Carol Hathaway

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ER character
Image:Julianna Carol Hathaway.jpg
Carol Hathaway
Played by	Julianna Margulies
Duration	1994-2000
Date of Birth	unknown
Marital Status	In relationship
Occupation	Nurse Manager
Family	two children

Nurse Carol Hathaway was a fictional character on the popular television show ER who appeared from 1994 to 2000. She was portrayed by Julianna Margulies.

[edit] Career

Carol Hathaway is a Registered Nurse and was the Nurse manager of the ER at the beginning of the series. It is revealed in one episode that Carol holds a Master's Degree of Nursing. In Season Three, she considers medical school but later decides against it. Carol is sometimes hostile to the ER's Physician Assistant and says to Peter Benton, a surgeon, in Season One "Haleh [a staff nurse] may not be able to cross clamp an aorta, but she has over twenty years experience in emergency medicine and if you would step off your pedestal maybe you would realize it's the nurses that make this place run." In season four, Carol founds the ER clinic, getting money from "Gamma" Carter, Dr. Carter's grandmother. Carol provides care for thousands for free, and is rewarded for that. In season five, after a fiasco with Doug Ross, a dying child, and an overdose of medication, Carol was forced to step down from her position with the clinic, and step down from being Nurse Manager.

[edit] Personal life

Carol was the nurse manager in the emergency room of County General Hospital in Chicago. Just after we first meet Carol, she is rushed into hospital for taking an overdose of barbiturates in a failed suicide attempt. Although she later denies it, it is suspected that her suicide attempt was brought on due to her failed romance with Doug Ross a womanizing pediatrician who also worked in the ER. After she recovered Carol returned to work, where it became obvious that while she was intermittently attracted to him, she still harboured some animosity towards Doug for his inability to accept responsibility for anything, or act in a self-less manner. Meanwhile, Doug continued to make a specific effort to win Carol back, and although their friendship was rekindled slightly, Carol kept Doug at a stark distance in both her professional and private matters.

Later in the first season, Carol got engaged to John Tagilieri (Tag), an orthopedic surgeon, (played by Rick Rossovich) and despite Doug making a deliberate attempt to persuade her out of marrying him, Carol decides to go through with the wedding. However, right before they were about to walk down the aisle, Tag informed Carol that he knew she could never love him the way he loved her and decides he can't go through with the wedding. He leaves Carol to explain the situation to their many guests. Prior to this, Carol attempted to adopt an abandoned Russian girl, who was suffering from AIDS. However, after a background check showed her suicide attempt only months earlier, her application was rejected.

Carol began season two by purchasing a run-down, rickety house and she later became involved with a paramedic, Ray "Shep" Shepard, who moved in with her and helped her renovate her house. However, despite a promising start, their relationship was severely strained after Shep underwent a drastic personality change brought on by the death of his partner. Shep and his partner had decided to infiltrate a burning building to save children who were trapped by the fire. However, Shep's partner was badly burned and he later died in the Intensive Care Unit as his burns were so extensive. Shep became abrasive to Carol, and despite her attempts to get him professional help to deal with his anger, he refused. Although Carol loved Shep, she decided that she wasn't able to witness him self-destruct, so with no other options open to her she made the choice to end their relationship.

In season three Carol suffers severe financial problems, as without Shep's extra income she was unable to fund the upkeep of her property. Things got even worse when a labor dispute concerning the re-assignment of her staff nurses began to arise. As Nurse Manager for the ER, Carol was privy to management decisions, and she found herself torn between her friends and hospital administration. During a nurse sickout, Carol accidentally transfused the wrong blood into a patient, and although it was unclear whether the blood caused him to die, or if he died from his other injuries, Carol proportioned the blame to herself. Carol was initially not punished for this incident, which the administration used to cast the sickout in a bad light. Because she resented the administration's actions and because she believed she was not being punished sufficiently for her error, Carol went to the press and was suspended.

During her suspension Carol was held hostage at gun point, when her local grocery store became victim to an armed robbery. Her medical knowledge proved invaluable when several people were injured and she managed to escape the incident shaken, but unharmed. Carol later went on to take her MCAT exams to see if she was capable of becoming a doctor. She was helped by Doug and although she assumed she'd failed, she passed with flying colours (although she opted not to progress any further as she had only taken the exams to find out if she was capable). During the last few episodes of Season Three, Carol and Doug Ross became closer and eventually they rekindled their relationship.

Their marriage was held up by Carol's insecurities, but soon they were in a full fledged relationship. They tried for a baby before Doug left in the middle of season 5. Unbeknownst to him, he had left Carol pregnant. Carol delivered twins, Kate and Tess, on Thanksgiving of Season 6. Carol joined Doug in Washington state in the second to last episode of Season 6. In Season 8, it is revealed that Carol sent for the girls the next day and stayed with Doug.

[edit] Trivia

• Nurse Carol Hathaway was the only character of ER's original main cast who was not a doctor.
• Carol was originally intended to be an extra. However, after a well-received appearance in the pilot episode, the producers realized what an asset she was to the show and she was written into the series as a major character.
• She is half Russian.

ER
Official NBC Website | Quotes
Current Characters	Ray Barnett | Tony Gates | Abby Lockhart | Archie Morris | Luka Kovač Gregory Pratt | Neela Rasgotra | Samantha Taggart | Kerry Weaver
Former Characters	Peter Benton | Jeanie Boulet | John Carter | Deb Chen | Victor Clemente | Elizabeth Corday Anna Del Amico | Cleo Finch | Michael Gallant | Mark Greene | Carol Hathaway Lucy Knight | Susan Lewis | Dave Malucci | Robert Romano | Doug Ross
Episodes	List of ER Episodes | Pilot
Other reading	Broadcasters | Notable Guest Stars