History TearJerker / ER

!!Meta
* On the November 13, 2008 episode "Heal Thyself", Creator/EriqLaSalle gave a speech before the episode's cold open remembering Creator/MichaelCrichton, who helped create the show. Made all the more saddening because the episode it prefaced was the one that featured the return of Mark Greene via flashback.

** At Greg's memorial service, it is announced that his organs have gone on save several other people's lives.

* "[[https://youtu.be/LyQ0xSrrloU The Book of Abby]]". Specifically, Haleh's [[https://78.media.tumblr.com/fdecd6ca0d374687762709eb71f70902/tumblr_inline_p8r15tILQO1vololo_1280.png hidden wall]] with the nameplates from departed staff.

** The episode ramps it UpToEleven when [[HeelFaceDoorSlam the son coldly rebukes the father over speakerphone]]; the staff in the room are shocked to silence as the father quietly weeps.

* The ending of "21 Guns". As well as the horror of something happening to your pregnant partner -- for all Luka knows, he's watching his wife and child die again.

* The entire season premiere is one for Luka. Abby is forced to deliver their baby, Joe, two-and-a-half months early due to the injuries she sustained during the shootout. Joe's lungs are under-developed, so he has to stay in the NICU for a few weeks. When Luka visits Abby later, she meekly asks him, "Is one going to be enough?" There's a beat, before Abby explains that she needed a hysterectomy because she wouldn't stop bleeding, and she will no longer be able to bear children. Luka goes to the bathroom afterwards and immediately breaks down crying.

* The ending of "21 Guns". As well as the AdultFear of something happening to your pregnant partner -- for all Luka knows, he's watching his wife and child die again.

* The entire season premiere is one for Luka. Abby is forced to deliver their baby, Joe, two-and-a-half months early due to the injuries she sustained during the shootout. Joe's lungs are under-developed, so he has to stay in the NICU for a few weeks. When Luka visits Abby later, she meekly asks him, "Is one going to be enough?" There's a beat, before Abby explains that she needed a hysterectomy because she wouldn't stop bleeding, and she will no longer be able to bear children. When Luka goes to the bathroom afterwards, he breaks down crying.

* The finale of the season, ''May Day'' sees a DownerEnding with Carter revealed to be drug addicted and forced into rehab or he'll be fired, with him punching Benton after an intervention and finally breaking down over his grief and guilt over the drugs and what happened to him and Lucy, having a part in her death. At the same time Luka suffers a horrendous day including being forced by red tape to allow a woman to kill her unborn child and combined with it is still reeling from Carol leading him on and abandoning him. To rub salt in the wound by the end of the episode Weaver finds out that Luka's attempt to get a court order declaring the woman incompetent, and thus the baby could be delivered and saved, was approved of by the judge, but [[AllForNothing it arrived too late to save the baby]]. The only mercy of the episode is that nobody appears to tell Luka this. The season ends on a [[HeroicBSOD silent Luka looking thoroughly miserable]] sitting alone at the L Station in the wake of his day, and with a no less grim Carter and Benton sitting on the plane flying to the rehab Carter will be attending.

--->"They haven't been able to catch the guy who did it. At least, they haven't been able to charge anyone. The worst thing about it isn't what it did to me. The worst thing is, it meant that some of the world's violence... ...has leaked into our own ER. This is meant to be a safe place for fixing people. Now it's vulnerable. And as an ER doctor, that's hard to accept."

* After reconciling the previous season, Jeanie and Al tearfully decide to go their separate ways, as Al wants to start over in New Orleans while Jeanie isn’t ready to leave Chicago.

* Carter's simultaneous HeroicBSOD [=/=]SurvivorGuilt [=/=] ILetGwenStacyDie following Gant's death, blaming himself for failing to realize how much his friend was struggling and failing to help him.

* "Ambush"

-->"Dad? I don't think I'm gonna make it out to the lake this summer"

* In "Be Still My Heart", Creator/AntonYelchin guest stars as Robbie, a young boy whose parents get into a car accident, and though Luka and Carol do their best, neither parent survives. Luka has to break the news to Robbie, and he and his sister ask to see their parents. Robbie's sister can't bring herself to look and runs away (Haleh comforts her), but Robbie looks at them and manages to keep it together, but you can see how devastated he is.[[note]]What's even [[HarsherInHindsight worse]], Yelchin himself died in a car-related accident in 2016.[[/note]]

* The entire season premiere is one for Luka. Abby is forced to deliver their baby two weeks early due to the injuries she sustained during the shootout. The baby's lungs are undeveloped, so he has to stay in the NICU for a few weeks. When Luka visits Abby later, she meekly asks him, "Is one going to be enough?" There's a beat then Luka realizes Abby has had a hysterectomy because she wouldn't stop bleeding.

