbye to her role model
Role model
The term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students...
.
Throughout the 1990s, the series occasionally dropped hints that Weaver was a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, from her taste in music, to her house, and to her awkward rejections of advances from some male coworkers. Yet, until season seven, Weaver was simply a single, ambitious professional woman with a - somewhat hidden - kind heart.
Season seven
ER was no stranger to realistic gay and lesbian characters as staff, patients or other characters. Dr. Maggie Doyle (Jorja FoxJorja Fox
Jorja-An Fox , is an American actress, musician and songwriter. She first came to prominence as a guest star on the television drama ER, portraying the recurring role of Dr. Maggie Doyle from 1996 to 1999. This was followed by another critical success in the recurring role of Secret Service Agent...
) was identified as a lesbian through cryptic dialogue and a humorous scene where she takes Carter to a shooting range
Shooting range
A shooting range or firing range is a specialized facility designed for firearms practice. Each facility is typically overseen by one or more supervisory personnel, called variously a range master or "RSO – Range Safety Officer" in the United States or a range conducting officer or "RCO" in the UK...
and eventually hides from her jealous ex-girlfriend.
Yosh Takata (Gedde Watanabe
Gedde Watanabe
Gedde Watanabe is an American theatre, film, and television actor.He was in several dramatic productions in high school, both acting and singing...
), a nurse, was identified as gay in a similar fashion as Doyle, and was a recurring character until Watanabe left the show in 2003. Doyle and Takata never got the chance to demonstrate that they had romantic lives, however, and thus remained asexual characters that always played second fiddle to the series' heterosexual characters. This changed when Weaver took very slow steps to come out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
as a lesbian.
In mid-season, Weaver fell in love with staff psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
Kim Legaspi (played by Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell , is an American actress/modelwho is known for her roles as Dr. Juliet Burke on ABC's TV series Lost and as FBI agent Erica Evans on V. She has starred in such films as The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, and Gia.-Early life:Mitchell was born Elizabeth...
), but was afraid to admit it to Legaspi or herself. While Legaspi was openly lesbian and willing to pursue a romantic relationship with Weaver, she became frustrated that Weaver was not only in the closet, but also suffered from internalized homophobia and thus the relationship got off to a slow start. Once Weaver was able to admit to herself that she was gay, she was still paranoid about her coworkers finding out and the discriminatory consequences it might have on her career. This was despite their relationship becoming an "open secret" among most of the people in the ER.
During that story, we also learned that Kerry had been married to a surgical resident before her career at County General started.
The first coworker Weaver came out to was the bigoted Dr. Robert Romano
Robert Romano (ER)
Dr. Robert 'Rocket' Romano is a fictional character on the TV series ER. He was portrayed by Emmy-winning actor Paul McCrane. Paul McCrane's removal from the main cast opening credits was in the 9th episode of season 10....
, who planned to fire Legaspi over trumped up allegations that she sexually harassed
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
a female patient. Weaver's act of courage kept Romano from firing Legaspi, but it also emotionally drained Weaver, whose fears of discrimination ruining her career resurfaced. She was therefore unable to provide emotional support to Legaspi, who kept her job, but at the cost of seeing the entrenched homophobia of the hospital administration and her own girlfriend, who remained in the closet. Legaspi broke up with Weaver and decided to take a job offer in San Francisco rather than face the homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
from Romano or the lack of emotional support she received from Weaver.
Kerry also runs afoul of Elizabeth Corday in Season 7 when she has Mark Greene evaluated for professional competency after he shows noticeable personality changes after returning from brain tumor surgery. As a result, Kerry is not invited to Elizabeth and Mark's wedding, and while she and Mark seem to mend fences in Season 8, she and Elizabeth remained mostly unfriendly until Kerry's partner Sandy Lopez died. Elizabeth sympathized and the two doctors were on better terms until Dr. Corday departed the show in Season 11. They were never close friends though. In fact, Elizabeth's departure comes when she deliberately performs an illegal, life-saving transplant from an HIV+ donor into an HIV+ individual and does so in large part because she knows it'll anger Kerry, leading to Kerry to offer a demotion that Elizabeth declines before quitting.
