A Chicago summer weekend. No air conditioning, few fans. Ragged screens let fly gangs descend on overflowing garbage cans. Since there are not enough nurses, most patients havent bathed in days. Used bed linen intersperses with uncollected dinner trays. In the early 1990s, thousands of people - patients, doctors, nurses, families - struggle to get through each day as Cook County Hospital literally crumbles around them. County follows a new doctor as she hesitantly steps into this chaos. By turns funny and heart-breaking, the story introduces us to Lu, a sexy nurse with HIV, Eugene, adept at...