* Abby relapsing into drinking after Luka has been gone for over a month and Joe gets hurt at the playground. It soon spirals out of control to the point that she gets blackout drunk at a party and wakes up in another man's bed.

* In "Be Still My Heart", Creator/AntonYelchin guest stars as Robbie, a young boy whose parents get into a car accident, and though Luka and Carol do their best, neither parent survives. Luka has to break the news to Robbie, and he and his sister ask to see their parents. Robbie's sister can't bring herself to look and runs away (Haleh comforts her), but Robbie looks at them and manages to keep it together, but you can see how devastated he is.

* At the end of "[[https://youtu.be/ohZ0hBO7H3w Orion in the Sky]]", Mark leaves the ER for the last time, shares a LongLastLook with Susan, and [[PassingTheTorch passes the torch]] to Carter by telling him, "[[ArcWords You set the tone]]."

* The finale of the season, ''May Day'' sees a DownerEnding with Carter revealed to be drug addicted and forced into rehab or he'll be fired, with him punching Benton after an intervention and finally breaking down over his grief and guilt over the drugs and what happened to him and Lucy, having a part in her death. At the same time Luka suffers a horrendous day including being forced by red tape to allow a woman to kill her unborn child and combined with it is still reeling from Carol leading him on and abandoning him. To rub salt in the wound by the end of the episode Weaver finds out that Luka's attempt to get a court order declaring the woman incompetent, and thus the baby could be delivered and saved, was approved of by the judge, but it arrived too late to save the baby. The only mercy of the episode is that nobody appears to tell Luka this. The season ends on a [[HeroicBSOD silent Luka looking thoroughly miserable]] sitting alone at the L Station in the wake of his day, and with a no less grim Carter and Benton sitting on the plane flying to the rehab Carter will be attending.

* The finale of the season, ''May Day'' sees a DownerEnding with Carter revealed to be drug addicted and forced into rehab or he'll be fired, with him punching Benton after an intervention and finally breaking down over his grief and guilt over the drugs and what happened to him and Lucy, having a part in her death. At the same time Luka suffers a horrendous day including being forced by red tape to allow a woman to kill her unborn child and combined with it is still reeling from Carol leading him on and abandoning him. To rub salt in the wound by the end of the episode Weaver finds out that Luka's attempt to get a court order declaring the woman incompetent, and thus the baby could be delivered and saved, was approved of by the judge, but it arrived too late to save the baby. The only mercy of the episode is that nobody appears to tell Luka this. The episode ends on a [[HeroicBSOD silent Luka looking thoroughly miserable]] sitting alone at the L Station in the wake of his day, and with a no less grim Carter and Benton on the plane flying to the rehab he will be attending.

* Malucci and Cleo taking care of a little girl after a routine car accident, and finding out from her that she was raped by her father. Though [[PapaWolf Malucci]] assaults the abuser and tries to comfort the girl as she is being examined, it's clear the damage has been done.

* "The Gift". Doug has a LoveEpiphany about Carol and [[RaceForYourLove races]] to her engagement party to tell her. We've all seen this a million times--she returns the sentiment and falls into his arms, right? No. Instead, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome follows--[[https://youtu.be/3LgfjZQoSoA she screams at him to leave her alone and her fiancé punches him]]. The final shot of him in the episode is of him wandering the streets, looking even ''more'' dejected than before.

* [[https://youtu.be/C9szWKSmWzs Mark runs to Union Station to catch Susan and tell her that he loves her]]. Once again, we've all seen this before--she returns the sentiment and falls into his arms, right? No. Once again, she rejects him, given that not only does she not reciprocate, his AnguishedDeclarationOfLove came at literally the last minute before she left.

* In "Think Warm Thoughts", Carol’s patient, Mrs. Reilly, slowly remembering and understanding that she was she was sexually assaulted.

** The desperate way that he reacts when she's gone, trying to go for another cycle, anything to have a chance. Elizabeth's quiet acceptance of Lucy's death is heartbreaking, but who thought they'd see Romano trashing the room because he couldn't have a colleague? He genuinely liked her, because she was smart, gutsy, and stood up to him.

* Several scenes of Romano dealing with the loss of his left arm in a helicopter accident. He has always been a jerk, but it's clear that [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold he's a caring person underneath it all]], and prior to his accident he was perhaps the most talented surgeon of the show's entire run. Now that he is no longer able to perform surgery he doesn't know what to do with his life, and to top it all off he is in love with Elizabeth Corday and has to watch her go on dates with other men. Two scenes stand out in particular. One is the scene where Corday finds him standing by the water, and he tells her he as decided to amputate his left arm since it is not recovering. The other is earlier in the season, after he has tried to save a young man from an amputation, and he has a heart-to-heart with Corday about his situation. It's been a while since I've seen the episode, but he says something to the effect of:

* Ben Hollander, an old depressed man going blind, and his short-term relationship with Susan Lewis.

