Howard Sheinfeld

Howard Sheinfeld, M.D. was a fictional character in the 1984 television sitcom, "E/R". He was played by actor Elliott Gould.

Double divorced and double the alimony

Howard was an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor who was doubly divorced. He had two kids from both marriages. From his first, Karen, he had a son named David (played by Jonathan Silverman), and from his second wife, Sheila, he had a daughter named Jennifer (played by Pamela Adlon).

Because he had to pay alimony to both his ex-wives, he would pull 48 hour shifts at the emergency room of Clark Street Hospital, a fictional hospital on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois.

His relationship with his boss, Eve Sheridan, was mixed. Sometimes she wished she would take himself more seriously (he was quite the joker) and also be able to follow protocol, but also she was concerned because he worked such long shifts and it seemed it didn't benefit him at all since most of his money he made working at the ER would wind up in the pockets of both his ex-wives.

Yet other times, she found Howard's lack of seriousness and "joie de vivre" a breath of fresh air in her otherwise dull and routine life. They were in fact good friends and good colleagues, despite their differences. The main reason was that he respected Eve's father, who was also a doctor.

Another person who was worried about him was head nurse Joan Thor, who felt that he wasn't eating properly, what with him living alone and most of his money going to two ex-wives.

Because of this, she had him over to eat once in a while with her family. Howard also got along great with Joan's assistant, Julie, her roommate, receptionist Maria Amardo and Maria's policeman boyfriend, Fred.

Howard is the unwilling target of a crush by pediatric nurse Cory Smith, who, when situations called for it, would offer her services in the ER. Despite his failings as a husband, he was a great father to his children.

Sheinfeld, Howard