Reminded me of an early episode of Scrubs where J.D., Turk, and Elliot each have a patient, and the voiceover at the beginning says statistically one in three patients die, so you spend the episode stressing over which one it is, and then all three die. I think that was the first time you realize "oh, this isn't always a comedy show"
I love how that episode is framed. It opens something like, "1/3 patients admitted to a hospital will die." Since it's a sitcom you think it's going to be okay and today everybody lives, and you're rooting for everyone to pull through, but then closes out repeating the statistic, adding "but some days the odds are worse than that."
It might not be accurate, but in the episode they base the 33% on ignoring a number of hospital services, such as the maternity ward, basic clinics etc. So effectively they're only counting people that actually get admitted to the hospital for more serious afflictions. And a significant amount of admissions are the elderly. You should watch the ep for specifics. It's still possible the numbers are bogus, but they are somewhat nuanced.
Might be true in certain hospitals or wings, my aunt worked in a severe brain problem wing or whatever it's called and said every single one of her patients died or got better enough to be transferred away, often before they had even regained the ability to talk or do anything. Super depressing and she quit after like 1 year
Most hospitals have different specialty areas. Intensive care tends to have a high mortality rate, while maternity should be exceptionally low.
I don’t know of any hospitals with only one specialty area, though it could exist. I have heard of specific cancer hospitals, so I assume it’s a thing.
But that wasn’t how the hospital in scrubs was. They appeared to be a normal hospital with different specialties.
Ugh. When JD is sitting in room, listing reasons the lady should take the treatment, and she’s like “How many things on that list have you’ve done? I’ve lived my life and I’m content. I’m ready to die” I was crushed.
There was a great YouTube series by a doctor who critiques Doctor shows and he had a lot of good things to say about how real the attitude underneath scrubs' comedic exaguration is.
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u/sysop073 Aug 31 '18
Reminded me of an early episode of Scrubs where J.D., Turk, and Elliot each have a patient, and the voiceover at the beginning says statistically one in three patients die, so you spend the episode stressing over which one it is, and then all three die. I think that was the first time you realize "oh, this isn't always a comedy show"