3×22 | One More for the Road : Mark Greene continues to struggle with the results of his beating and acquires a gun to protect himself. Doug Ross and Dr. Del Amico treat 14 year-old Charlie who is again living on the street and who is now using hard-core drugs. Ross is also feeling pangs of jealousy when he learns that Carol Hathaway is dating someone. John Carter raises the issue of abandoning surgery as his specialty with Dr. Anspaugh who hits the roof and accuses him of betraying the contract he has made with the hospital. Benton and Carol finally get some good news when their premature baby seems to respond to treatment. Jeanie and Al Boulet are giving their marriage another try.

3×21 | Make a Wish : Mark Greene returns to work after his assault but he is clearly suffering from post-traumatic stress and has come back too soon. John Carter is beginning to have serious doubts that surgery is the right specialty for him and asks Dr. Weaver what it would take to change his residency to emergency medicine. It's Carol Hathaway's birthday and Doug Ross offers to save her from the embarrassment of any party her friends might throw her by inviting her out to dinner. Carla Reece goes into premature labor and gives birth to a baby boy.

3×20 | Random Acts : Jeanie Boulet sees her ex-husband in a new light and arranges to get him into a special program at County General. Her boyfriend Greg realizes that she may still be in love with him. The staff has a bit of fun when someone finds the manuscript to a trashy novel where all of the major characters are obviously drawn on ER staffers. Doug Ross treats a child for a broken wrist but also notices that he may have problems with his sight. Benton's girlfriend Carla finds herself hospitalized for the remaining 8 weeks of her pregnancy. Mark Greene has a rough day with several relatives who are less than happy with the care being provided to their relatives but when he is savagely beaten in the men's room, he has no idea who is assailant might be. A new resident, Dr. Anna Del Amico, joins the ER team. Benton and Carter get to assist on a kidney transplant but unlike the other surgeons, Carter is more interested in the patients than the surgical procedure.

3×19 | Calling Dr. Hathaway : Carol Hathaway receives the results of her medical school admissions test but begins to have doubts about being a doctor. When Jerry hears that a very valuable mouse has escaped from the hospital lab, he sets out to trap it in the hopes of collecting the $5000 reward. Dr. Carter is still in Dr. Anspaugh's doghouse and wonders when he'll ever get back into an operating room. He's faced with an ethical dilemma when a fellow resident, Dale Edson, falsifies a patient's chart to cover up an error. Benton finds it difficult to balance work with the demands posed by being a prospective father.

3×18 | You Bet Your Life : Mark Greene's daughter is still staying with him and he's finding it a challenge to balance the demands of his work and home life. Dr. Carter commits a major error in judgment after Dr. Anspaugh refuses to operate on a patient. Carter then convinces Dr. Hicks to undertake the procedure without mentioning his previous approach to Anspaugh. Called on the carpet, he's told that he may lose his residency. Dr. Benton surreptitiously obtains a copy of Carla Reece's medical reports in his attempts to learn more about her pregnancy. Carol Hathaway is fed up taking orders from doctors that are younger and less experienced than her and has a run-in with Maggie Doyle as a result.

3×17 | Tribes : Race relations become an issue in the ER when Mark Greene treats two injured teenagers, one black and the other white, and assumes the black kid was a drug dealer. It turns the white kid was the drug dealer and the black kid is a high school basketball star and an innocent bystander. When the black student's older brother confronts him, he begins to question his own impartiality. Carol Hathaway helps a young woman who was drugged with Rohipnol and raped. Benton gets an interesting offer from Dr. Hicks. He also learns that Carla Reece has been admitted to the hospital. Dr. Carter treats a woman with a serious condition but he seems to be the only one who sees it. Mark Greene's daughter ends up spending the day in the ER when her mom has to rush to Florida to deal with a family emergency.

3×16 | Faith : It's decision day for Carol Hathaway who will learn the results of the investigation and whether her suspension will become permanent. She is also toying with the idea of writing the medical school admissions test. Benton finally comes to terms with the death of Dennis Gant and Dr. Hicks provides him with support. His pregnant ex-girlfriend Carla Reece doesn't want anything to do with him, however. Dr. Carter challenges Dr. Anspaugh's diagnosis of a patient. Mark Greene and Maggie Doyle desperately try to get a patient with Down's syndrome on a heart transplant list, but come up against an unexpected obstacle. Dr. Ross again meets a young cystic fibrosis patient he had treated several weeks before. Now 18 years old, he wants to Ross to remove him from the ventilator even though it almost certainly means he will die.