Season eight
Weaver still had not come out to any of her coworkers, except Dr. Romano and Dr. Luka KovačLuka Kovac
Dr. Luka Kovač is a fictional character on the television series ER portrayed by Goran Visnjic. Visnjic's character was added to the cast at the beginning of Season 6 following the mid-season 5 departure of leading character Dr. Doug Ross, played by George Clooney.Luka Kovač is an emergency room...
. Kerry was still quite paranoid about anyone discovering her true status even though her sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
was already known to some of her coworkers. Weaver did, however, begin a new relationship with firefighter
Chicago Fire Department
The Chicago Fire Department, also known as the CFD, is the principal fire suppression, prevention, and rescue agency of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the mayor of Chicago. The Chicago Fire Department is the second largest fire department in the United States after the New York City...
Lt. Sandy Lopez (played by Lisa Vidal
Lisa Vidal
Lisa Vidal is an American film and television actress.-Early years:Vidal was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of Josie, a secretary, and Manny Vidal, a tax consultant and businessman. Her parents moved from Puerto Rico and settled in Manhattan, New York, where Vidal and her two...
) who she met in a rain storm while trying to rescue a pregnant woman out of a crashed ambulance. As the two get close, Lopez told Kerry she refused to date a woman that was in the closet. Lopez forcibly outed Weaver with a passionate kiss in front of her coworkers. What followed was a groundbreaking story for network television as the development of the romance between the two women was treated with the courtship, passion and arguments often reserved for heterosexual couples.
Lopez said, "I did you a favor," after the kiss in the ER; a few episodes later, Weaver admitted to her that she was right. At the season's end, Weaver accepted herself as a lesbian, and became eager to combat homophobia wherever it appeared.
In Season Eight's second episode "The Longer You Stay", Weaver failed to answer repeated pages from Doctors Malucci & Chen when a patient being tended to by them has complications. Weaver is finally hauled in by Dr. Carter when he ran from the ER to get her personally from Doc Magoo's, sustaining a painful fall in the process. But after the patient dies and she flatly barks at the three "You killed him.", she is seen back at Doc Magoo's where she finds the pager she left in the bathroom stall.
Desperate to cover up her irresponsibility when the hospital is sued by the patient's family, Weaver callously fires Malucci in third episode "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic" on a trumped-up charge of misconduct, and by the fourth episode "Never Say Never", she's managed to pin the malpractice on Malucci and Chen, stripping the latter of her authority and she quits, but brings a wrongful termination suit against Weaver and the hospital in the twelfth episode, "A River In Egypt". Chief of Staff Romano, having learned about the pager incident and trying to avoid a scandal, forces Weaver to reinstate Chen.
In "Bygones", Kerry is stunned when she realizes a lonely young woman murdered her roommate because of unrequited love. Kerry then mends fences with Sandy Lopez and the two of them make their first ER-social appearance at an impromptu drinking party after Mark Greene has died. Kerry is visibly saddened by Mark's death and for the first time loses her patience and breaks down in the workplace after hearing the news of his passing. She later tells Sandy she knew his demise was coming but never thought it would affect her as deeply as it did. She realizes she had lost a friend, and regrets the years they spent in bitter competition for various ER posts and promotions. At Dr. Greene's funeral, Kerry is again seen crying, shakened by the loss of a dear friend of 7 years.
