John Carter (ER)
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Dr. John Truman Carter III is a fictional medical doctor from the television series ER. He is portrayed by Noah Wyle. Dr. Carter is unique in that he was the only remaining major character to have stayed with the show from the beginning of the series up to the 2004-2005 season.
John Carter was from a wealthy family; consequently, he did not have any student loans from studying medicine.
Dr. Carter initially came to County General as a third year medical student. He initially was interested in surgery, but eventually changed his specialty to emergency medicine while studying under Doctor Peter Benton.
Dr. Carter was stabbed by a mentally ill patient. His friend and medical student, Lucy Knight, was also stabbed by the same man, but she did not survive her injuries. Dr. Carter eventually developed an addiction to drugs, and was taken to an inpatient treatment center in Atlanta by Dr. Benton.
Dr. Carter and Abby Lockhart had an on-again, off-again romance through much of their time on the show together. Not long before the final breakup, Carter was going to ask Lockhart to marry him, but she made it clear that marriage was not in their future. The end came while Carter was in Africa. After his return, they have remained friends.
When Dr. Kovac was reported killed in Africa, Carter went to retrieve his body. To his surprise, he found that Kovac was still alive, and that another man had been mistaken for him. After arranging for Kovac to be sent home, Dr. Carter remained in Africa for several months. He worked to help locals who had been stricken with AIDS. He also fell in love with Kem Likasu (Thandie Newton). Kem soon became pregnant with Carter's child. Dr. Carter and Kem soon returned to the United States, and Carter returned to work at County General. However, Kem lost the baby - a boy - in the final months of her pregnancy.
After the incident, his relationship with Kem grew weak, and she left for Africa, saying she needed some time alone and needed to get back to work. Dr. Carter was still devastated when he met social worker Wendall Meade (Mädchen Amick). After a couple of months dating, Wendall realized Dr. Carter was still in love with Kem, and broke up with him.
Dr. Carter, with good intentions, started a project for an HIV/AIDS clinic at County General, with full funding by his family's charity foundation. Afterwards, he went to Paris, where Kem is taking care of her mother, who has fallen ill. There, their relationship began to grow again, and Dr. Carter made Kem the offer of going to Africa and start all over again. She didn't answer right away, but later accepted the offer.
Dr. Carter went back to Chicago for one last day at County General, and, after saying goodbye to his friends, went to Africa to be with Kem.