3×15 | The Long Way Around : Carol Hathaway is still under suspension but faces a life-threatening situation when she is held hostage in her local corner store by two would be robbers. The two young men are in over their head and panic, shooting the store owner. Carol manages to take charge of the situation, calming them and trying to save the owner as well as one of the robbers, who has also been shot. In the end, she empathizes with one of them, Duncan, a young man visiting from Scotland. In his attempt to make his escape, he takes Carol with him and flees, but with tragic results.

3×14 | Whose Appy Now? : Mark Greene has gone on a dating binge and he finds himself juggling three women. Things get sticky when it turns out two of them know one another and all three meet in the ER. Dr. Benton is in a funk and John Carter tells him he is joining Dr. Hicks' surgical team. Carter reacts with glee when Benton has to have his appendix removed and Hicks lets him perform the operation. With Carol Hathaway still under suspension, the ER isn't functioning quite as smoothly as it normally does. Jeanie Boulet and Dr. Greg Fischer treat a young man with syphilis and argue over whether they should tell his wife. Jeanie finally gives in to Greg's repeated requests and agrees to go out on a date.

3×13 | Fortune's Fools : The nurses are shocked to hear what happened to a patient during their 'sick out'. When the hospital leaks the information to the press, Carol Hathaway decides to set the record straight. Mark Greene decides his fling with Chuny Marquez has run its course and asks Doug for advice on how to end it. Greene and Dr. Weaver show their different styles when they each show prospective students around the ER. Hathaway treats a veteran police officer who seems to be developing a neurological disorder. Peter Benton sees his friend Carla Reece in the hospital waiting room and learns that she is pregnant. He also forgets that he and Carter had to make a presentation to the surgical staff.

3×12 | Post Mortem : John Carter can't help but wonder if he could have done something to prevent Dennis Gant's death. He is particularly exasperated at Dr. Benton's apparent indifference and his refusal to acknowledge that he may have been too hard on Gant. Carter arranges for a memorial service with Dennis Gant Sr. attending. With labor negotiations looming, all of the nurses stage a walk out leaving Nurse Manager Carol Hathaway as the only experienced ER nurse on duty. It all takes on serious overtones when Carol makes a mistake that costs a patient his life. Charlie the 14-year-old street kid is being held in the hospital for observation and asks if Doug can become her guardian. Mark Greene and nurse Chuny Marquez start seeing each other. Jeanie Boulet ends up on a date with Dr. Greg Fischer but feels she has to tell him about her HIV status.

3×11 | Night Shift : It's a quiet night shift in the ER. Carol Hathaway is told she has to fire two of her nurses because of a budget shortfall. Her creative solution doesn't sit well with the staff however. Dr. Weaver needs another volunteer for her sleep deprivation study. After getting negative feedback from Dr. Benton, Dennis Gant decides it's all too much and takes drastic action. Dr. Greene has to deal with a patient who is refusing treatment and neither legal nor psych services will allow him treat her against her wishes. Doug Ross has to treat Charlie the street kid, who has been beaten up by a pimp. Benton catches Abby Keaton and Carter canoodling in her office.

3×10 | Homeless for the Holidays : It's not a happy Christmas for Dennis Gant. His girlfriend calls to tell him she wont be joining him for the holidays and then John Carter cancels his invitation to spend Christmas with the Carters when he gets the chance to spend time with Dr. Keaton. Drs. Greene and Weaver are ordered by Anspaugh to develop a policy on HIV-positive employees. Dr. Maggie Doyle treats a battered woman with a fractured cheekbone and helps her get into a shelter. Mark Greene's idea for a Christmas gift for his daughter doesn't quite work out as planned. Benton wants to do another rotation in pediatric surgery but Dr. Keaton won't give him a recommendation.

3×9 | Ask Me No Questions, I'll Tell You No Lies : With Susan Lewis now gone, the ER is short one doctor and Mark Greene decides to re-organize the distribution of work. Carol Hathaway frets over her midterm physics exam. Benton prepares for a particularly difficult pediatric surgery only to be pulled out at the last moment to assist Morgenstern in a routine procedure. Jeanie Boulet's husband Al is treated by Greene and now wonders about Jeanie's condition. When she denies her HIV status, Greene isn't prepared to take her word for it and checks her file. Dr. Keaton informs Carter that she is going away. Dennis Gant is having trouble keeping up with the heavy workload.