Cutting Edges

what happens

Laurie asks Jeffrey for a divorce so that she can marry Gilbert Weeks, a lawyer who is also a patient at the Institute; spurred by this news, Jeffrey suggests that Aaron perform an experimental procedure which may cure Laurie's schizophrenia; fearful that Laurie will no longer love him if she is cured, Gilbert goes to court to stop the procedure, citing Jeffrey's conflict of interest and contesting his guardianship of Laurie; although she is torn between the two men that she loves, Laurie decides that her future is with Gilbert and declines the surgery; Billy becomes a member of the staff, and agrees to do a consultation on Tamara, a teenaged patient of an old friend, Dr. Dennis Hancock; after Tamara is diagnosed with breast cancer and refuses to have a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery despite warnings from Billy and Geri that she will die without the surgery, Dennis uses just the right approach to change her mind and allay her fears of disfigurement.

who made it

directed

Mark Tinker

written

David E. Kelley, Toni Graphia

guest cast

Billed for this episode only — the turn people remember an episode for.

• Vondie Curtis-Hall as Dennis Hancock
• Peter Berg as Billy Kronk
• Elise Neal as Tamara Parnett
• Kim Greist as Laurie Geiger
• LaTanya Richardson Jackson as Mrs. Parnett
• Stephen Elliott as Harold Aldrich
• O-Lan Jones as Mental Patient
• Jeff Perry as Gilbert Weeks