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May 25, 2012

Why Watch TV: You learn stuff that you thought was made up

by Richard Keller, posted Apr 26th 2006 5:30PM

John McGinley of ScrubsLook, I'm not a doctor; I don't even play one on TV. However, after watching Tuesday night's episode of Scrubs and reading brother Joel's review I got to thinking (which is always a bad idea): was the diagnosis wrong?

Well, no. To recap, in Tuesday's episode three patients at Sacred Heart died after rabies infected organs (liver, heart valve, kidney) were transplanted into their bodies. The organs came from a patient (Jill Tracy, played by Nicole Sullivan) who J.D. (Zach Braff) though passed away from an overdose.

In actuality it seems that the case of rabies-infected organs was 'ripped from the headlines' from an event that occurred in 2004. According to the CNN article,  three recipient patients at three different hospitals in the United States died after the infected organs (one liver and two kidneys) were transplanted. It also turns out that the organ donor also died of rabies, which infects the central nervous system and can cause symptoms such as hypersalivation (foaming at the mouth), insomnia and anxiety.

Rabies is normally not tested for during transplant procedures. More common infectious diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B and C and syphilis are more commonly tested.

And you thought you couldn't learn anything from TV.

 

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Nik Gregory

Seeing the end of the episode felt like a punch in the gut, there was no way to feel the emotion in it. Anyone who watched that dry eyed is completely heartless.

JD said "over the next couple of weeks" when talking about the first two patients that crashed, but the show didn't show it very well. I think it was to keep the momentum up a 'two weeks later' doesn't add to the drama at the episode close.

April 27 2006 at 6:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SamMalone

Unlike the show however, the deaths occured several weeks after the transplants. The show just made me wonder if the disease had actually taken them or if their immune systems had rejected the infected organs.

April 27 2006 at 9:25 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Goody

One of the real transplant patients was a teenager from Texas. He received a kidney. The saddest part is he was fairly healthy when he received the transplant, and would probably still be alive now.

April 27 2006 at 1:32 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tucker

What's worse is the case of tissue, bone, and other stuff taken from corpses without any consent - recently there was a huge bust in Jersey for this. I can't be bothered to find a link, but I'm sure others will back me up. Creepy, gross stuff.

April 26 2006 at 11:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Vito

Arrested Development did that a few times, too. I thought that things like Wee Britain, fake marriages to entertain senior citizens or the Living Classics Pageant were really bizarre concepts, but found that they all mirror real-life events.

April 26 2006 at 8:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Vito

Arrested Development did that a few times, too. I thought that things like Wee Britain, fake marriages to entertain senior citizens or the Living Classics Pageant were really bizarre concepts, but found that they all mirror real-life events.

April 26 2006 at 8:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Timothy

I just thought it was a very sad episode. Very somber.

April 26 2006 at 6:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ashley Boyd

I've often believed TV can teach you things. Veronica Mars has tought me many stealthy things.

April 26 2006 at 6:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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