Michael Crichton has created a medical drama that chronicles life and death in a Chicago hospital emergency room. Each episode tells the tale of another day in the ER, from the exciting to the mundane, and the joyous to the heart-rending. Frenetic pacing, interwoven plot lines, and emotional rollercoastering is used to attempt to accurately depict the stressful environment found there. This show even portrays the plight of medical students in their quest to become physicians.

Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) was supposed to be brain-dead from a suicide attempt in the first episode, but the character was revived for the series. For the first episode, Margulies was credited as a guest star.

Dr. Doug Ross:
I'm a doctor and nothing gets in the way of that. Nothing.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: None of the doctors or nurses performs CPR correctly, but if done with straight arms and enough force to make a difference, it can (and often does) break the patient's ribs. Obviously it's better to go without a factually accurate portrayal of the procedure than to injure the actors in the name of realism.