10 Most Shocking Moments On ER

Jeanie Boulet, played by Gloria Reuben, was introduced toward the end of ER's first season as a carer for Peter Benton's mother, before the two embarked on an affair. However, Jeanie was married to Al Boulet - a man who had been cheating on her repeatedly, leading to his diagnosis with AIDS.

In the third season opener, Jeanie reveals to Peter that she has tested positive for HIV. This was a crippling blow to their relationship (Peter ends things quickly after this) and was the beginning of a long and hard road for her. Her status as a physician was uncertain, as the diagnosis threw her ability to perform any procedures on patients was in doubt.

She would particularly clash with Dr. Weaver over this - she felt she was perfectly capable of continuing to practice medicine, while Weaver was ever-conscious of the lawsuits that could come from even the slightest accident.

Jeanie had to deal with many rough blows throughout her tenure in ER - but this was truly the worst of them.

Greg Pratt entered the ER with a serious attitude and a massive chip on his shoulder in the latter end of the ninth season. He frequently butted heads with his colleagues and the patients, though he gradually softened throughout the course of the show.

The season 14 finale saw him treating a patient (played by guest star Steve Buschemi) who later was discovered to be an FBI informant. There was an attempt on the patient's life in the ER, so he was transferred via ambulance. However, this ambulance was booby trapped and exploded - with Pratt in the passenger seat.

Though he survived long enough to be brought back to the hospital, his injuries were too severe and, in the season 15 opener, he dies from his wounds. It was a sad ending to a man who had begun as a cocky but funny resident, who had ascended the ranks to, as it was revealed later in that episode, chief of the ER.

Talk about a way to break the ice. On Luka and Abby's very first date, they are attacked by a mugger. The mugger attacks Luka first, bashing him in the head with an iron bar, before turning to grab Abby's purse. However, this mugger bit off FAR more than he could chew, as a very angry Luka gets back up again.

Grabbing the mugger and swinging him around, Luka gets completely lost in his anger, before slamming the man's head into the ground again and again. Abby shouts at him to stop and he keeps going, before finally breaking his train of thought.

The mugger is rushed to the ER but despite the team's best efforts and as Luka looks on in shock, he dies on the table.

Although they would later end up married with a child, this manages to drive an early wedge between Luka and Abby - even if does show how far Luka is willing to go to protect her!

Mark Greene had a rough few years at County General. His first year is marked by his estrangement from his wife, Jen, who is unable to reconcile with the hours he works against her wishes for her own career. They separate and share joint custody of their daughter, Rachael.

As Rachael grows, she begins to act out more and more. When Mark enters into a relationship with Dr. Corday, this softens a little, even if there is still tension in the house. Mark and Corday have a child together, Ella, who they allow Rachael to care for from time to time.

This turns out to be a mistake.

In the eighth season episode Damage Is Done, Rachael bursts into Corday's bedroom, worried that Ella won't stop crying. They quickly discover to their horror that Ella has consumed ecstasy, tablets that she had found in Rachael's bag. A horrific, panic-stricken episode follows where both Mark and Corday attempt to save Ella - which they do - although the anger that is directed toward Rachael after this seems certain to destroy their family.

In the opening episode of ER's ninth season, Chaos Theory, the department has been put in quarantine due to an outbreak of Monkey Pox. In order to evacuate some of the more critical patients, helicopters are used to get them out and away.

Dr. Robert Romano is no one's favourite person in the ER, yet his accident is truly horrific. After his medical chart is blown off a gurney (during an argument with Luka), he stoops to pick it up - managing to completely fail to notice the tail rotors of the helicopter.

The moment is instantaneous and brutal. One moment, he is one of the hospital's most brilliant surgeons. The next moment - he is lying on the ground, his arm is missing and he is vomiting from shock and trauma. He would not be the only one to lose their lunch, as the scene is depicted in a stark realism that only ER knew how to depict.

A truly shocking opening to the new season of ER.

