Won't Carter be eligible for next year's Chief Resident position? Who was Chief Resident this year? How will his past desire for the promotion be affected by what has happened to him this year? The show seems to have a history of promoting doctors after they feel they have failed. (Mark was promoted to Attending after losing the mother in "Love's Labor Lost".) Anyone care to speculate?

-- Nancy Wilson (nwilson@wko.com), April 29, 2000

Answers

I agree he should be chief resident. But will he if he has a breakdown or whatever they have planned for a cliffhanger? On the other hand maybe it hospital policy to promote someone who has problems to show that they are supportive.LOL As to who was chief resident this year, have they even mentioned a chief resident since Kerry?

-- Claudia (jl_cl@bellsouth.net), April 29, 2000.

Wasn't Maggie Doyle being considered for chief resident, before she was "bobbed"? And I too was wondering if Carter would be considered for Chief Resident for next year, but the writers are probably going to use Carter's attack as a loop, because what would happen with him after his year of chief Resident? It looks like all the attending positions in the ER are filled so what would carter be. But I have one Question to this. In an episode back in Season 1,2,3 or 4, wasn't it mentioned that the Emergency Medical residency program was only a four year deal, and that the surgery residency was a six year deal? What is Carter going to do after his forth year, unless he asked to be an attending, and all the positions are full, with main characters might I add. Any Comments to this?

Amy

-- Amy (areinders@hotmail.com), April 29, 2000.

Kerry can do a study, justify a new attending position, and wa-la he'd be the doctor to fill it.

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), April 29, 2000.

There has been no Chief Resident mentioned since Susan Lewis passed on the position and some non-main-character (whose name was mentioned but who never appeared on the show) got the slot.

Carter and Deb/Chen/Jing-Mei/whatever-they're-calling-her-this-week would both be eligible for the position next season. Carter has expressed great interest, worked extra, and been "groomed" for the position by Kerry, but that was all before his attack. If he crashes and burns, he'll likely lose the position to someone else (maybe Deb, maybe another never-to-be-seen resident).

-- Lynn (lynn@wordsmyth.org), April 29, 2000.

I thought that Deb was only a 2nd year resident. Remember in season 1, she dropped out of med school for a few months at least. I think then she would be a year behind Carter

-- (trelles@ix.netcom.com), April 30, 2000.

Carter is definetly eligible for chief resident because he was working on his application during season 5. Remember in Points of Origin when he gets to be senior for the day as part of his chief resident application. I have no clue as to how long it would take to become chief resident, or if maybe he didn't get it, but I think the position is a possibility for Carter.

-- Joanne (bucklind@hotmail.com), April 30, 2000.

According to the NBC ER website, Deb is a 3rd year resident, just like Carter. She lost a year to quitting and going off to do whatever, and Carter lost a year during his "I want to be a surgeon... oh, no, wait I don't." waffling.

-- Lynn (lynn@wordsmyth.org), April 30, 2000.

carter should be cheif around there....but after the season finale, he might not be in a good enough mental state to be cheif resident.

-- rachel (thehilfigergirl@aol.com), April 30, 2000.

Well, in the next episode Carter takes over Mark's shift...does that mean he'll be supervising, like Mark would be? I remember in one show when Mark called in sick (aka, having sex with Jenn), Doug took his shift and was in charge. I think it was while he was chief resident. Carter will probably be in charge for "Loose Ends" but you're all right, his psychological problems could really affect that.

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), April 30, 2000.

Aha. I never thought of Jing Mei. That is very interesting. Of course John will have to become an attending at County, but would he be offered such a coveted position of he was not chief resident. I recall MArk fretting that he might have to work in a small town somehwere, and he was chief. Jing Mei is obviously very talented, if not the best with patients (as MArk was and John is) so she would be the real competition if John goes haywire.

-- May (archerl@cadvision.com), April 30, 2000.

I've often wondered why they brought Jing-mei back on the show. At first, I thought it was because they were being PC, but with Chen's lame-ly written reason why she reconsidered, I wonder if the real reason she was brought back was to take the Chief residency position because Carter is not upto it. After all, she is a 3rd year, and perhaps she was brought on late in the season after the writers had already decided what to do with Carter and lucy?

-- samira (matb_west@chickmail.com), April 30, 2000.

Most Drs who work at hospitals were not Chief resident when they did their residency. So in the event Carter does not make Chief resident because of his PTSD , it does not mean he cannot become an attending at county. Personally , I would love to see Carter as chief resident. Rember when Doug was an pediatric er fellow at county and Mark was chief resident, Mark was Doug boss. I would love to see carter be chief resident next season and Bemton still be an Trauma/er fellow. Carter would be Benton's boss. That would be great to see Benton taking orders fron Carter when he is down in the ER.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), April 30, 2000.

Actually Mark didn't become Doug's boss until Mark became an attending. Fellows are higher on the totem pole than Residents, even the Chief Resident. That's because Fellows, by definition, have already completed their residency, but have chosen to get more specialized training instead of trying for a staff/attending position.

(Got this explanation from Mike S. originally)

-- Lynn (lynn@wordsmyth.org), April 30, 2000.

Is Cleo a resident or an attending? Maybe when Carter is done with his forth year they'll kick her off the show and let Carter have her attending job (if that's what she is). At least I hope that's what they'll do.

-- jocelyn (jc_cookin@hotmail.com), May 02, 2000.

Cleo is actually a year BEHIND Carter...just a third year, I think. I know, it's kind of weird, since all of us ER veterans have a hard time seeing Carter as anything but the student.

-- Becky (pattonrd@muohio.edu), May 02, 2000.

I had forgotten about that, yeah, Carter fell behind a year, so he and Deb are again at the same level.

Could it be TPTB are rehashing an old plot line? Competition between Carter and Chen? That would be fun. I'd love to Carter banging his head against a wall again. Or even better, Chen. Tables turned!

-- (trelles@ix.netcom.com), May 02, 2000.

Cleo and Dave are both only 2nd year residents.

-- Lynn (lynn@wordsmyth.org), May 02, 2000.

Carter ought to become chief. His PTSD symptoms may have made him somewhat over-cautious (e.g., giving Pablo Haldol), but not enough for anyone to say he can't hack it as chief. Still, it's really impossible to speculate how far over the edge he will go in the next few episodes, and how that would affect the decision. As far as what happens after Carter's residency, maybe Benton will become an attending and Carter can get the Trauma Fellowship (assuming a non- surgical resident is eligible).

-- Beth (bsmith@internet-95.com), May 02, 2000.

The last Chief Resident (that we know of) was Linda Martins (Who we never saw) after Susan turned the offer down. In season 8, I'm pretty confident it will be Jing-Mei.

-- Teddy (richarr@earthlink.net), June 23, 2001.