Victor Clemente

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Dr. Victor Clemente is a fictional medical doctor on the hit television series ER. He was portrayed by John Leguizamo.

[edit] First Appearance

Leguizamo's character first appears in the 250th episode of ER, Wake Up, as a new attending physician seeking to be Chief of Emergency Medicine and attempting to introduce more equipment to the ER. He enters the series in an unusual way, by posing as a patient. This causes him to take an instant dislike to doctors Archie Morris, Gregory Pratt and Luka Kovac. Clemente also secretly treats a monkey with health problems, which leads to his suspension, as well as the suspension of two other doctors, Neela Rasgotra and Abby Lockhart.

[edit] Clemente vs. Kovac

Clemente has a modern way of treating patients, using many modern maneuvers, techniques and equipment which are still being tested and don't always give the expected results. This makes the other doctors a little worried and causes Luka Kovac, the other attending physician in the Emergency Room (who uses traditional methods and prefers not use technology when isn't needed), to be his rival. They don't like each other from the start, when Kovac brings a woman who has woken up from a coma after six years (Blaire Collins) to the ER, and they then have a disagreement about her treatment.

Later, they argue about the treatment of a little girl who was raped and kidnapped, making Kovac contest the position of Chief of Emergency Medicine. He doesn't trust Clemente and his way of dealing with patients, blaming him for the death of the girl.

When a plane crashes in the city, Clemente is put on triage and he and Kovac have another argument. In the end, Kovac is made Chief, after which Clemente claims to have earlier decided not to seek the position, citing time constraints. It is unclear whether Clemente actually took his name out of the running, or whether he made up the story to save face.

[edit] Clemente's problems

The audience soon learns that Victor is not the consummate professional he was originally portrayed as. Clemente's former girlfriend Jodie (portrayed by Callie Thorne), has been obsessively tracking him down and has finally found him. This causes Clemente to become careless and even miss work to stay with her. It's on this day that Jodie's controlling husband (a violent police officer who apparently beats her) appears in his apartment. He shoots both Clemente and Jodie after Jodie asks for a divorce.

Jodie undergoes surgery but is left unable to talk. Clemente also survives, but he becomes the prime suspect in a murder case due to the cocaine found in his apartment and the fact that Jodie's husband has disappeared. Clemente is subjected to drug tests and is kept under close watch by Luka Kovac and other staff. Jodie does survive and helps him get out of trouble for a while, but more problems occur when Jodie's ex husband continues to harass Clemente by phone, leaving threats and other comments to him.

In the episode The Gallant Hero and the Tragic Victor, Clemente finally succumbs to the troubles plaguing him. He gets careless with his patients, and while taking a break forced on him by Kovac, he verbally assaults first a pedestrian and then a cab driver who has nearly run him over. He then leaps onto the cab, jumps up and down on it, breaking the windshield with his foot, eventually urinating on the cab and driver, all the while denying he has a psychological or drug problem. Brought back to the hospital strapped to a gurney, he shouts nonsense and obscenities until he is sedated. A psychiatric consultant rules out his peculiar behavior as being caused by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or sleep deprivation, assumedly from his vigilance in avoiding his stalker.

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