Truth, Lies and Tivo
Do you have a favorite medical drama on TV? At my house it's "Bones" and "House." Have you ever wondered how accurate the information is? It turns out that sometimes national agencies care what information is put out there by networks. Other times, script writers were clearly thumbing through the "Big Book of Obscure Diseases" to fill a plot hole. If you tend to have a favorite show, take a moment to look up a recent disease that sounded interesting or important. Do a little research, and tell us whether you think the show did a good job presenting that disease. If you find any errors, point that out too. For instance, I yelled out loud when "Sarah Connor Chronicles" tried to convince me that John Connor could have AB blood when his mother had Type O. Did nobody have high school biology on that production set?
30 comments:
House used to be one of my favorite TV shows, at least when I had the time to carefully watch it and be lost in Dr. House's complicated explanations which made the fellow doctors say "AAhhhhh...thats how u do it" and I would just agree with their "aaahhhs.." thinking that perhaps their comprehending it means Dr. House has defeated yet another horrendous disease. Times have changed. I believe that T.V. shows oversimplify diseases to the extent where it gets ridiculous. However, I also believe that shows such as HOUSE as excellent sources of entertainment to fill the common fantasy of a common mind. One of the episodes of House talked about MS, Multiple Sclerosis. A boy named Dan is hit in the head while playing lacrosse at school. He suffers from night terrors and hallucinations, and a risky brain surgery is needed to cure this disease. The episode was ambiguous and failed to define the disease, or accurately tell its effects or causes. House seemed to murmur some long medical terms which in the end were only related to that particular patient.
Multiple Sclerosis is in fact a disease of the nervous system. In MS, the myelin sheath that covers the nerve fibers becomes inflamed and is eventually destroyed. It leaves patchy areas which disrupt communication between the brain and the body. A person may experience balance problems, weakness, or or muscle spasms. The causes of the disease in the website i explored did not list night terrors or hallucinations. My best guess is that House and other TV shows seem to portray the worst of the disease, not commonly found in OUR world. They use the most rare cases and symptoms which would otherwise be impossible to detect, for the sole purpose of making the watcher realize that Dr. House is a complete genius. Personally, I think the shows do the medical field both a favor and a damage. The favor because now there are a lot of people thinking that the vast world of medicine is amazing; damage because people do not understand the diseases and their common causes and effects. The shows, in essence, are a mixed blessing.
The website I used for my research regarding MS is the following: http://www2.healthtalk.com/go/multiple-sclerosis/disease-basics/how-is-multiple-sclerosis-diagnosed
My favorite medical TV show in my household is "House." The case studies that the medical team on “House” conduct seems as though they could be valid, however, the situations they are put in seem to be unrealistic. Therefore, I have never questioned whether or not the information presented on the TV show was correct or not. Unfortunately, I haven't watched any recent episodes, however, I did watch an episode from season 1 a couple of weeks ago that introduces the disease "African Sleeping Disorder." “African Sleeping Disorder” is also known as African Trypanosomiasis. It is a disease that is caused by the bite of the tsetse fly. The disease is chronic and found only in Africa. The patient in the show went through several diagnoses, which led Dr. House to conclude that she had African Trypanosomiasis. Oddly, she and her husband have never been to Africa, which raises the question of how she contracted this disease. The doctors on “House” assume either the husband or she had an affair with someone that has been to Africa and the disease got transmitted through sexual intercourse. At the end of the episode, the wife confesses she had an affair. According to my research, African Trypanosomiasis can be transmitted through sexual contact, along with mother to child infection, the bite of the tsetse fly, and blood transfusion. The symptoms of the disease are personality change, weight loss, irritability, loss of concentration, progressive confusion, slurred speech, seizures, difficulty waking and talking, sleeping for long periods during the day, and insomnia at night. A majority of the symptoms were presented in the episode too. I am surprised that the information presented in the TV series is accurate. However, I believe that people should not take information from medical TV shows too seriously.
