The physician mystique: Why so many are on TV

Observations. By Bonnie Booth, AMNews staff. June 18, 2001.

When "Trauma: Life in the E.R." debuted on cable television in 1995, it joined "Cops" in what was then the infancy of "reality television."

Now going into its sixth season, it is the granddaddy of a genre that includes everything from cable shows titled "Labor and Delivery" and "Maternity Ward" to ABC News' multipart look at hospital life, "Hopkins 24/7."

It is worth noting that physicians, and the work they do, were perceived by the television powers-that-be as second in generating audience interest to only one other profession -- law enforcement.

Managed care and shrinking reimbursements may be taking a toll on the regard with which you hold your profession, and a mainstream media fixation with medical mistakes may be pecking at its image, but those on the outside still relish the opportunity to look in.

What is it about what physicians do that is so fascinating? It is the aura of mystery that now, more than ever, surrounds the practice of medicine. It is the knowledge that at some point each of us is likely to need a doctor or end up in a hospital, and we'd prefer to take a peek before being wheeled through the doors on a gurney. And it is the fact that doctors -- with their capacity to save lives -- still embody heroism.

Indeed, any given "Trauma: Life in the E.R." episode gives the physicians on duty at the featured hospital plenty of opportunity to be heroic. Although there are minor injuries and illnesses tucked in the background of the show, it is, after all, called "Trauma." And it's those bloody gunshot wounds, open fractures and crushed limbs that quickly remind many viewers that, to start with, physicians have stronger stomachs than they do. [...]