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How Accurate Are Medical Dramas?

By Steve Goldstein
Published: Monday, March 12, 2018 - 2:04pm
Updated: Monday, March 12, 2018 - 3:13pm
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Television dramas aren’t supposed to be exactly true to life. They’re supposed to be entertaining and give us some idea of what being a doctor or attorney or private investigator is like. The terminology is often pretty accurate but the rest of it can be hit or miss.

Trauma Surgeon Dr. Jordan Weinberg of Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center has authored a report specifically looking at how the program "Grey’s Anatomy" portrayed trauma at hospitals and whether expectations may be raised unrealistically for patients and their families. He's here to share what he found.

"Grey’s Anatomy" is the modern-day example of a medical drama that may or may not be accurate. But medical shows have been on U.S. television for decades.

So for a broader perspective on that history, we turn to Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University.

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