Elizabeth Corday
Elizabeth Corday FRCS MBBCh was a British surgeon who moved to Chicago to gain more experience in trauma surgery, arriving in season four. We learn in her first episode that she comes from a whole family of surgeons, and later on we learn that her father is in fact a top surgeon at St. Thomas' Hospital, London. Corday related in Ambush that he... Show more »
Elizabeth Corday FRCS MBBCh was a British surgeon who moved to Chicago to gain more experience in trauma surgery, arriving in season four. We learn in her first episode that she comes from a whole family of surgeons, and later on we learn that her father is in fact a top surgeon at St. Thomas' Hospital, London. Corday related in Ambush that her grandfather was a surgeon as was her father and since there were no boys in her family, she took over that role. Corday's mother is an astrophysicist with whom she has a rather rocky relationship. Corday felt that her mother didn't spend enough time with her as a girl, she felt that she was raised by nannies and boarding schools. Though the two do seem to come to some kind of mutual agreement, the relationship is still strained.Corday faced many problems in adjusting to the American way of life. In her first trauma, she completely baffled the rest of the staff by using lots of British terms usually not used in America - for example, she asked them to bleep Benton (page Dr. Peter Benton), order an FBC (CBC), and perform a tube thoracostomy (chest tube). She also introduced herself as Miss Corday and not Dr Corday as is customary for British surgeons. She became popular amongst the other staff though, both for her surgical competency (Dr. Donald Anspaugh remarked on several occasions that she was a truly exceptional surgeon, much to the dismay of her rival Benton, who had been pushed out of his long held top spot by the newly arriving Corday) and for her personality - she quickly gained a reputation for being unfazed by status. She became friends with many of the female ER staff, including Carol Hathaway and Anna del Amico; and later on Dr. Abby Lockhart and Susan Lewis. Despite her arrogant and opinionated exterior, she had a deeply caring side to her - she was there to provide support at critical moments for both staff and patients alike. Despite their long and adversarial history, she supported Dr. Robert Romano through the ordeal with his arm; and similarly she overcame her deep dislike of Dr. Kerry Weaver to be a friend to her following the death of her lover Sandy Lopez. Because of the strong ties she had made with Chicago, Corday decided to stay on after her fellowship was terminated, even though this meant that she had to repeat her internship in order to get a license to practice in the United States during Season 5. This was a particularly trying time for her - she had to adjust to being at the bottom of the heap after enjoying so long at the top, and on top of that she was supervised initially by Dale Edson - described even by Romano as a weasel. During this time, she made repeated attempts to become romantically involved with Benton, eventually succeeding. He even agreed to take over as her supervisor after a while. She faced further trouble, however, when (at the end of a 36 hour shift) she made a lethal mistake in calculating how much drug to inject into a patient. Fortunately, this didn't faze her, and she used it to campaign for better conditions for junior medical staff. After completing her internship, Corday was offered the position of Associate Chief of Surgery by her colleague and rival Romano, who announced the appointment without even asking her. She took the job, however, and soon found herself getting caught up in hospital politics.Corday became romantically involved with Dr. Mark Greene during season 5, and in season 7 found out that she was pregnant with his child. They married, and named their daughter Ella.However, Corday's marriage to Greene was difficult for both parties. Corday was facing struggles at work, after she was sued for allegedly rushing an operation (leading to paralysis of the patient), and her pregnancy was severely compromised when she went into labor whilst on scene at a train wreck. Greene had to cope with the death of his father, as well as facing his own mortality when he was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.There was hope of a reprieve though, when Greene found a surgeon in New York who said he could successfully remove the tumor. Corday accompanied him to New York City and was even present in the operating room for the procedure, by his side all the time. The couple later got married (after a series of glitches with the transport for both parties!) and appeared to be very happy. Corday was already very pregnant at the time of the wedding, and gave birth to baby Ella a short time later.This happiness was not maintained for very long, however - Greene's daughter Rachel (from his marriage to Jen) had by now grown from a nice child into a troublesome teenager. After falling out with Jen, Rachel moved in with Greene, Corday and baby Ella. Things were not much better for her there, though - she and Corday were constantly arguing, culminating eventually in Ella taking ecstasy that belonged to Rachel. Corday was so furious that she told Rachel to leave the house, and after Mark refused to send Rachel back to Jen, or press charges, Corday moved out instead, taking Ella with her. When Susan Lewis made a return to County General after five years, she seemed to be at odds with her. She was cautious because of the relationship that Susan and Mark once had. Later on after Mark dies, she and Susan strike up a friendship.At about the same time, Greene learned that the tumor had returned, and that this time it was inoperable. On hearing the news through a third party, Corday decided to move back in with him and Rachel. Greene eventually left Chicago to spend his final days with his daughter in Hawaii. On the walk home after a day of surfing, Mark suffers a seizure and in a panic, Rachel calls Elizabeth, who arrives in Hawaii soon after with Ella. The four spend Mark's last few days bonding and overcoming obstacles. Corday told Rachel after the funeral that it would be ok for her to visit her sister, and later on she did so and the two edged tentatively towards a friendship.After Greene's death, Corday returned to England for several months, but she found that she no longer fit in because of her being in the States for so long, suffering bullying at the hands of her British colleagues for her American ways.Elizabeth returned to her job at County General soon after the start of season 9, where she became involved with another man, despite her being concerned that it was too soon following Greene's death. Corday was saddened to see her long time colleague giving up his career due to his arm injury that cut out his ability as a surgeon. An even bigger blow hit Corday later during season 10 when Robert Romano was killed in a helicopter disaster, this left Corday grieving for yet another loss of someone dear to her. Later in the season, Dr. Corday was quickly appointed to Chief of Surgery by Kerry Weaver, seeing that Elizabeth was becoming a prominent and more senior figure in the OR.In her love life, she was still having some trouble moving on and making the right choices. After some reconciliation and solace, Elizabeth quickly overcame her worries--she began a relationship with a charismatic surgeon, Dr. Dorset (Bruno Campos), which quickly ended when she discovered that he was married. Later, she began seeing two men at the same time, another doctor at County and a teacher. The two eventually run into each other and both break up with Elizabeth. Show less «
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