The links that I found information from are:
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/UVAHealth/adult_travel/african.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_sickness
I recalled watching a House episode not too long ago about a girl that was insensitive to pain, something I thought was an interesting case I hardly hear about. The girl, named Hannah, is caught in a car accident with her mother and while calling the police, she informs them that she’s perfectly fine even though there’s a piece of metal pierced into her leg. She’s admitted to the hospital and eventually succumbs to other cases such as vitamin B-12 deficiency and even a tapeworm, all the while with her nerves degenerating, but I was more intrigued by her insensitivity to pain so I decided to just focus on that. In the end, she was able to undergo surgery to remove the tapeworm without anesthesia.
Turns out it’s called congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA) and is a result of genetic mutation, which prevents nerve cells from notifying the brain of pain and feeling of warmth and cold, and is a very rare case hardly found (only 60 documented cases thus far in the U.S.). Anhydrosis is a condition in which the body doesn’t sweat, so it no longer has that internal cooling system to maintain homeostasis. The show shows the girl passing out from overheating, which is the common of cause deaths for infants with this problem. This inability to sweat stems from a lack of the proper functions taken on by the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for enacting the fight-or-flight response. The show also portrays the different tests they do to her, which involve inflicting more pain to perhaps find a spot where she may be a bit sensitive. In the process, she gets second degree burns and even comes close to getting a hole drilled into her head. I thought this was going too extreme, and after a little research I found that a diagnosis can be done from simply examining an example of one’s blood and locating the specific chromosomes that prevent those nerve cells from properly performing their job. Overall, the show did a good job on stressing the extent to which there is literally no pain, even through open surgery, and the common problems associated with CIPA such as overheating. They may have taken it a step too far with the forms of testing, but I suppose it adds to the drama, and those were taken up to figure out the other problems she was undergoing. Though a life without pain does sound like a blessing, it’s the reason why we can tell when too much heat or cold can do you wrong and saves you from life-threatening injuries.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/story?id=1386322
I found this to be an interesting article documenting a specific case of a young girl with CIPA and the hardships she and her family have to endure due to this defect. It really makes you appreciate the ability to realize when you have a cut on your finger or a broken leg.
My favorite medical TV show is SCRUBS. It's definitely not a drama (it's more like a sitcom) but it's amazing and most medical information discussed on the show is accurate. On a recent episode, a patient had some unidentifiable disease. When Dr. Dorian (Zach Braff) accidentally leaves the patient's urine sample outside in the sun, it turned purple. He then Googled "purple pee" and properly diagnosed the patient with Acute Intermittent Porphyria (AIP). I had thought the script-writers made it up because it seemed absurd that blood would turn purple because of UV rays. But I searched "purple pee" (like Dr. Dorian did) and lo and behold, it's a real disease! AIP is a metabolic disorder in the production of heme (the oxygen-binding prosthetic group of hemoglobin). During an attack, one's urine will indeed change colors, usually a red-wine-like color, or brown. The show's depiction of the urine was wrong, however, because it was shown as a light lavender purple color.
(Information found HERE)
I've watched House M.D. and Grey's Anatomy a few times before and was captivated by the final diagnosis. I recall watching a House episode called "Frozen" (Episode 4.11) in which a psychiatrist in the South Pole comes down with serious illnesses. And so in order to figure out if the final diagnosis is possible and correct, I had to look at a transcription of the script for clarity and understanding. Kutner (played by Kal Penn) suggests that Atherosclerosis is the cause of Cate's illness. Apparently, her broken toe caused fats to leak into her blood and damage her arterial lining creating plaque that could harden and block blood flow. The specific fat was fat emboli coming from an unrepaired broken bone. After some research, a special case study about Fat Embolism demonstrated how broken bones cause fat emboli to travel around the blood and do some damage. But the case study was very elaborate and far beyond anything I could understand except that there appears to be a general truth to the House M.D. diagnosis.
Links:
Fatal Fat Embolism-->
http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/ija/vol8n2/fat.xml
Atherosclerosis -->
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4440
House M.D. ep 4.11-->
http://community.livejournal.com/clinic_duty/24047.html#cutid1
I am a huge Grey's Anatomy fan. In fact, my roommates and i watch it religiously. For a while, ABC introduced a huge segment on the mother of the main character, Meredith, who had been diagnosed with familial Alzheimer's disease. I feel that they did a pretty good job at reenacting the side effects and describing the process and severity. Also, after doing a little bit of research, I found their episodes based on esophageal cancer, appendicitis, brain tumors and the insane, one of a million chances of having two uteruses, to be intriguing as well as truthful. Their procedures and diagnoses were rational and though out. On their personal website, they even have medical trivia and detailed explanations of the diseases or occurrences for each episode.
http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/index?pn=medical
Grey's Anatomy is my absolute favorite TV show despite all the farfetched illnesses they like to throw into one episode. After watching 4 seasons over and over again, I realized that the writers began to overplay the brain tumor.
