Gabriel Lawrence is Kerry Weaver's mentor. She hired him as an Attending Physician in the ER at County General. During his brief appearance, Dr Lawrence shares his experiences with the members of the ER staff. It quickly becomes apparent that Lawrence is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease. Mark Greene's well-founded suspi...
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Gabriel Lawrence is Kerry Weaver's mentor. She hired him as an Attending Physician in the ER at County General. During his brief appearance, Dr Lawrence shares his experiences with the members of the ER staff. It quickly becomes apparent that Lawrence is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease. Mark Greene's well-founded suspicions are mistaken for jealousy, and Lucy Knight's notice of this is also dismissed by John Carter. At first Lawrence does not want to admit to what is happening, but the signs of his mental deterioration soon become readily apparent. These include sudden bursts of irritability, being unable to find the right word, leaving his reading glasses in the lounge freezer, and looking for his car on the wrong floor of the parking garage. After Greene stages a scene with a fake ER patient to point out these problems, Lawrence realizes he has no choice but to retire. He makes amends with his son in California, and goes to live with him. As he waits for his son to pick him up, he gets the chance to make one more diagnosis and save one last life--a patient with a rare case of strychnine poisoning that had baffled other ER physicians.Lawrence was portrayed by Alan Alda. At one point he mentions to have worked for the U.S. Army, a nod to Alda's role as Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H. Alda received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal but lost it to James Whitmore (for his role on The Practice.)
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