Ed Begley's character wonders aloud if the gold in his wedding band is radioactive. There are allegations that over the course of 20 years the US Government at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky improperly removed contaminated gold from nuclear warheads. This gold was then potentially released for use in the consumer market.
Shirley tells White that she needs the report on "that Hasselhoff car wreck." William Daniels (Dr. Mark Craig) supplied the voice of K.I.T.T. in Knight Rider (1982), another NBC series which ran contemporaneously with St. Elsewhere (1982) from 1982 to 1986.
Dan Hedya's character mentions working on "The Pru" and "The Hancock" buildings. Both are skyscrapers in Boston, with the "The Pru" being the colloquial name for The Prudential Tower and "The Hancock" being shorthand for The John Hancock Tower (as of 2018 called 200 Clarendon Street). The Hancock building is notorious for not only issues with the glass in the windows, but also for structural problems.
Actor Eric Lanueville's television directing debut. He retired from acting soon after the series ended and is now one of the most successful directors in television with credits including many of the most popular series from LA Law to NYPD Blue to Lost.
While talking to Peter White in the pathology room, Shirley says " The Douglas family wants to see their Uncle Bub". This refers to the family in the 1960s series My Three Sons (Uncle Bub was played by William Frawley).