The patient would come into the ER after undergoing some sort of accident. Then, while the doctors are patching up his wounds, they would discover behavioral and cognitive problems. ALAS! The patient is soon discovered to have a brain tumor. In the episode "Where the Wild Things Are" in the current season of Grey's, Phillip touches a bear cub and is injured. He cannot see his paper work and acts completely insane - breaking out into laughter in the most inappropriate times. It turns out that the tumor is located in the center of his brain and is inoperable. According to this website, a brain tumor would cause changes in speech, vision, mood, personality, and ablilty to concentrate. However, the fact that the man touched the bear cub against his own better judgment doesn't seem to be a symptom of a brain tumor. Of course, I'm not 100% sure, but to me, it seemed fairly exaggerated.
One of my favorite medical TV drama shows is CSI Las Vegas. Watching one of the re-runs tonight (05/07/08) on the Spike channel, the laboratory is called to analyze the duct tape recovered at a crime scene. The episode states that it will take over than six hours to process a sample with laser ablation analysis. My interest in the use of laser ablation analysis in forensics was raised. An investigation of this technique revealed it is used to solve crimes where microscopic specimens are left behind or picked up by criminals. The chemical "fingerprinting" of the specimen helps forensic investigators identify the content of the material, and frequently its origin. Despite my internet search into the time to process samples, most sites stated that laser ablation analysis eliminates sample preparation steps, and thus reduces analysis time in comparison to other techniques such as microscopy, refractive index and x-ray fluorescence. It is still questionable whether the statement on CSI was accurate in regard to time to process using laser ablation analysis. The use of laser ablation seemed quite promising.
http://www.agilent.com/about/newsroom/features/2005mar21_fingerprint.html
My favorite medical TV show is “Grey’s Anatomy.” In one episode, a woman shows up to the ER every year on the same day with all of the symptoms of a heart attack. The woman and the doctors realize that it is the anniversary of her husband’s death. They all think she is just crazy, but in the end they actually diagnose her with a disease called Broken Heart Syndrome. This disease is not just a fictional one. The scientific name for this “broken heart syndrome” is called Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. It is usually followed by some kind of emotional or physical distress. 95% of the patients were women and 60% of them have experienced a stressful event. These events range from a robbery to a major argument, to even a tooth extraction. The patients first start off appearing extremely ill during the first 48 hours and seem as if they are having a heart attack even though there are no signs of coronary artery blockage. Patients diagnosed with this disease usually experience chest pain and shortness of breath. The blood test usually showed that 95 percent of the patients had heart damage. I think that Grey’s Anatomy showed this disease in a mediocre manner. It showed all of the symptoms and diagnosed it with an actual disease, but at the same time, the actual disease does not occur every single year on the same day, although it could be caused by a stressful situation. Grey’s played on the emotional and shocking factor of this disease, but it did not get it correctly down to the pinpoint. But hey, you can’t expect too much from a TV drama series right?
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=81042
Grey's anatomy is my absolute favorite show. I watch is religiously, when time permits of course. In season three of Grey's anatomy, one episode focuses on The Resident attending, Dr. Bailey, and her interns, Alex and Izzie, who treat a young mother who has stage 2B Breast Cancer. The mother Rebecca, is admitted for a mastectomy which involves the surgical removal of both breasts. Rebecca is hesitant to even go through with the procedure, fearing that she will eventually die soon anyways. It is evident that she blames her baby for not noticing the cancer sooner because Rebecca thought the lump on her breast was a milk lump, which occurs when the mother is breast feeding, instead of a cancerous tumor.
