Peter Benton

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Peter Benton
First appearance	1994
Last appearance	2001
Information
Occupation	Trauma surgeon
Portrayed by	Eriq La Salle

Dr. Peter Benton was a surgeon on the television series ER from season one through season eight. The name of the character was inspired by The Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now part of the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA) which was a teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School, where Michael Crichton studied medicine. He was played by Eriq La Salle. Benton was often portrayed as arrogant, irritable, or even hostile, but was also an exceptionally talented surgeon who was passionate about medicine. It was also revealed that he and ER Chief Resident Dr. Mark Greene had gone to medical school together.

Benton was first introduced in the pilot as a second year surgical resident. When all the attending surgeons are occupied in other surgeries, Benton decides to operate without supervision to control a bleeding aneurysm and keep a man alive until a qualified surgeon is available. Although he does this technically against regulations, he is supported after the fact by Dr. David Morgenstern.

Also in the pilot, John Carter is introduced as a third-year medical student on his ER rotation. He is assigned to Benton, who proceeds to give Carter a hard time. They seldom get along and their personalities clash on many occasions. Benton is more ambitious and focused on surgery whereas Carter is more compassionate and willing to spend time with patients. Eventually, the two form a close friendship, despite Benton's negative assessment of Carter leaving surgery for emergency medicine. Years later, Benton refuses to watch Carter self-destruct and convinces him to enter rehab.

Also in season one, We learn that Dr. Benton's mother has had a stroke and is mostly being taken cared of by his sister Jacky, who wants to move her into an assisted living. One night when Benton is watching his mother in Jacky's home she falls down the stairs and breaks her hip. Benton meets Jeanie Boulet, a married Physician Assistant, at the hospital, and hires her to work with his mother as a physical therapist. Benton's mother dies, devastating him, and when Jeanie comforts him they end up having an affair.

In season two, Benton's affair with Jeanie ends. Jeanie separates from her husband Al and learns that he contracted HIV from an affair, and furthermore that he passed the disease on to her. Peter, however, did not contract HIV from Jeanie.

In season three, Peter has a son with a former girlfriend, Carla Reese, whom they name Reese Benton. Reese is born prematurely and due to complications it is eventually found out he is deaf. Benton also develops appendicitis and is operated on by Carter.

When British surgeon Dr. Elizabeth Corday comes to County General, she is quickly attracted to Benton, though he initially disregards her attentions. At length, Elizabeth tells him she believes that he doesn't want to pursue a relationship with her because of their racial difference, and Benton finally grudgingly admits to her that "I do have a problem dating white women." On the professional front, Benton and Corday attempt to outdo each other several times, and both are eventually given the opportunity to work with cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Robert Romano. Later in the year, Benton assists on a surgery performed by his mentor Dr. David Morgenstern. Morgenstern(who has been somewhat hesitant about surgery following his heart attack) makes a serious mistake that endangers the patient's life. Benton shoves him out of the way to take over the operation, with Elizabeth walking in too late to see Morgenstern's mistake but witnessing Benton's actions toward Morgenstern. Benton is suspended and comes close to losing his job before Morgenstern finally comes forward with the videotape of the operation, which exonerates his former student. Morgenstern then resigns from the hospital, and a distraught Peter begins an affair with Elizabeth. They remain together through much of the following two years, although their relationship eventually begins to suffer due to Peter's needing to spend more time attending to Reese. Elizabeth helps him realize that their romance isn't going anywhere, and they end their affair, though they remain close friends and colleagues. Their friendship is troubled, however, when Elizabeth approaches the hospital staff with the idea of a trauma surgical fellowship; Benton withdraws his tentative commitment to Romano's cardiothoracic fellowship(which would be extremely time-consuming) then campaigns for and is granted the trauma fellowship. Elizabeth feels betrayed by Peter and, wishing to stay at County, takes Romano's cardiothoracic fellowship offer.

Romano eventually offers Benton an attending trauma surgeon position, but when a Medicare patient needs a surgery that Romano refuses to allow to be performed, Benton calls social services and informs them of the refusal of care. Romano intercepts the patient as social services arrives and performs the surgery, but is enraged at Peter for calling them. Romano then retracts the idea of an attending trauma surgeon, explaining to Peter that the fines social services and Medicare inflicted on the hospital roughly equal what Peter's yearly salary would have been. Romano then offers Benton a per diem surgical position with reduced benefits and more difficult scheduling, but Benton refuses. Romano also uses his considerable influence to blacklist Benton throughout the medical community, making it impossible for Benton to find a job in Chicago. Peter is then forced to go to Romano and accept the per diem position. Additionally, Peter begins dating Dr. Cleo Finch, the physician who replaced Dr. Doug Ross as the ER pediatric attending.

Later, Carla and her new husband want to move overseas for his job. When Peter threatens to take legal action to prevent them from taking his son out of the country, Carla shocks Peter by telling him that he may not even be Reese's father. Although Carla, Roger and Reese remain in the country, Carla is later killed in a car accident, and Benton and Roger become involved in a custody battle over Reese. When the judge orders a DNA test, it turns out that Peter is in fact not Reese's biological father. Roger's lawyer makes an issue out of the long hours Peter's job forces him to work, whereas Roger is able to work from home. Benton receives a job offer from another hospital with better hours, but, wanting to stay at County, goes to Romano and asks for a schedule which matches the one the other hospital is offering. When Romano is unable to do so, Peter gives his notice of resignation. In court, the better schedule influences the judge to grant Peter sole custody, with Roger receiving visitation rights. When a saddened Roger brings Reese's Christmas presents to the hospital later that day, Peter, knowing that Roger is important to Reese, tells Roger to come his and Cleo's home on Christmas Day and give the presents to Reese then. In Peter's last surgery at County, he near miraculously saved an adolescent victim of a shooting accident.

After leaving the series Benton was seen once more at the funeral of his friend Mark Greene. He then appeared in a photo as part of a slideshow at Dr. Carter's farewell party, and was heard in a voice-over memory as Carter left the ER for the last time in the 11th season finale of the show.

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