Season nine
Weaver and Lopez were still together and had on-going arguments about the future of their relationship. Weaver wanted to have a child, but after suffering a miscarriageMiscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
felt Lopez should carry the child. Lopez, however, did not want to get pregnant, because it would impact her firefighting career. The couple did not get much screen time that season, and Weaver was given another story thread about the consequences she faced when she failed to report a local politician who tested positive for syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
; Alderman Martin Bright provided funding for County and a plum position for Kerry, but forced her to do an off-the-record treatment of his closeted gay lover that ended with the lover's accidental death from an allergic reaction to penicillin
Penicillin
Penicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. They include penicillin G, procaine penicillin, benzathine penicillin, and penicillin V....
. Later, Dr. Anspaugh became fed up with Dr. Romano's attitude and neglect on the job. Anspaugh offered to lighten Romano's work load by sharing his administrative duties with Kerry Weaver. When Romano refused this, he was replaced with a somewhat surprised Weaver, who offers Romano the Chief of Emergency Medicine
Emergency medicine
Emergency medicine is a medical specialty in which physicians care for patients with acute illnesses or injuries which require immediate medical attention. While not usually providing long-term or continuing care, emergency medicine physicians diagnose a variety of illnesses and undertake acute...
position.
Season ten
Kerry is getting settled in her chief administrative position but runs into various challenges that arise day by day from hospital staffing to the ER's hectic renovation. These obstacles includes her constant run-ins with Dr. Romano, whom at one point she threatens to fire. When Dr. Robert RomanoRobert Romano
Dr. Robert 'Rocket' Romano is a fictional character on the TV series ER. He was portrayed by Emmy-winning actor Paul McCrane. Paul McCrane's removal from the main cast opening credits was in the 9th episode of season 10....
is killed in a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
accident
Accident
An accident or mishap is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity. It implies a generally negative outcome which may have been avoided or prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its...
, like many others, Kerry isn't saddened at all by his death. Later in early 2004, Weaver dedicates a Center of LGBT healthcare in the memory of Romano, which secretly serves as post mortem payback, since Romano was no supporter of gay rights. In her personal life, Lopez changed her mind about having a baby, and she gave birth to baby Henry in the hospital, happy that she and Weaver started a family. Later on in the season, Lopez died due to injuries she suffered while fighting a fire. Sandy's parents (who had never approved of her sexual orientation) took custody of Henry and for the remainder of the season, Weaver's storyline focused on a child custody battle between herself and Lopez's parents. The custody situation was eventually settled when the Lopezes and Weaver agreed to her having primary custody, with the Lopezes taking care of Henry while Kerry was at work.
Season eleven
In the 2005 episode titled "Just As I Am," Weaver finally found her biological mother, Helen Kingsley, who turned out to be a conservativeConservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, originally from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Myrtle Beach is a coastal city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is situated on the center of a large and continuous stretch of beach known as the Grand Strand in northeastern South Carolina. It is considered to be a major tourist destination in the...
and currently living in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. Kingsley (Frances Fisher
Frances Fisher
Frances Fisher is a British actress. She is known for her work on television, in theater and in films, including roles as Strawberry Alice, the madame prostitute in Unforgiven , and Ruth DeWitt Bukater, the mother of Kate Winslet's character in Titanic .- Early life and education :Fisher was born...
) explained to Weaver that, as an unmarried, teenage mother with limited options for raising a child, she gave Weaver up for adoption in hopes of her having a better life when she was fourteen days old. She was in town for a Christ Crusade and decided to meet her daughter. When Kingsley learned her daughter was a lesbian, she and Weaver clashed over faith
Faith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...
and sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
, with Weaver insisting that her mother love and accept her. Kingsley said she could love her daughter, but because she could not accept homosexuality as moral, she could not accept Weaver's lifestyle. This episode not only ended the mystery behind Weaver's mother, it also revealed for the first time the reason for Weaver's crutch: Helen inquires about Weaver's limp, and Weaver explains that she suffers from congenital hip dysplasia
Hip dysplasia (human)
Hip dysplasia, developmental dysplasia of the hip or congenital dysplasia of the hip is a congenital or acquired deformation or misalignment of the hip joint.-Terminology:...