Breast Cancer is a cancer that occurs in the cells of the breast. These malignant cancer cells invade the dermal lymphatics which are small lymph cells in the skin of the breast. The cancer cells can usually be found in the the breast ducts or glands. In Rebecca's case, since she has stage 2B breast cancer, it means that the tumor is larger than 2 cm but smaller than 5 cm and has spread to the lymph nodes under the arms (also known as axillary lymph nodes). The most common type of breast cancer is known as Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). In this type of cancer, the tumor has only spread to the ducts of the breasts and not spread into the tissue of the breast.
I felt as though this episode did a great job effectively portraying the struggles of not only women who have breast cancer, but also young mothers who have not yet been able to experience the joys of motherhood.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey's_Anatomy_episodes_(Season_3)
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/CRI_2x.asp?sitearea=LRN&dt=5
Currently the only tv show that I watch is Grey's Anatomy. Some of the medical cases on that show are quite bizzare, so that more and more people get interested in the show.
Just recently in grey's anatomy all of the doctors were playing a game. The game was such that the doctor who figures out a great medical mystery gets the most points and wins. These doctors were purposely making a patient more sick and making themself belief that their patient has a certain disease just so that they can figure out that disease and earn more points. I highly doubt that ever in any hospital doctors play such a pathetic game forcefully making their patient sick so they can figure out a medical mystery. In reality the doctors could possibly be sued by their patients but in grey's anatomy they were just yelled at.
In another episode a patient was diagnosed with Pica ( a compulsive eating disorder of eating inedible substances. The disease occurs in pregnant woman, in mentally retarded people, religious reasons. However this man was obviously not pregnant, nor retarded, and did not belong to a religious group. The presentation of this disease in grey's anatomy was very inaccurate.
The show is a good drama but lack in showing the drama in a real hospital.
My favorite medical show has been Grey's Anatomy for a while now. I make sure to clear my schedule to watch it every Thursday night. This post made me think back to season two when a disease caught me off guard and got me thinking it was created for drama purposes. During the episode "Yesterday", episode 18, a boy comes in with Craniodiaphyseal dysplasia also known as lionitis. Seeing as how I have never heard this disease or heard of any cases such as this one, I immediately began to doubt the shows credibility. However I researched the disease on http://www.orpha.net/consor/cgi-bin/Disease_Search.php?lng=EN&data_id=1680&Disease_Disease_Search_diseaseGroup=craniodiaphyseal-dysplasia&Disease_Disease_Search_diseaseType=Pat&Diseases=Craniodiaphyseal-dysplasia&search=Disease_Search_Simple and found that it is an actual disease. Lionitis is a rare disease where the patient has tumors growing on their face and the bone gets thicker causing the face to look like that of a lion. It is very difficult to operate on once it has reached a severe level. The main concern is that the bones grow inward, causing extreme pressure on the brain.
In the episode on Grey's Anatomy, Dr. Sloan attempted to operate on the young victim however he died in surgery. In typical lionitis cases, a child suffering from lionitis has a short life span.
My favorite TV show in the world is Scrubs. Although not a drama like House or Grey's Anatomy, I think it's a genius comedy, which also has fairly accurate medical information.
I just finished watching the season finale of Scrubs today and the show mentioned an interesting disease that I thought was worth mentioning.
Wilson's Disease is a recessive genetic disorder in which there is a high copper concentration in body tissue. The disease displays itself through neurological and liver symptoms. It is a rare disease that manifests itself for 1 in 100 people. Symptoms are similar to liver disease: tiredness, increased bleeding, confusion, hypertension, and the kicker, liver failure. Neurological symptoms include clumsiness, changes in behavior, as well as what looks like Parkinson's disease.
I thought Scrubs portrayed the disease pretty accurately. Although it was vague, they did display the tell tale sign that someone does have Wilson's disease: A copper ring surrounding the cornea, because of the high copper accumulation in the body.
