Robert Romano

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Robert Romano
First appearance	1997
Last appearance	2003
Cause/Reason	Killed by a falling helicopter
Information
Nickname(s)	Rocket
Gender	Male
Year of death	2003
Occupation	Former Chief of Surgery, former Chief of Staff, former Chief of Emergency Medicine
Portrayed by	Paul McCrane

Dr. Robert "Rocket" Romano was a fictional medical doctor on the ER television series who worked at County General. He was portrayed by Paul McCrane.

The producers of the show wanted to have a doctor who was arrogant, mean-spirited, and prone to making unwelcome advances towards women. Many medical professionals have commented that they have known real-life medical doctors who were quite like Romano. Although Romano was a deliberately unpleasant character, he also frequently provided the show's comic relief, and thus became popular with viewers as ER's "man you love to hate".

Dr. Romano was a brilliant surgeon, but did not get along with the majority of the staff. When Dr. Benton arranged for the surgery of a Medicare patient over the objections of Dr. Romano, Romano fired Benton. Romano then blacklisted Benton throughout the community, making it almost impossible for him to find a job in Chicago. This forced Benton to come back and beg for a job from Romano. While Dr. Kerry Weaver had initially backed Romano for chief of staff, they soon turned against each other. Romano did, however, seem genuinely fond of medical student Lucy Knight, and showed grief and anger when he was unable to save her after a homicidal attack.

At the beginning of the ninth season, Dr. Romano lost his arm when he backed into the tail rotor blades of a helicopter that was evacuating a patient. Dr. Kovač was able to save Romano's life, and surgeons at another Chicago area hospital were able to reattach Romano's arm.

However, Romano found that the reattached arm was lacking in both its motor and its sensory capacities: not only was he unable to properly perform surgery, he failed to notice when the arm sustained further injuries, and - after a kitchen accident in which the arm caught fire - he had it amputated, and resorted to a mechanical prosthetic. Since the hospital's policies impeded his efforts to obtain a more suitable replacement, his career as a surgeon ended; Romano moved to the ER and took over there. He managed to get himself beaten up in a bar after complaining about a strong man show, and calling another bar patron "homo-erotic" for watching the show.

Romano died when a helicopter fell off the roof of the hospital and crashed on top of him, a widely-derided denouement intended to be ironic as the character had developed a phobia toward helicopters. The only person to attend his memorial service was Elizabeth Corday, for whom Romano had feelings since Corday first arrived in the fourth season, during which she rejected his amorous advances. He bequeathed a substantial amount of money to the hospital; Dr. Weaver, a lesbian who had been personally offended by Romano's homophobia, decided to use the money to fund the Robert Romano Center for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Health Care at the hospital.

[edit] Memorable quotes

Romano: "Are you sure you can still reach the table?"
Corday: "At least I can see the table..."

"Take him out back and shoot him."

"Exactly how much of your brain did they cut out?"

"Do me a favor, write 'Not this one, idiot.' on my arm..."

"I'm beginning to think ER stands for 'Everyone's Retarded,'"

"I'm not gonna jump you, you homophobe."

"Are you all suckers of the accent?" referring to Luka’s relationships with the nurses.

"Don't worry, it's their job to be anal." In reference to the hospital's legal team.

"In the unlikely event a patient here does have insurance, we don't cut them a break."

[edit] External links

• Character biography at ER Headquarters
• Bio at TNT.com
• Official ER website at NBC.com

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