, a birth defect. Weaver is surprised to learn that Helen knew nothing about it, and her long-held fear that the birth defect was the reason she was given up for adoption is resolved.
Aside from this episode, Kerry Weaver almost exclusively plays supporting roles and is frequently absent from entire episodes.
Season twelve
Kerry continues to play the background in most of the episodes this season. Even though she's staying very busy with her administrative meetings and tasks, Kerry occasionally takes shifts in the ER to keep her emergency skills sharp. In the episode "Out on a Limb" Kerry finally goes through with surgerySurgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
to fix her hip dysplasia
Hip dysplasia (human)
Hip dysplasia, developmental dysplasia of the hip or congenital dysplasia of the hip is a congenital or acquired deformation or misalignment of the hip joint.-Terminology:...
, that's been giving her pain over the last few months. In the episode "No Place To Hide," Kerry walks for the first time on the series without the aid of her forearm crutch
Crutch
Crutches are mobility aids used to counter a mobility impairment or an injury that limits walking ability.- Types :There are several different types of crutches:...
. (Reportedly, this storyline was done, at least in part, because Laura Innes really was starting to develop hip and back problems after ten years of walking with a fake limp for the sake of her role.) Laura Innes described this arc as the character, "Shedding some of her hardness and moving on in her life."
At the end of the season, Kerry faces criticism for hiring Dr. Victor Clemente (John Leguizamo
John Leguizamo
Jonathan Alberto "John" Leguizamo is an Colombian-American actor, producer, voice artist, and comedian.-Early life:...
) as an attending physician, who compromised patient care leading to possible liability and lawsuits to the hospital. Kerry tries to divert the fire towards Dr. Luka Kovač
Luka Kovac
Dr. Luka Kovač is a fictional character on the television series ER portrayed by Goran Visnjic. Visnjic's character was added to the cast at the beginning of Season 6 following the mid-season 5 departure of leading character Dr. Doug Ross, played by George Clooney.Luka Kovač is an emergency room...
(Goran Visnjic
Goran Višnjic
Goran Višnjić is a Croatian actor who has appeared in American and British films and television productions. He is best known for his role as Dr. Luka Kovač in the hit television series ER...
), the Chief of Emergency Medicine, risking his job as a result.
Season thirteen
After saving Luka and Abby in the rattling season premiere, Kerry owns up to her responsibility for the Clemente incident in order to save Luka from being fired. She is demoted from Chief of Staff as a result and is now back to being an attending. Though she clearly struggled to adjust to her new position, especially with the current ER chief Luka Kovač now being her boss, Kerry seems pleased to practice medicine full time again. Working back in the ER, Weaver catches the eye of a TV producer filming a news segment with Dr. Morris and literally steals the show. She's offered a job by the executives for news reporting. Shortly afterwards, Kerry and her producer Courtney (Michelle HurdMichelle Hurd
Michelle Hurd is an American stage, film, and television actress. She is married to actor Garret Dillahunt.-Early life:...
) begin to develop a close relationship, one Kerry hasn't felt since her deceased partner Sandy Lopez. Courtney tells her how her great news broadcasting could open a successful career for her. However, Kerry wasn't too convinced about leaving County General for her news track. This was until ER chief Luka Kovač
Luka Kovac
Dr. Luka Kovač is a fictional character on the television series ER portrayed by Goran Visnjic. Visnjic's character was added to the cast at the beginning of Season 6 following the mid-season 5 departure of leading character Dr. Doug Ross, played by George Clooney.Luka Kovač is an emergency room...
had to enact budget cuts and had to consider firing her. Kerry fought her position explaining how it was her sacrifice that saved Luka's job (leaving out the facts that her bad decisions and treachery had put his job in jeopardy before she did the right thing in the end). Yet after some thought during the care of an amputee patient and Katrina survivor, she felt it was time to move on. She later reconsidered accepting a television show offer at WTVJ
WTVJ
WTVJ, virtual channel 6 , is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC television network, located in Broward County. WTVJ shares its TV studio and office facility with co-owned Telemundo station WSCV in Miramar, Florida, and its transmitter is located near Sun Life Stadium in north...
in Miami, despite Kovač's last minute efforts to convince her to stay.
