Luka Kovač
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| Luka Kovač | |
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| First appearance | 1999 |
| Portrayed by | Goran Visnjic (professional spelling of Višnjić) |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | County General Hospital: Locum Tenens (1999) Attending Physician (1999-2005, 2007-2008) Chief of Emergency Medicine (2005-2007) |
| Spouse(s) | Abby Lockhart (wife) Danijela (wife, deceased) |
| Children | Joseph (Joe) (son, with Abby Lockhart) Jasna (daughter, with Danijela; deceased) Marko (son, with Danijela; deceased) |
| Relatives | Josip (father, deceased) Niko (brother) |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Dr. Luka Kovač is a fictional character on the television series ER. He is portrayed by Goran Visnjic [1]. Visnjic's character was added to the cast at the beginning of Season 6 (1999) following the mid-season 5 departure of leading character Dr. Doug Ross (played by George Clooney) [2].
Luka Kovač is an emergency room attending physician from Croatia. He speaks of having a joyful, though financially modest, childhood, with at least one brother, and he keeps in contact with his father, who is an amateur painter and engineer on a Zagreb train line. Luka served in the Croatian army, and saw combat. He was a family man, with a wife (Danijela), son (Marko), and daughter (Jasna). Jasna was his older child, and from a birthday photo we know she was at least four. When the Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995) broke out, Luka was at first hesitant to move away, as he wanted to finish his internship. He ended up waiting too long, and it became unsafe to leave. While he was out one morning his apartment building was hit by a mortar shell. His infant son died instantly. His wife and daughter died a few hours later. He carries guilt from the incident because in choosing to stay and perform CPR on his daughter, his wife bled out. He moved to the United States of America some time after that for a fresh start.
Luka has been in a number of relationships since his arrival, from one-night-stands with a prostitute to several long-term monogamous relationships. Though his heart is in the right place, he has been largely unsuccessful in dating. Soon after arriving at County General he became smitten with then-pregnant Head Nurse Carol Hathaway. After her twins were born, a kiss between Luka and Carol served as an epiphany for Carol and she left Chicago (and the series) for Seattle to be with her true love, and the father of her children, Dr. Doug Ross. Later on Luka became involved with Nurse Abby Lockhart, a relationship seemingly doomed to fail as on their very first date they were mugged and Luka unintentionally killed their assailant by being over vigorous with his self defense. After Abby and Luka broke up they remained close friends. Luka then went through a long period where he seemed lost and troubled. He has many demons and tends to be emotionally reclusive and, in one spell, used sex to drown his problems. He had a series of fling relationships, including an odd affair with a prostitute who seemed to serve more as a sort of psychotherapist, and later medical student Erin Harkins (Leslie Bibb), who he seriously injured in a car accident while he was depressed and breaking the speed limit in his Dodge Viper. As a result of this, Luka suffered a partial nervous breakdown, and asked to take sabbatical leave from the hospital; when Kerry brusquely refused, he went AWOL from County and returned just before Kerry was going to officially fire him, saving a boy's life and then being allowed to stay on conditions he attend a seminar on harassment and undergo counseling (the latter step went blatantly unmet). An affair between Luka and nurse Chuny Marquez ended badly in Season 9 and resulting in Luka being briefly suspended for unprofessional conduct, but Luka mended fences with her and everyone else in the ER once he managed to overcome his personal despair.
Luka seemed plagued by the death of his wife, though he has repeatedly expressed that he is ready to love again. Eventually he began a relationship with Nurse Samantha Taggart, and for about two years all seemed fairly well until he expressed his desire to have more children. Sam already has a son, Alex, whom she clearly loves very much, but declared, with absolute conviction, that she was completely done with having children. Their break-up, though somewhat rough, ultimately resolves amicably. One consequence, though, is that Luka's involvement with Alex is now very limited. Currently, Luka is seeing Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney) again after an argument that turned into a kiss, and an overnight affair. Abby became pregnant by Luka from this encounter and debated whether to have the baby because of her family's history of bipolar disorder. With their baby Joe now born, Luka and Abby seem more serious than ever in their commitment towards each other. With Abby finally overcoming her trepidations about remarrying, she asked Luka to ask her to marry him again.
Luka is a committed physician, and is considered one of the more approachable attendings. He also is a supporter of world health, and more than once has donated his services to the Doctors Without Borders program, coming close to death on one occasion. Though once a man of faith, Luka has struggled with his religious beliefs. Such doubts arose after the death of his family. While treating Bishop Lionel Stewart (portrayed by James Cromwell), he seemed to come to terms with his bitterness, although he still wrestles with what God is and isn't responsible for. In the episode The Lost, Luka prays (in Croatian) for God to save him from the Congolese militias who are about to murder him. Listening to him pray, and seeing the cross he is wearing (given to him by the mother of a Congolese patient he is treating), the soldiers mistake Luka for a priest. They join him in prayer, spare his life, and subsequently release him.
He and Dr. John Carter once had a strong rivalry arising from their feelings of attraction to Abby, but their shared experiences in the Congo, as well as the death of Carter's son, made them true friends.
Following the departure of Dr Susan Lewis, Luka was made Chief of Emergency Medicine, by an initially reluctant Kerry Weaver.
In "Twenty-One Guns," the season 12 finale, Kovac was injured during a shootout in the ER. He was left paralyzed and unable to assist the heavily pregnant Abby as he watched her fall to the ground from injuries she sustained during the shootout.
In the season 13 premiere, "Bloodline", Kovac was rescued by Weaver, only to learn that Abby sustained possibly serious injuries as a result of the shootout. Luka accompanies Abby as she is taken up to OB where it is discovered that she will need to have a caesarean section, complications during which led to Abby also having a hysterectomy. The baby (whom Abby and Luka decide to name Joseph, after Luka's father, but call "Joe" because Abby's father was a fan of boxer Joe Frazier) was born prematurely; consequently, he had underdeveloped lungs and several other serious problems. After several weeks and emergency surgery, a healthy Joe was released from the hospital. Soon after returning to work, Luka had to defend himself in a malpractice suit brought by Curtis Ames (played by Forrest Whitaker), a carpenter who suffered a debilitating stroke while under Kovač's care. Luka won the case, but he and Abby were stalked for months by a vengeful Ames. The situation came to a climax when Ames took Luka hostage, subjected him to a night of mental and physical torture (by crushing Kovač's hand in a vise), and shot himself to death in front of the horrified doctor. Later, Abby asks him to propose to her, and he does. In the episode "I Don't", Luka prepares a surprise wedding for Abby, and then convinces her to marry him then and there. The night before they are due to depart for their honeymoon, however, he receives a call from Croatia informing him that his father is ill, so the honeymoon is postponed while Luka makes an urgent trip to his native country. When Kovac returns home he is happy to see Joe and Abby. News soon arrived that his father passed away in Croatia. While preparing to return to Croatia, Abby tells him that she has started drinking again but does not tell him that she slept with another doctor while he was away. While Abby seeks help for her alcoholism, Luka and Joe return to Croatia for his father's funeral.
Also in season 14, Luka officially quit his job at County completely.
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