24 hours in the life of the staff working in the emergency room of a major Chicago hospital. Originally written in 1974 by Michael Crichton as a film, it was adapted into the feature length pilot of the hit series ER. The staff deal with the seemingly endless casualties that stumble into their place of employment. The central characters are the chief resident and family man Dr. Mark Greene, who is considering a job in private practice due to pressure from his demanding law student wife Jennifer; outgoing Dr. Doug Ross, who deals with cases in his own personal way; straight-arrow Dr. Susan Lewis, trying to get by another long 36-hour shift; inexperienced third-year med student John Carter; cocky surgical resident Dr. Peter Benton; and troubled chief nurse Carol Hathaway.