POWERFUL CITY LEADER TEMPTS DR. WEAVER; ED ASNER GUEST-STARS AS CROTCHETY MEDICAL CLINIC DOCTOR

Dr. Weaver (Laura Innes) is caught in a bind when an influential alderman (guest star Bruce Weitz), seeking treatment after a fall, tests positive for syphilis -- information that will likely become public. Meanwhile, Dr. Carter (Noah Wyle) is impressed when he meets an irascible old doctor (Emmy Award-winning guest star Ed Asner) who runs an inner-city medical clinic. Elsewhere: a sympathetic Dr. Kovac (Goran Visnjic) bends ethics when he tricks an injured patient (guest star James Colby) into believing that his terminal wife has already expired; Dr. Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) decides on his own to invite a dying mother's (guest star Jeannetta Arnette) drug-addled son to her bedside and also keeps a wary eye on his mentally challenged brother Leon (guest star Marcello Thedford) as he starts a new job; Weaver and Kovac differ on what to do with a young boy whose repeated medical history suggests paternal child abuse. Maura Tierney, Alex Kingston, Paul McCrane, Sherry Stringfield and Sharif Atkins also star.