Hospital Series And Documentaries

[SPLAIN]

Those tv documentaries, tv specials, and tv series as shown on major networks such as "Hopkins" on ABC, various programming on TLC, Discovery/Health, and other networks that feature programming dedicated to the daily grind at various emergency rooms and hospitals.

One of my favorite shows is Trauma: Life in the E.R.  It never gets old for. me. Some pretty tough episodes that dealt with brain-death were real heavy.

Bizarre E.R. is another of my favorites. It is a BBC series that takes a look, in a light-hearted manner, at the various bizarre injuries of various patients. From the guy with the fish hook in his eye, to the guy who had his skull scraped off on the top of his head in a car accident.

[auntjess]

I like Sydney ER, and Untold Stories..., but I don't much care for Bizarre.
NY isn't bad, but I keep seeing the same episodes.
 

[Portia]

Does Monsters Inside Me count? Because that show is awesome. Parasites, yeah!

[auntjess]

It's all DFH.
I used to watch Monsters more, but I'd freak out and lecture my niece whenevet she let her kids go in fresh water.

[Portia]

When my son left to spend three months doing wilderness conservation work in the American Southwest, I said, "Don't get a parasite." When he called and told me he had giardia, I said, "What did Mother tell you????" MIM also taught me to never eat undercooked meat and to just stay here in the States.

[Bastet]

I miss Mystery Diagnosis and Dr G: Medical Examiner something fierce since Discovery Health Channel went away (I don't get Discovery Fit & