Medicine in Entertainment

Medicine portrayed in TV shows and movies may not fully capture the realism of the job and may possibly paint a distorted picture.

For decades, the physician has had a fascination among the public, which is why fictional television shows about medicine, like Marcus Welby, St. Elsewhere, ER, Grey's Anatomy, and House, have been successful. There's nothing wrong with emotional stories surrounding doctors, patients, and health care. People have a right to be creative with any subject matter.

However, medicine may involve some shaky ground. I myself don't watch medical shows, because I know from experience that medicine's portrayal in entertainment is either not completely realistic or presents inaccuracies that people may think are true. For example, patients on House present with rare diseases, all concentrated in a single hospital, but in real life, the rare is spread out amidst the common and uncommon. Also, real-life doctors, being the busy professionals they are, do not have sex lives as liberal as those on Grey's Anatomy.

Medical fiction can be entertaining, but don't expect it to be a source of medical education or a 100% portrayal of the profession. Nothing can substitute for consulting trustworthy medical references or speaking with your physician about certain medical facts, no matter how convincing it looks on TV.