The Right Thing

Benton confronts Vucelich with data showing that Vucelich's clamp-and-run surgical technique is not as effective as he reported. Vucelich defends himself and orders Benton taken off all of the day's surgeries. Later, Benton further argues with Vucelich that it is morally wrong and dangerous to manipulate the results in his favor. Vucelich removes Benton from his surgical team and tells the others that Benton quit. Finally, Benton attempts to report Vucelich, but while waiting to speak to an administrator, he loses his confidence and goes home, cursing his cowardice.

The doctors attend to an elderly woman who slipped on a patch of ice. It's the latest in a series of accidents she's had since she moved in with her daughter and her daughter's husband. The son-in-law, who is studying to be a psychotherapist, thinks that he may be subconsciously laying traps for the woman.

Also, a teenager loses control of his motorcycle, crashing it into the emergency room. Greene buys the damaged motorcycle and makes up a story that the kid can tell to avoid trouble with his father. T-Ball (THOM BARRY), a patient who frequently comes in faking illness so he can get drugs, claims that he has stomach pain. Despite Hathaway's warning, Jeanie does a blood test and finds out that T-Ball actually does have lead poisoning. And a drunken man, Nathan Conley (MARK PELLEGRINO), is brought into the emergency room. Later, his drunken girlfriend arrives. She refuses to tell Nathan that she has AIDS, so Lewis illegally reveals the news to him. Lewis berates Carter for not caring enough about the case.

Recently, Carter angered a patient's husband, Ruby, by not informing him that his wife was about to die. Now Ruby invites Jeanie to his wife's funeral, and Jeanie asks Carter to join her. Carter finally decides to go to the service and apologize to Ruby.

Carter finds Greene and Lewis acting especially friendly on the morning train, and soon everyone at the hospital thinks that they're dating each other. On Ross' birthday, his father, Ray Ross (recurring guest star JAMES FARENTINO - "Blue Thunder," "Jesus of Nazareth"), tries unsuccessfully to reconcile with him.