Luka Kovač quotes from E.R.

Luka

We're all waiting, for what? Fulfillment, love... validation, approval? It's a waste of time. Life is an empty, hollow exercise filled with pain, loss and grief, and the only thing we can expect to achieve in our lives is our own, inevitable death.

Luka

Just show up. That's all I've been doing: showing up. Time goes by faster at work. Shift work. Treat and street a few lost souls. You're with them when they're most vulnerable, when they're naked, weak, hurt. You touch them, look at their bodies, see them more closely than their families, their lovers. But it's mechanical, you know, temporary. You fix them up or you watch them die. Either way, it ends and you move on. No next time, no strings, no real connection. Maybe that's why I stay.

Luka

Medicine was exciting, powerful, alive. Today we saved a teenager's sight. I saved a child's life. I didn't feel it. Didn't feel anything.

Luka

There was cartoon I once saw in a magazine. A little man is sitting in a room with two doors. One door says "Do Not Enter" and the other says "Do Not Exit". So he just sits there, holding his hat.

Luka

At the time of Mr. Ames's numbness, there were 47 patients in the ER, 82 in the waiting room. I was treating a young mother who was the victim of domestic violence, nearly beaten to death; an 8-year-old hit by a car; and a 53-year-old heart attack victim. There are always sicker patients in the ER, and it was reasonable to believe Mr. Ames's numbness could wait!

Luka

[to Officer Hollis about Curtis Ames] Look, he followed my wife and child to the park. I'd like you to go and talk to him. Help me protect my family.

Luka

[while feeding Joe] Joe! Next time, try eating your apricots, not throwing them! [Joe smiles] Hey! You think this is funny? [Joe laughs, and Luka gently imitates his laughter, then puts the spoon down and sits him up in his high chair] Girls don't like it when you wear your food. Trust me.

Luka

When Jasna and the kids died, I needed to make a change, and I decided to move here. Made my brother really angry. He said that I was a coward, and that I was running away. And it's only recently that I've come to know that he was wrong. I wasn't running away from anything. I was running to you. And I'll never let anything take this away.

I don't get this. You're a regular doctor...

Luka

Yes.

But you don't work here.

Luka

No, I do work here, but only when they need me. I'm what they call a "Moonlighter."

Because you're from another country?

Luka

No, because I only work here from time to time, when they need me.

And they needed you today because of the truck crash!

Luka

[sighs] No. I'm here because one of the regular doctors...

I thought you said you were one of the regular doctors.

Luka

I just fill in when someone else is absent.

Oh, I get it! You're like a sub!

Luka

A sub...? Yeah, yeah. I'm a sub.

What kind of accent is that?

Luka

[sighs again] Thick!

Carol

So, you took that little girl in to see her mother?

Luka

Yes.

Carol

Even though Dr. Weaver and Dr. Greene didn't think it was a good idea?

Luka

Oh, mostly they're not sure if I'm a good doctor.

Carol

Why do you say that? This is like the second or third time you've worked here, isn't it?

Luka

Yeah. Enough time for them to stop calling me Dr. Kovac. You know, when people are not sure, they tend to keep things more formal. I hope you will be happy enough with your sutures to call me Luka. I took the girl in because, uh, children need to know, need to see, even if what they see is not good. It's still better than being in the dark, you know? Having... that kind of fear.

Luka

You look great.

Carol

Really?

Luka

Yep.

Carol

I feel like an overgrown pumpkin.

Luka

'Pumpkin'?

Carol

Yeah, you know, that big round orange thing you carve on Hallowe'en.

Luka

Oh, 'bundeva', yeah. Actually, I'd say more like a lubenica.

Carol

What is that?

Luka

Uh, I forget how to say it in English. See ya.

Luka

[Carol's water has broken on the train] Your contractions are too close together! You are in active labor!

Carol

[Gives Luka an incredulous look] Gee, you think?

Kerry

Luka, I heard about what happened. I'm sorry.

Luka

No, don't, don't apologize.

Kerry

It might not always make sense to us, but when there's a difficult family situation, we call DCFS because they have expertise in this area. We have to defer to their judgment.

Luka

You don't break up families.

Kerry

Sometimes we do. It's complicated.

Luka

No! My wife and kids were taken.

Kerry

In the war?

Luka

Yeah. And then killed. You don't break up families.

Luka

It just started snowing, and you look like you're freezing.

Lucy

I am.

Lucy

No, that's okay.

Luka

I'm European, we like to be gallant. Are you off? I've got two tickets to the circus.

Lucy

Just coming on.

Luka

What are you doing here all day?

Lucy

Not enough as it turns out. It's never been very easy for me to be here. Sometimes I felt like I would never fit in.

Luka

That's something I know about. But I moved around a lot, and I'm used to it.

Lucy

But at the beginning of every day, I've been grateful that I'm walking in here on my own choosing, and not carried in on some gurney. And at the end of the day, if I've helped just one person, it's been worth it. And that didn't happen today, and that makes me sad.

Chen

Right pupil is five millimeters and reactive, left is- John! John!

Carter

Deb?

Chen

Look at me. D'you know where you are?

Carter

My back.

Chen

You were stabbed. We've got your pressure up.

Carter

Lucy?

John, I'm officer Bennini, did you see the man that stabbed you?

Chen

Wait, wait, do we need to do this right now?

It's better if I can...

Chen

You'll have to wait, I'm sorry!

Carter

What?

Luka

Nothing, looks like he missed your spinal chord.

Carter

Is that Lucy?

Abby

Yes. She's alive.