Mark went through a hell of a time in ER. There could easily be a list of just his experiences alone. However, for this list, the seventh season finale Rampage makes the list.

Derek Fossen, the father of an abused boy who has since been put in foster care, goes on a shooting spree around the city - targeting anyone who was involved in taking his son away. Greene, Corday and their baby Ella are on his list, but he is apprehended (and shot) before being able to reach their home.

Fossen is brought to the hospital, stablised and is to be brought up to the OR. However, he is locked in the elevator with Greene. Fossen begins to code, and Greene needs to shock him to stay alive.

Mark watches, holding the paddles in the air, shocking nothing once, twice, three times.

Fossen looks on in fear and then in horror, before dying from his wounds.

As the season ends on this scene, it was one of the most jaw-dropping moments that Greene was involved in, and one hell of a cliffhanger to go out on.

In the eighth season, Abby seeks to help her neighbour (played by Mad Men star Christina Hendricks) by taking her in once she discovers the latter is being abused by her partner. That same partner tries to first get Abby on his side and then later tries to intimidate her into staying out of what is going on between them. Neither tactic works, leading to a truly disturbing scene.

In episode 14, A Simple Twist Of Fate, Abby answers a knock at the door, only for the man to burst inside and begin to savagely beat her. He knocks her to the ground, punching and kicking her, reigning the same violence down on her that he had been visiting on his partner.

It is horrific, leaving Abby in a broken state. She goes to the hospital, where Susan Lewis must also check to see if she has been raped - though thankfully she hadn't been.

Luka, already having shown how far he would go for her on their first date, then chases down the attacker. Though this one survives Luka's anger, it is a grim episode for all concerned.

Michael Gallant appeared in 60 episodes of ER, from first introduction to his eventual death. In that time, he was initially touted as a replacement for the outgoing Dr. Benton, though that couldn't be further from the truth as the two men were nothing alike.

Gallant was a med student who was receiving funding from the US army. His discipline from his combat training fed into his actions in the ER, even if it sometimes left him a bit unwielding.

A mistake costs him his place in County General, and he decides to re-enlist as his way out. This drives a wedge between himself and Neela, with whom he had been involved. He returns several times and they eventually marry. However, in the penultimate episode of the twelfth season, he is killed in the opening moments when a bomb destroys the truck he had been travelling in.

A truly shocking exit, it was particularly affecting when the news is delivered to Neela.

Omar Epps guest starred in ER's third season as Dennis Gant, a med student who began to grow close to Carter, both of them somewhat unified by their abuse from Benton. However, where Carter had had some time to get used to the way Benton handled himself around others, it came to be too much for Gant.

A season of pressure, topped with Benton's blunt delivery, pushed Gant right up to the edge. He complained to Anspaugh, expecting Carter to back him up - which he doesn't. Carter tries to halfheartedly apologize later, but Gant tells him its fine.

Later in the shift, a man is brought into the ER after having fallen in front of the L train. He is broken beyond recognition and requires the whole team to save him. Naturally, they page Gant to assist.

And the pager in the broken man's pocket starts to beep.

The man on the table is Gant, and the entire team are horrified. Despite their best efforts, he dies, leaving Carter (and Benton) to wonder what exactly happened: did he slip, or did he jump?

ER's sixth season had plenty of changes and chills throughout, but none more so than the brutal two-part episode Be Still My Heart and All In The Family.

Kellie Martin's Lucy Knight is viciously attacked off-screen by Paul Sobricki (guest start David Krumholtz) before the deranged patient goes on to stab Carter as well. The first part of the story ends with Carter's attack, before he collapses to the floor and sees the stricken Knight on the ground.

The second part is one of ER's classic all-hands-on-deck rush to save the two doctors. Benton is on fine form as he tries to control his panic, while all of the regular characters rush to save the situation.

There is no moment more affecting than the long, though futile, attempts by Corday and Romano to save Lucy. There are moments of hope throughout the episode before she finally succombs to her wounds. It is a heartbreaking ending, personified in Romano's breakdown.

Not easy watching.