Elizabeth Corday quotes from E.R.

Elizabeth

I lost my wedding ring!

Romano

Oh, boo-hoo, this guy's about to lose a leg! I'd say chop chop, but that would be in extremely poor taste!

Elizabeth

[approaching Nathan, who's sitting on the EL station bench] Hi.

Hey.

Uh, I hear the organ service got Alison on the UNOS list.

Elizabeth

Yes, I know. Status two. [pause] It's a nice feeling.

What?

Elizabeth

When you realize you've affected someone's life. Touched them in some way.

You think she'll last long enough?

Elizabeth

One can only hope.

Elizabeth

Kerry, can I ask you something? Are you as concerned about Robert as I am? Or, more precisely, his mental health- he seems...broken by this assignment-

Kerry

He's a cockroach. He refuses to evolve, and yet he'll survive us all.

Romano

[looking at arm] You forgot "idiot"

Elizabeth

I'll be there Robert...

Romano

Just the same... "Idiot".

Elizabeth

I've been paging you.

Abby

I was with this patient.

Elizabeth

So I hear. You convinced the family to donate his organs? [Abby nods] Spending this much time with a patient is a luxury we don't usually have. You missed out on an interesting volvulous repair.

Abby

Well, I just... felt like his wife needed me.

Elizabeth

You already do this well, Abby. Sometimes, being a doctor is about... distancing yourself from your patient.

Elizabeth

[about Romano] He had nothing but this place, Kerry. No wife, no kids, everything he ever had, he lost here. At the end of a life, you would think we'd have more to say.

Kerry

He'll be missed... whether we realize it, or not.

Abby

l[ooking at the plaque of Romano's face] Is it just me, or do the eyes seem to follow you?

Carter

Was Romano's prosthetic arm destroyed in the accident?

Abby

I dunno. Why?

Carter

'Cause if it wasn't, it's going to hunt Dr. Weaver down and strangle her. [he, Kem and Abby laugh]

Kem

He wasn't a big supporter of gay rights?

Carter

Ah, no.

Abby

That's too creepy. [she leaves, Elizabeth Corday walks in]

Elizabeth

Did I miss the dedication?

Carter

More like post-mortem payback.

Elizabeth

[reading the plaque in astonishment] Oh, my God!

So how was your pancake-juju thing?

Elizabeth

My what?

Your surgery. The operation you were doing this morning.

Elizabeth

Pancreaticojejunostomy?

You made that up, didn't you?

Elizabeth

Nope.

Come on, admit it. You have the perfect job for getting out of things. Who's going to argue with a surgeon? "I'm really sorry, I'd love to help you move this weekend, but I have to separate a pair of Guatemalan twins who are joined at the testes."

Elizabeth

Actually, a pancreaticojejunostomy is a re-plumbing of the upper GI tract.

That sounds painful. Can you get that from working out? Because my shoulder's been killing me.

Elizabeth

I believe that's called old age.

Elizabeth

[about Carter and Kem's baby] A stillborn?

Chen

Yeah, a true knot in the chord.

Elizabeth

How terrible.

Chen

Ah, I can't even imagine!

Elizabeth

I'll try to get up there after rounds.

Kerry

Poor people. Seven months old?

Chen

Mm... Almost eight.

Yeah, tough break. [Chen, Corday and Weaver all look at him] What? I was... I was being sincere.

Um, are you a doctor?

Neela

No, but-

Elizabeth

Yes actually, she's just not on duty now.

[holds out his injured hand] Oh- well, I got my hand slammed in a car door, and I'm supposed to get another dose of morphine-

Abby

Yeah, if you just wait over there I'll take care of that for you in a minute.

Ok. [he walks away]

Elizabeth

[to Neela] You need to start referring to yourself properly; you'll never gain the confidence of your patients otherwise.

Neela

Doesn't feel quite earned yet.

Elizabeth

Fake it 'til it does.

Kerry

How would you feel about accepting a non-tenure-track position as clinical instructor?

Elizabeth

So after giving seven years of my service to this hospital, I lose my tenure over a single patient.

Kerry

Elizabeth, you broke the law. What did you think was gonna happen?

Elizabeth

I don't know. That I might be appreciated for saving a life. That... that friends might have fought for me.

Kerry

I did fight for you. I had to beg, borrow and steal just to keep them from giving your name to the state board.

Elizabeth

What the hell, let them pull my license. Let them make it ugly. I'll go public. I'll tell anyone who cares to listen this hospital was willing to let a man die because a bloody bill was signed on a Tuesday rather than a Monday. We did something extraordinary here, Kerry.

Kerry

You're right. We did, but that's not our purpose. We can barely service the community's basic medical needs as it is.

Elizabeth

And that's it? Just stay open, get through each day?

Kerry

Isn't that enough?

Mommy, in the picture?

Elizabeth

Listen, John, i'm going to have go, okay, bye. [to Ella] Sorry, sweetheart, what?

Is this Daddy? [hands Elizabeth a picture of Mark]

Elizabeth

Yeah! You know that! [hands the picture back to Ella, and she looks at another photo]

Who are they? [hands a black and white picture to Elizabeth]

Elizabeth

[smiling] That's your Nana and Grandpa.

Are they dead too?

Elizabeth

This whole transplant situation, the new staff, my four-year-old daughter... it's all helped me see things more clearly. Mark's gone. So many of my friends are gone. There's... there's no reason to stay. Not for me. Not for Ella. I suppose I've known that for a long time now, but it's It's just hard to move on, isn't it? Would you apologize to everyone for me?

Carter

Aren't you gonna come by and see everybody before you go?

Elizabeth

I'm not much for goodbyes. They make me cry, truth be told.

Carter

If you want me to tell anyone anything?

Elizabeth

Tell them, uh... It's been lovely.