Synopsis:

Cook County Hospital in Chicago is one of the largest and most famous public hospitals in the United States - and it's also the real-life inspiration for the hugely popular TV drama ER. Director Edmund Coulthard spends a month filming with the doctors and patients at Cook County Trauma Unit, where the focus is on serious injuries such as gunshots and stabbings.

The staff here face an ever-worsening situation where automatic weapons are regularly used in street violence, and where children and teenagers are the most common victims. Using military techniques, they treat people from largely black and poor areas as the violence escalates.