ER, Season 11

Carter (to Abby):
When I was a student on my surgical rotation, Rubadoux's wife was very sick. She was part of this research study. When her results, uh... when she was no longer useful, there was a lot of pressure to get her out. So I did. I dumped her into a nursing home.

Abby:
Did she belong in one?

Carter:
We all figured she'd end up back in the hospital which would be on Medicine's shoulders, not ours.

Abby:
So...? Surgery dumps another patient on Medicine. Happens every day.

Carter:
I told Rubadoux that she was going to get better, told him that her situation was going to improve, told him what he wanted to hear... you know, when you're a student, you're so desperate for approval. You want everybody to like you: you want your patients to like you, you want their families to like you. Gotta be efficient too, though. You gotta impress your superiors.

Abby:
Yeah, you don't have to tell me. I'm still on the bottom rung of the ladder.

Carter:
I mean, when the Chief of Surgery tells you to get rid of her, you get rid of her.

Abby:
Yeah.

Carter:
And then she came back three days later, and she died and Rubadoux was so surprised. Ultimately it was the Attending's fault. It wasn't my responsibility.