Kerry Weaver - Seasons Two Through Six

Seasons Two Through Six

During Innes' first six seasons on the show, little was revealed about the details of Weaver's background which would later become some of her defining traits: her sexual orientation, political beliefs, and even the precise nature of her disability. These were closely guarded secrets for a woman who wanted to succeed professionally, but feared discrimination. She was also unable to fully deal with her internalized homophobia and regretted that she never knew her birth parents.

When she was first hired by Mark Greene as chief resident in 1995, this let down much of the ER staff who didn't care for her detail-oriented approach in the trauma rooms. Early in her position, she would often clash with Doug Ross and resident Susan Lewis over most of the procedures in patient care. In addition, her strong belief in administrative policies would be dragged out into every unnecessary aspect in the workplace (in one episode, Jerry brought cake celebrating her day off). In Season 3, Kerry became an ER attending physician alongside Mark Greene, whom she would always manage to compete with or maneuver to catch the eye of her superiors.

As a result, it was difficult for anyone — the audience or any of the other characters — to really know Weaver beyond her tough and bureaucratic professionalism. In an early glimpse into her soul, Weaver defended Jeanie Boulet, played by Gloria Reuben, a physician's assistant who contracted HIV from her adulterous husband. Later Boulet contracts Hepatitis C from a needle stick accident involving an infected patient. She fought to keep her job and dignity, while some doctors worried about the liability involved in having an HIV-positive employee in the ER. Weaver was the first person in a position of power to side with Jeanie, and the two remained friends until Jeanie's budget-related firing and her successful pressure campaign to get her job back. They reconciled and were close friends again when Jeanie left the ER to be with her new husband and raise her adopted HIV+ son Carlos.

Weaver demonstrated a great deal of compassion and a moral commitment to civil rights, and that helped her and Dr. Greene draft an ER policy for HIV-positive employees. This storyline developed Weaver's character beyond that of a stoic, abrasive professional. In future episodes, she agreed to look the other way when Dr. John Carter helped a teenage runaway escape her homophobic parents who sent her away to an ex-gay camp.

In 1997, Weaver went through a brief relationship with Ellis West (played by Clancy Brown), an M.D. working for the Synergix Group, which was under consideration by County for a general management contract of the ER. Despite his claims to the contrary, she eventually came to the conclusion that West had begun a relationship with her in order to gain her approval of the contract. West said she was wrong, withdrew the proposal and left the show.

After Carter was fired from his RA position and had nowhere to live, he followed an ad which led him to Dr. Weaver's house; she had been renting out her basement to college students. For the first time, the audience saw the inside of her city home, and noted that she was single and independent, lived in a nice home, and had a particular taste in music. Weaver also hired a private investigator to locate her birth mother, an effort that initially failed and revealed Weaver's fear that she was raised by adoptive parents because her mother could not accept a disabled daughter.

In 1998, during Season 4, Kerry was briefly debilitated when an explosion at chemical plant sent victims flooding in, creating a toxic benzene spill in the ER. Weaver dropped to the floor having a convulsive seizure from the effects of the toxins. She was treated by Dr. Carter and Dr. Anna Del Amico, who took charge for the first time, Dr. Greene out of town.

Ever since her arrival at County General, Kerry has been very ambitious in pursuing higher administrative titles, such as Chief of Emergency Medicine. This was after Dr. Morgenstern's long, extensive absence, that a new position needed to be filled. For a short period she is made interim acting chief of emergency medicine until a suitable replacement was found. Yet, after an incident involving the hiring of a doctor who turned out to be a very accomplished if bizarre non-physician, Kerry's chances were luckily left open. But, the hospital wasn't really considering her for the position. When she found out, she immediately quit as interim chief of the ER. Unfortunately, Dr. Romano jumped at the opportunity to become interim chief of the ER. At the start of Season 6, word spreads that Romano might be up to the position as Chief of Staff; news that both Kerry and Mark Greene resented and tried to prevent. However, in the end Kerry backed Dr. Romano up for Chief of Staff and in return she is given the position of Chief of Emergency Medicine.

In 1999, Weaver welcomed the chance to hire Dr. Gabe Lawrence (played by Alan Alda), who had been her mentor. She initially refused to accept Dr. Mark Greene's assertion that Lawrence was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease, but she ultimately faced facts and said goodbye to her role model.

Throughout the 1990s, the series occasionally dropped hints that Weaver was a lesbian, from her taste in music, to her house, and to her awkward rejections of advances from some male coworkers. Yet, until season seven, Weaver was simply a single, ambitious professional woman with a - somewhat hidden - kind heart.