Trauma: Life in the E.R.

Las Vegas is the place Americans go to take chances, but those risks aren't always at the gaming tables. The University Medical Center deals with trauma victims from the streets, highways, and desert.

University Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey, is a state-of-the-art trauma center. Meet the largely local staff of this ER, learn about the influences that led them where they are, and watch them work.

Mayhem California-style is part of life at the UC Medical Center in Sacramento, California. Many of the patients were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The staff makes these situations their work.

At Charity Hospital in New Orleans, the staff are on the front lines of a brutal way of life. They treat the shot, stabbed, beaten, abused, and neglected who are brought in from the streets of "The Big Easy."

Each member of the trauma team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has their own approach to their work. Meet this diverse group--from the mentoring head of the ER to the insecure resident.

When people are injured by drunks it isn't simply an accident. At MetroHealth Hospital, 60% of traumas are alcohol related and more than half are from car crashes. See how the staff deals with their work.

Las Vegas is the fastest growing city in America. People come for work, fame and fortune, or to retire. Get an up close look at the staff and their work at the Las Vegas University Medical Center ER.

Learn what a typical day's worth of trauma cases are like at Newark's University Hospital. The common thread is that the victims are young people, vulnerable to their inexperience in many aspects of life.

At the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, learn what it takes to be an ER doctor. The skills include dealing with life and death decisions, working in controlled chaos, and handling tragedy.

Charity Hospital in New Orleans offers medical care to anyone in need. In a city known for architectural majesty and Southern sophistication, New Orleans has a lesser known face as well-one of poverty and violence.

Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the setting for family drama when victims of domestic violence are treated for life-threatening wounds.