I love watching T.V. shows like HOUSE and Law&Order Criminal Intent or Law&Order Special Victims Units. They definately catch my attention especially because I'm a criminology major and I really want to go into crime scene investigation. I think that they are both such intricate yet amazing shows that truly outline multiple processes that the the hospital or the government would have to go through. According to wikipedia quinine is a natural white crystalline alkaloid having anti-small pox, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory properties in it. Quinine is available with a prescription in the United States. Quinine is also used to treat nocturnal leg cramps and arthritis, and there have been attempts (with limited success) to treat prion diseases. It was once a popular heroin adulterant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinine
House uses this when he states that the patient "Evan" has an auto-immune disease and has been placed on kidney dialysis. But the patient then slips into a coma and feverish delirium.
http://www.fox.com/house/recaps/
I think House handled the case with accuracy as he realized that something wasn't right when the patient was supposed to be "treated" with this medicine but actually went into a coma. After research House realized that there was something wrong with the dosage.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a682322.html
This website also states some precautions that should be taken before prescirbing a drug, and HOuse or his co-workers hadn't done so. House should have been told what prescription and nonprescription medications you Evan could take. Especially acetazolamide, antacids, anticoagulants ('blood thinners') such as warfarin (Coumadin), cimetidine (Tagamet), digitoxin, digoxin (Lanoxin), quinidine, and vitamins. Do not take antacids that contain aluminum (e.g., aluminum hydroxide) or sodium bicarbonate without talking to your doctor. Also, avoiding tonic water and nonprescription cold preparations that contain quinine. House handled the case thoroughly after the coma.
At the moment, I don’t watch any specific TV show religiously. I do in fact, like watching re-runs of some shows. I just watched last night’s episode of CSI “Two and a Half Deaths.” The show was about a famous actress who was killed and they were trying to find out her cause of death. Interestingly, she was found on the floor with blood on the carpet surrounding her head, and her jaw had gone into “rigor.” When they opened her jaw, the investigator found a rubber chicken in her mouth. I thought that was pretty crazy, but that wasn’t her cause of death. It turns out that this guy “accidentally” pushed her, and she fell hitting her head against the corner of a table and died. During the final minutes, they discovered that her head didn’t have any coagulated blood around the site of the wound.
Blood will clot if the wall is wounded. This happens almost immediately after death. They knew she had ulcers and it was impossible for her to get any blood thinners without it affecting her greatly. Because the blood in Annabel’s head had not coagulated, they believed that she had been sometime of foul play with thinning her blood. It ends up being that she was being poisoned with hematin, which is a blood thinner for animals.
I did a little research on how hematin affects humans and it turns out that:
“(2) Stimulation of the coagulation cascade or inhibition of fibrinolytic mechanisms may alter the delicate balance that prevents the formation of thrombi under normal conditions.”
So overall, the reality behind this crime scene and TV shows were very accurate.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3931/is_199905/ai_n8831309/pg_5
I love Medical TV Shows. I watch Grey's Anatomy the most regularly. I remember in one of their episodes a patient came in claiming that she was pregnant but they later find out that she's really not pregnant even though she has all the symptoms of pregnancy, including abdominal swelling. In addition to being a medical anomaly, this False Pregnancy (also known as Pseudocyesis) is a serious emotional and psychological condition. I've always been interested by this disorder because it includes a psychological as well as medical twist to it. Other symptoms of people with this condition include fatigue, morning sickness, food cravings, elevated basal body temperature, delay/difference in menstruation, implantation bleeding and nausea. Psychologists believe that women who experience false pregnancies do so because they have a strong desire to be pregnant. This is ussually because their family and friends are experiencing pregnancies at that time. Research also links this condition to the pituitary gland, which is the center of hormone production during pregnancy. This hormone imbalance is ussually caused by increased stress and emotional trauma. Women in their late thirties or early forties who have been trying to conceive for many are more susceptible to this condition; women who have experienced miscarriages may also experience this condition.
http://www.womens-health.co.uk/false_pregnancy.html
I love Medical TV Shows. I watch Grey's Anatomy the most regularly. I remember in one of their episodes a patient came in claiming that she was pregnant but they later find out that she's really not pregnant even though she has all the symptoms of pregnancy, including abdominal swelling. In addition to being a medical anomaly, this False Pregnancy (also known as Pseudocyesis) is a serious emotional and psychological condition. I've always been interested by this disorder because it includes a psychological as well as medical twist to it. Other symptoms of people with this condition include fatigue, morning sickness, food cravings, elevated basal body temperature, delay/difference in menstruation, implantation bleeding and nausea. Psychologists believe that women who experience false pregnancies do so because they have a strong desire to be pregnant. This is ussually because their family and friends are experiencing pregnancies at that time. Research also links this condition to the pituitary gland, which is the center of hormone production during pregnancy. This hormone imbalance is ussually caused by increased stress and emotional trauma. Women in their late thirties or early forties who have been trying to conceive for many are more susceptible to this condition; women who have experienced miscarriages may also experience this condition.
http://www.womens-health.co.uk/false_pregnancy.html
I watch Scrubs, although it's a comedy and not a drama. I recently watched an episode where the patient was diagnosed with Lyme disease and a nurse was given the task to search for the a tick. She couldn't find it. The doctors eventually figured out that it was on his head. The show didn't describe the disease at all. The only thing I gathered about it was that a tick was involved.
