Many medical practitioners have debunked the show’s smorgasbord of liberties — from the fact that there exists a myriad of speciality departments and not just one doctor who will deliver babies and also get to perform brain surgery, as well as the way patients are treated in general.
Doctors also don’t run out to the ambulance to receive and diagnose their patients. Those patients are first seen and inspected by emergency doctors on staff. But, you know, it’s Grey’s Anatomy, a show more about who’s boinking who in that hospital than any medical accuracy.
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The High Cost Of Medical Care
We’d argue that it would, in fact, be pretty dramatic to see patients filling out stacks of paperwork and trying to wrap their heads around the medical cost associated with surgeries, treatments, and general hospital admission. For one, it’s highly relatable. For two, it puts things into perspective, because while these shows applaud the good doctors and nurses who do nothing but their very best (even when they’re being their very worst), its the patients who, at the end of the day, carry an insane amount of stress. The surgeon sews his patient back up, the physician dusts his hands after a diagnosis well done, but it’s the patients who are left having to deal with all those medical costs while probably high on addictive painkillers.
Medical bills are one of the leading causes of bankruptcy among U.S. citizens. Suzanne Garber, co-founder of the digital hospital network Gauze, has said that “most patients who visit a hospital or doctor’s office deal with insurance and have to pay a copay. These medical shows never show this side to healthcare.”