Medical fiction could be misleading

BMJ 1999;319:1132 ( 23 October )

Letters

Medical fiction could be misleading

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Medical fiction series undoubtedly have a deep impact on people. As mentioned by Collee, millions of viewers are sodependent on television that it has become their main source ofinformation.¹ Though some concern may result from the possibilityof encouraging harmful behaviour, as discussed by Hawton et al,²there are other medicalissues.

As a professor of emergency medicine, I know very well the everyday reality of emergency physicians. I agree with Collee:"If things are too obvious, there is no drama in them. If thereis no drama, the story doesn't engage us emotionally." Seriessuch as ER are tailored to reality in the United States $---$ patientsbeing admitted with harmful severe arrhythmias who are rescuedby defibrillation and discharged only a few hours later, patientsundergoing sophisticated diagnostic examinations within a fewminutes of having been admitted, and so on. Though I accept thatthis . . . [Full text of this article]