Lyme disease is named for the outbreak that occurred in Lyme, Connecticut. Ticks that carry the bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi or Borrelia afzeli cause Lyme disease. It is prominent in the United States, Europe, Japan, China, the Soviet Union, and Australia. It is split up into three phases. During the first one, early localized disease, the tick bites the body and infects the individual. This is characterized by redness around the area of penetration, which can expand and lead to a rash. Furthermore, fatigue, swollen glands, and joint stiffness are also present. The next stage is early disseminated disease and is characterized by the bacteria infecting the body including the heart, joints, and nervous system. Lastly, during late disease, inflammation in the heart can occur along with facial muscle paralysis, meningitis, and arthritis in the joints. Although it can become serious, Lyme disease can be easily treated with proper antibiotics.
http://www.medicinenet.com/lyme_disease/article.htm
I like watching the show House whenever i get a chance. However, I haven't been able to see any recent episodes. I think I watch the show because of Dr. House's character if anything. I tend to tune out the medical aspect of it, which is probably why I believe what they are diagnosing. I remember one episode that dealt with a baseball player and his inability to pitch due to pain in is arm. As a team, they believe it was Addison's disease, which results in your body not producing right amounts of hormones produced by adrenal glands. But of course, they find something else wrong and must eliminate the possibility of Addison's disease. Instead, they find that he is taking digitalis, which is a drug that makes the heart work more efficiently by contracting the muscles more and slowing down the heart rate. In his case, he most likely took the drug for the purpose of athletic performance. At times, the acting and the information seem to be accurate, but there are other times when it just seems like pure memorization and you have no idea where they got that information. Regardless, the show is still entertaining.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/addisons-disease/DS00361
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0022206.html
One of my favorite TV Shows is Scrubs. I recently was watching an episode where one of the patients had congestive heart failure. In this episode the treatment was correct but one of the doctors Dr. Cox played a trick on another doctor Dr. Dorian. Dr. dorian had been at the hospital for 4 years and was now receiving his own interns. The interns were told to do the wrong thing for the patient to trick Dr. Dorian.
Congestive Heart Failure is where the heart can not pump blood to the entire body anymore. Causes of this disease are hypertension or coronary arterty disease. Blood may back up into the lungs, GI Tract, or lungs. It can affect both sides of the heart. Some forms of treatment are to take medications as directed, limit salt intake, no smoking, exercise eat healthy and geat enough rest.
In the show they did talk about some of these treatments but some of them which they left out are limiting the salt intake and lose weight if your overweight. The patient ended up recovering.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000158.htm#Definition
I don't have much time for television, but when I do get the chance I often find myself watching Grey's Anatomy. One episode I can remember is when a patient was diagnosed with Pica. The patient ate almost everything he saw, regardless if it was food or not. While watching I couldn't possibly imagine a disease like this in real life; however, I did some research and I found that it is completely real. Pica is when an individual compulsively eats nonfood substances. The show portrays the man as eating cotton balls and change, but in actuality the disease is more associated with the consumption of substances like soil or starch. Overall, I thought the disease was represented fairly well for being on a television series. Below is the site where I found information about pica:
http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/pica.jsp
Out of the medical shows on television, I enjoy watching House M.D. for all the drama and medical stories that are revealed in the show. One episode that stayed with me is "UglY," in which a boy is facing craniofacial surgery. He is depressed from constantly being ashamed of his face. Dr. House doesn't help the situation, and even refers to him as the "Elephant Man." Basically, his face has numerous tumors that are blocking the regular features and processes of the face. Symptons of craniofacial deformities include: ear deformities, premature fusing of the bones, facial assymetries, and other issues that make the face look unhealthy and atypical. The operation consists of the doctor conducting surgery to take
out as many tumors as possible. Tumors affecting the skull base and
neurofibromatosis (tumors on peripheral nerves) are very difficult to eliminate during this process. Risks include the basic reaction to the anesthesia used, bleeding, infection, visible scarring, possible asymmetry
that still stays with the face, and others. In the end of the show, the boy with the tumors on his face was "fixed" and was so joyful because he was finally able to live his life like a normal kid, which is what he wanted the whole time. The show did a good job of introducing and explaining this deformity, and even provided an in-depth representation of
the difficulties that patients endure.
