Chelsea General is home to some of the top surgeons in the world, thanks in large part to the hospital's notorious Monday morning morbidity and mortality – or "311" – conferences. In these legendary meetings, Chief of Staff Harding Hooten leads a harsh, closed-door review of the complications encountered and mistakes made during the course of patient care. As the series opens, Trauma Chief Jorge Villanueva treats what appears to be an attempted suicide by car only to discover that the crash victim suffered a life-threatening brain aneurysm. Renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Ty Wilson is shaken by the case of 11-year-old Quinn McDaniels, whose soccer injury reveals a much graver problem. Workaholic Dr. Sydney Napur solves a case that had the rest of the hospital staff stumped. Meanwhile, Dr. Sung Park performs high-tech deep brain stimulation on a patient with uncontrollable hand tremors.

Tina's proposal to use an unorthodox procedure to treat a young man with extreme O.C.D. divides the surgeons at the 311 conference. At the same time, Villanueva must find a way to treat a girl with critical internal bleeding who refuses care because of her religious beliefs. Sung discovers that no good deed goes unpunished when a former patient sues him after her successful surgery creates an unforeseen side effect – abnormally increased sexual appetite.

Ty and Hooten believe Supreme Court hopeful Judge Beverly Nathenson's facial pain is the result of a brain tumor; upon operating, the surgeons discover a diagnosis much more shocking. Michelle struggles under pressure when a difficult E.R. case proves to be more than she can handle. And Sung and Tina disagree over the course of treatment for an obsessive writer suffering from a rare form of epilepsy.