Weaver confronts a dilemma when influential alderman John Bright, seeking treatment after a fall, tests positive for syphilis—potentially damaging information that could become public. A sympathetic Kovac defies conventional ethics when he tricks a seriously injured patient who refuses to leave his dying wife's side into believing that she has already expired. Pratt ignores a dying mother's wishes in hopes of keeping her kids out of foster care, while also dealing with more problems with Leon. Meanwhile, Carter's family fortunes fail to pay off for an ailing doctor running a local clinic. Weaver and Kovac differ on what to do with a young boy whose medical history suggests repeated child abuse.