Recognizing the truth

By Laura Villarreal

The world of doctors is almost always misrepresented.  In TV shows, their lives are glamorous and sexy. People love to watch these shows because they think this is actually what the life of a doctor is. Why don’t they show the medical school process? Or the thousands of dollars of student debt most doctors have? It’s because that’s not what the viewers want to see. Unfortunately, the real life of a doctor is not glamorous or sexy, it’s hard work.

One of the most popular examples is the show Grey’s Anatomy. Since 2005, this show has followed a group of doctors and their drama filled lives. These doctors regularly experience scandals and wild romances. In the first episode, a woman picks up a man in the bar and ends up sleeping with him. She kicks him out early in the morning because she is going to her first day of her residency at a hospital. When she gets there, she finds out that he is one of her bosses, who also happens to be married. Throughout the whole show she, and everyone else at the hospital, goes on a wild ride of deaths, romance, drama, and heartbreak. She also gets to sit in on surgeries and perform dangerous procedures. Although very entertaining, this doesn’t happen in a normal residents career. They are usually stuck with the “grunt work” including lab work, ordering tests, and patient histories. Very rarely they even get let into an operating room. Not to mention, sleeping with their bosses would be considered wildly inappropriate.

Another example is the show House. This crazy doctor performs unsafe procedures and breaks every rule to treat patients. In every episode, there is a patient with many symptoms and no known cause. Dr. House’s job is to diagnose these people and he will not stop until he does. He openly admits he does not care about the patients themselves, just about solving the puzzle of what is wrong with them. He goes through extreme lengths to do so. While doing this he directly ignores all the rules of the hospital and his boss. This seems to be a common theme among many shows. Doctors breaking rules to treat patients no matter what. This cannot happen in real life. As I have mentioned in a previous post, Dr. Bosley informed me that there is a medical hierarchy of authority and the person at the top calls all of the shots. Doctors will lose their jobs if they do not follow the rules.

Medical TV shows are not always accurate. They are meant to be entertaining but many people get the idea that this is the real life of doctors. The don’t get to see the work put into being one or all of the baggage that comes with it. Doctors have to follow rules and act professional at all times. They live regular lives just like everyone else. I know for me, Grey’s Anatomy and House were part of the reason I wanted to be a doctor. Their lives seemed so cool and exciting. I have come to learn that this is not all that true.