Five medical dramas to stimulate both your heart and mind, this World Health Day
Out of all the mysteries in the world that have intrigued us, the one that has caught a significant portion of our attention is the enigma that the mechanisms dictating the inner workings of our complex bodies present. The human body is an endless source of awe and fascination, and when TV shows tap into this source, the resulting coalescence of drama and medicine serves as a mental stimulant and alternatively warms and breaks figurative hearts. Here, we have compiled a list of five medical dramas to ensure that this World Health Day, you develop a new sense of appreciation for human anatomy and physiology (if you haven’t already), and to augment your admiration for those who keep our bodies functioning at prime capacity.
If you have ever thought to yourself, “What if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s popular detective Sherlock Holmes was a doctor?”, then proceeded to wish that such an interpretation of Holmes existed, your wish might just see fulfilment. Gregory House, the eponymous Doctor House in House M.D., is just as observant, and uses his abilities of detection to arrive at diagnoses that evade even the most skilled specialists. Most of the cases that come to him and his team are medical conundrums, puzzles that he must carefully piece together with each inexplicable symptom that the patient manifests. While his bedside manner is less than ideal, House usually manages to get the job done, but even as he saves these patients, he also combats demons of his own, and an ever growing reliance upon the opioid drug Vicodin.
If you ask a medical school student what Grey’s Anatomy is, they will probably direct you to a thousand page textbook in a medical library that describes, in ponderous detail, each and every single aspect of the anatomy of the human body. The show, rest assured, is poles apart. Though it alludes to the name of the book, Grey’s Anatomy follows the life of the brilliant Meredith Grey, who starts out as an intern and later goes on to become the Chief of General Surgery. Through seventeen seasons, we follow the crests and troughs in the professional and personal lives of Meredith and those she cares for.
This Emmy Award winning show allows us to be privy to the intriguing inner lives of the doctors and paramedical staff who run the emergency room of a county hospital. The last episode of the show may have aired in 2009, but that doesn’t change the fact that it still remains one of the most medically accurate medical dramas ever made. That fact certainly has something to do with Michael Crichton (writer of the Jurassic park novel), who conceptualized and created E.R. If your interest still hasn’t been piqued, then maybe knowing that George Clooney’s prominent role in the show contributed to his rise in fame will remedy that.
Medical situations are usually associated with a certain degree of gravitas, but Scrubs manages to incorporate a healthy dose of humour into its storyline. We see the hospital world through the eyes of J.D. Dorian, daydreamer and doctor extraordinaire, and through his distinctive perspective, get to enjoy the flawless melding of comedy with drama.
Inspired by a South Korean series, The Good Doctor is a relatively new medical drama compared to the others on this list, but to exclude it would amount to grave injustice, in our humble opinion. With a phenomenally gifted and dedicated autistic doctor as the protagonist, medical information that is easy to digest, and a plotline that keeps you riveted, The Good Doctor is one show that belongs in your medical watchlist.
With these shows to guide the way, you are ready to explore the exciting (and slightly stressful) world of medicine and develop a newfound gratitude for good health and great doctors both.
You can find our sharelist here: https://app.flyx.me/u4RbXj5Uffb
What's Your Reaction?