* "Time of Death", with guest star Creator/RayLiotta as a dying alcoholic ex-con. The whole episode is in real-time, and goes back and forth between his subconscious and scenes in the hospital. He ends up refusing surgery that might save his life, and Pratt (who never knew his father) takes his final request to get in touch with his estranged son.
** The episode ramps it UpToEleven when the son coldly rebukes the father over speakerphone; the staff in the room are shocked to silence as the father quietly weeps.

* The finale of the season, ''May Day'' sees a DownerEnding with Carter revealed to be drug addicted and forced into rehab or he'll be fired, with him punching Benton after an intervention and finally breaking down over his grief and guilt over the drugs and what happened to him and Lucy, having a part in her death. At the same time Luka suffers a horrendous day including being forced by red tape to allow a mother to kill her unborn child and combined with it is still reeling from Carol leading him on and abandoning him. To rub salt in the wound by the end of the episode Weaver finds out that Luka's attempt to get a court order declaring the woman incompetent, and thus the baby could be delivered and saved, was approved of by the judge, but it arrived too late to save the baby. The only mercy of the episode is that nobody appears to tell Luka this. The episode ends on a [[HeroicBSOD silent Luka looking thoroughly miserable]] sitting alone at the L Station in the wake of his day, and with a no less grim Carter and Benton on the plane flying to the rehab he will be attending.

* When [[https://youtu.be/eGq0GAP9wXI Lucy died in "All in the Family]]", because even that bastard of a doctor Romano refused to give up on her when she was clearly beyond help. The worst part is that at one point it looked hopeful, before things took a turn for the worse.
** The desperate way that he reacts when she's gone, trying to go for another cycle, anything to have a chance. Elizabeth's quiet acceptance of Lucy's death is heartbreaking, but who thought they'd see Romano trashing the room because he couldn't have a colleague? He genuinely liked her, because she was smart, gutsy, and stood up to him.
** After Lucy's death, a letter arrives which reveals that she was matched to the hospital and would have become a psych resident.
* Mark's father dying at the end of Season 6. At this point he has end stage Lung Cancer and is finding it very difficult to breathe. Mark gives him a sponge bath and his father tells him that he used to bathe Mark as a baby. He then says "I love you, Mark" in the saddest way possible, to which Mark responds "I love you too, Dad." Mark then takes a nap and when he wakes up his father is dead.
* [[https://youtu.be/CfP36fTPgUA Benton flat-out begging his ex Carla not to take Reese away from him]], telling her that he means more to him than anything--"I'd lay down in front of a train for him. ''THAT'S'' how much I love him."

* The ending of ''May Day'' sees the season becoming a DownerEnding with Carter revealed to be drug addicted and forced into rehab or he'll be fired, with him punching Benton after an intervention and finally breaking down over his grief and guilt over the drugs and what happened to him and Lucy, having a part in her death. At the same time Luka suffers a truly awful day including being forced by red tape to allow a mother to kill her unborn child and combined with it is still reeling from Carol leading him on and abandoning him. To rub salt in the wound by the end of the episode Weaver finds out that Luka's attempt to get a court order declaring the woman incompetent, and thus the baby could be delivered and saved, was approved of by the judge, but it arrived too late to save the baby. The only mercy of the episode is that nobody appears to tell Luka this. The episode ends on [[HeroicBSOD Luka looking thoroughly miserable]] and alone sitting silently at the L Station in the wake of his day, and with a no less grim Carter and Benton on the plane flying to the rehab he will be attending.

* The ending of ''May Day'' sees the season becoming a DownerEnding with Carter revealed to be drug addicted and forced into rehab or he'll be fired, with him punching Benton after an intervention and finally breaking down over his grief and guilt over the drugs and what happened to him and Lucy, having a part in her death. At the same time Luka suffers a truly awful day including being forced by red tape to allow a mother to kill her unborn child and combined with it is still reeling from Carol leading him on and abandoning him. To rub salt in the wound by the end of the episode Weaver finds out that Luka's attempt to get a court order declaring the woman incompetent, and thus the baby could be delivered and saved, was approved of by the judge, but before it arrived it was too late and the baby died. The only mercy of the episode is that nobody tells Luka this. The final picture at the end of the episode's credits is of him looking thoroughly miserable.

* The ending of ''May Day'' sees the season becoming a DownerEnding with Carter drug addicted and forced into rehab or he'll be fired, while Luka at the same time suffers an awful day including being forced by red tape to allow a mother to kill her unborn child and combined with it is still reeling from Carol leading him on and abandoning him. The final picture at the end of the episode's credits is of him looking thoroughly miserable.