Kerry Weaver's last regular appearance on ER was in the Season 13 episode called "A House Divided" Episode number 280 in which Abby Lockhart
Abby Lockhart
Dr. Abby Lockhart is a fictional medical doctor on the television series ER. She is portrayed by Maura Tierney...
expressed to Dr. Weaver that if it had not been for her, she'd never have become a doctor or a mother. As Kerry packed up and walked out of County General's doors for the last time, she only asked Luka to take care of the place for her and advised him not to make her mistake-getting involved in hospital politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
.
Laura Innes' last appearance as a series regular on the show was on January 11, 2007. Following her departure from the program, NBC received some pressure from GLAAD to introduce more LGBT
characters.
Return to the series in the fifteenth season and the end
Weaver appeared in a flashbackFlashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
sequence in the Season 15 episode entitled "Heal Thyself", which was set back in 2002, just months before Greene's death. In her scene, she walked into Trauma 1 and expressed how worried she was about Dr. Mark Greene, because of his fight with brain cancer
Brain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
. She told him to step down and take a break from treating Banfield's son. After he refused, Dr. Weaver reluctantly left the room.
During the 15th and final season of ER, at the end of the episode "The Book of Abby," long-serving nurse Haleh Adams shows the departing Abby Lockhart
Abby Lockhart
Dr. Abby Lockhart is a fictional medical doctor on the television series ER. She is portrayed by Maura Tierney...
a closet wall where all the past doctors and employees have put their locker name tags. Amongst them, the tag "Weaver" can be seen.
During Season 15 episode 19, former co-worker Dr. Doug Ross
Doug Ross
Dr. Douglas "Doug" Ross is a fictional character from the television series ER, portrayed by George Clooney. George Clooney's removal from the main cast opening credits was in the 16th episode of season 5.-Plot details:...
asked both Sam Taggart and Neela Rasgotra
Neela Rasgotra
Dr. Neela Rasgotra is a fictional character portrayed by Parminder Nagra on the television show ER. Following the departure of Goran Visnjic, Maura Tierney, and Mekhi Phifer this left Nagra as the longest term cast member on ER and it also made her character the show's main character so, in terms...
about Weaver (as he found out that they were from County), curious if she was still working there.
In the series finale, she flew from Florida to attend the dedication and opening of the Carter Center. She meets up with Elizabeth Corday
Elizabeth Corday
Elizabeth Corday, MBChB, FRCS is a fictional surgeon on the television series ER. She was played by Alex Kingston and appeared from 1997 to 2004.-Background:...
, Susan Lewis
Susan Lewis
Dr. Susan Lewis, played by Sherry Stringfield, is a fictional doctor on the television show ER between 1994–1996, and again from 2001-2005....
, John Carter
John Carter (ER)
Dr. John Truman Carter III, portrayed by Noah Wyle, is a fictional character from the television series ER. The character, called simply "Carter" by most other characters, was introduced in the pilot episode and appeared for eleven consecutive seasons. Wyle decided to leave the show as a regular...
, and Peter Benton
Peter Benton
Dr. Peter Benton is a fictional character on the television series ER for its first eight seasons. He was played by Eriq La Salle. Benton was often portrayed as arrogant, irritable, or even hostile, but he is nevertheless an exceptionally talented surgeon who is passionate about medicine...
after Carter's opening. The old colleagues go out to eat at an old tavern and catch up with each other. At the end of the night, she then tells the group that she couldn't stay any longer, as she needed to catch a flight back to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Kerry gave everyone a hug and left Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.