As technology has advanced over the years, the media has become more influential in everyday life. It sounds incredibly blunt to say that people believe almost anything they read on the internet, but there is much truth in this statement. A prior research study showed that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation (Bloem 2017). With statistics like this in mind, I believe it is highly essential that science and medicine are portrayed accurately. Unfortunately, this is not reality as there is much information in medicine and science that is falsified in media sources.
One of the most notorious shows that portray medicine in media today is Grey’s Anatomy. In the episode titled “Now or Never,” there were multiple medical interventions shown with the most notorious being cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR and defibrillation. At this point, the character Izzie is terminally ill and has been diagnosed with metastatic melanoma. She recently underwent a tumor resection which caused her to have short term memory lapses. When Izzie later went into cardiac arrest, there was defibrillation performed when CPR should have been the go-to procedure. Defibrillation should have been used if her heart rhythm became extremely irregular, such as ventricular tachycardia. There should not have been any intervention performed given that she signed a DNR order. Her husband Alex used her memory lapses against her and decided to ignore the DNR orders which, in my opinion, was completely unethical, but I understood the motive behind the character. I would want my loved one to remain with me as long as possible but, at the same time, I would not want to go against their wishes. That would be a personal battle that I would have to deal with separately. It’s always about the patient! Also, for the sake of television, if the actual DNR orders were honored, this would have resulted in her death which of course would have been devastating and ended the character in the series.
Also, the character Amanda was recently saved from being hit by a bus, but the issue was that she did not know the victim. Due to severe damages that the victim suffered, the identity was not able to be established immediately. Because of the overwhelming event, Amanda stood in the room while the patient was being resuscitated. In reality, because she did not know the victim of the accident, she would not have been allowed in the room during resuscitation due to HIPAA violations. There are even times that physicians do not allow the family in the room during acute medical interventions. At the end of the episode, it was discovered that the unknown character was George. This particular episode was the season finale. I feel that ultimately this episode left an excellent cliff hanger to convince the viewer to watch the following season which is the ultimate goal.
The next episode titled “Good Mourning” began the sixth season. What was odd during this episode was that Izzie became well enough to be discharged from the hospital in time to attend the funeral of George. I found that a bit strange given that she had been in critical condition just shortly before this. I would think that she would not be discharged from the hospital so quickly. Now the grieving of the loss of George was a truly genuine moment throughout this entire episode which made the episode so much more believable.
In my opinion, the dramatics of the episodes overcompensated for the inaccuracies portrayed in medicine. What makes it so believable is that there are some truths in how medicine was practiced in these episodes, but it became twisted the subtle errors. Realistically, the writers of the show have to drive the drama in the show to attract viewers. To the average viewer, one may not understand what is incorrectly displayed which is entirely okay. It is not expected that one person is familiar with everything. Even if someone can point out fallacies, they may enjoy the acting in the show that they can overlook this. The problem lies when people feel that what is shown is sufficient knowledge on a particular topic.
One of my favorites shows that displayed science happens to be one of my favorite childhood cartoons, The Magic School Bus. Although it was a fictional show, the characters were based on real people. For example, the character Arnold was known notorious for being nervous. His habits were framed behind the friends of the son of the illustrator Bruce Degen (Mancini 2015). The episode “Inside Ralphie” the class explores Ralphie’s internal organs in an attempt to determine what is causing him to become ill.
Given that this is a cartoon, there will be certain aspects of the show that will be portrayed inaccurately, but I believe the images work well with the imagination. While it is not possible for people to physically shrink themselves and enter a human body, I think the writers created a create a visual image. Throughout the episode, scientific terms, such as red blood cells, white blood cells, antibodies, and platelets, are introduced in a reasonably accurate way. This is one of the first shows that sparked and kept my interest in science. The exciting idea behind this series is that it was initially created and aired in the 1990s, but it was rebooted in 2017 in a spin-off series named “The Magic School Bus Rides Again.” While I have not had a chance to view this series, it is something that I would look at considering how much I loved it as a child.
References
Bloem, C. (2017, July 31) 84 Percent of People Trust Online Reviews As Much As Friends. Here’s How to Manage What They See. Inc.com. Inc. http://mentalfloss.com/article/71264/12-magical-facts-about-magic-school-bus
Macini, M. (2015, December 2) 12 Magical Facts About The Magic School Bus. 12 Magical Facts About ‘The Magic School Bus’ | Mental Floss. http://mentalfloss.com/article/71264/12-magical-facts-about-magic-school-bus