The Birdman of St. Elsewhere was the designated comic relief for the first few episodes. Then the Birdman decides he's fed up with being in the mental ward and wants to fly away from the hospital, so he jumps off the roof. It's not every day we see Plucky Comic Reliefcommit suicide.
When Nina Morrison died suddenly, her heart was donated to Dr. Craig's transplant patient. The last scene of that episode showed Jack Morrison in the ICU, using his stethoscope to listen to his dead wife's heart beating in the transplant patient's chest. Here's the episode.
Fiscus, Wade and Daniels receive Wendy Armstrong as an unresponsive overdose victim in the ER. Fiscus cries when they realize she's gone.
Maddie (Lycia Naff), a 14-year-old drug addict, gives birth to a stillborn baby.
In "Time Heals (Part 1)", when Dr. Westphall personally disconnects his brain-dead wife from life support: "Breathe, Sweetheart."
Dr. Westphall reluctantly putting his autistic son Tommy in a care home in "The Children's Hour", despite daughter Lizzie's firm opposition.
The original version of the Grand Finale's credits involving Mimsie the Cute Kitten. Because, you know, the preceding epic Mind Screw snowglobe ending just wasn't enough. In most episodes, she's dressed up in a cute little doctor's outfit while she meows as the MTM EnterprisesLogo Joke for the program. This time, however, the opening bumper showed her unconscious and hooked up to an IV, and the closing bumper showed her flatlining. It proved to be so upsetting (especially to people who love cats) that nearly all if not all subsequent airings replace the bumper with the one used in the other episodes. To make matters worse, Mimsie actually died not long after the final episode aired.