http://www.ienhance.com/procedure/description.asp?ProcID=109&bodyid=1&specialtyid=5
I am personally not a big fan of most of these shows except "Srubs." But I remember watching a episode of Grey's Anatomy with my mom over christmas break. In this episode a guy came into the hospital with a tumor in his neck but after the surgery takes place his carotid artery is exposed.
What I did not understand was that the nurses and doctors did not see a big deal about the carotid artery being exposed. From a good friend, wikipedia, I found out that this is the artery that supplies the head and neck with oxygenated blood. As I have learned in Bio 9G, arteries that supply the body with oxygenated blood are essential for a human to live. The doctors left the exposed artery instead of fixing the problem.
As a result of not fixing up the exposed artery, the patient was laughing at something and his artery burst and blood went everywhere and he died.
I would have thought that doctors would know better than to leave a patient in this such condition, but then again I guess that is why it is a TV show drama instead of the real hospital scene.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carotid_artery
I've been watching this TV show called Forensic Heroes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR4MzDQCdQc
This tv show is about deaths that happen. It maybe due to murder or overdose on drugs. These forensics go though and examine crime scenes and take dna back to the lab. One time there was a death, and they studied the dna to match the murders
I don't know if they air this show in the U.S., but I really like the cartoon "Black Jack", about a genius surgeon who does not have a license. There are some pretty rare diseases discussed in the show. The most interesting one that I watched was a episode where a tree seed was accidentally implanted into a boy, and is growing inside of him. Black Jack (Which is the surgeon's name) tries to remove the plant, yet he cannot locate the seed. Just when they thought the boy was doomed to die the seed left the body naturally. It seemed that the body did not know what to do with the seed, so after a trip to the heart, the seed was ejected. I did some research, and found out that there is no previous examples of a plant growing inside the body, but there are instances where the body simply ejects a foreign object instead of letting it deal critical injury to the body.
I once saw an episode of Gray's Anatomy where a man ran in to the hospital claiming that his own foot wasn't his. Although I do not watch this show often I found it interesting that someone would think that a part of your body that is attached to you isn't yours. The man even went as far as stealing a saw and cutting off his own foot. I then later found out that this was a real condition called Somatoparaphrenia. Originally, the man was thought to have Body dysmorphic disorder, but this instead is a condition that has to do with an excessive concern about a minor defect about one's body. However, this man was concerned about how his leg looked but rather that the leg was not his. On the show we could see that not much could be done about the disorder since it is usually due to parietal or biparietal strokes. The patients of this disorder will often ask for the body part to be amputated as the man did in the show. However, this request is always denied due to the fact that it is a healthy limb. This condition can sometimes be treated by vestibular caloric stimulation where a doctor will squirt warm water into the patient's ear in a specific way. This was not mentioned in the episode. I found this information from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatoparaphrenia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_dysmorphic_disorder
Well my mother is a nurse and she actually enjoys watching shows like this so she can laugh at the things that occur on television and actual experiences that she sees happening on television. One of the shows that she uses to watch was ER. I remember how she commented that the physicians in the show did the work that she and her coworkers would do. She found it funny that the show would have the physicians do what nurses actually do in real life.
One of the diseases that is presented in an episode is a mysterious case of smallpox that a little girl has contracted. Smallpox is a contagious and sometimes fatal disease that can b treated through vaccinations. It is usually spread through face to face contact. The episode presented the information well but the conduct of the doctors is not one becoming of real doctors. For instance, Pratt embarrasses Carter in front of the little girls parents.
More information can be found at
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/overview/disease-facts.asp
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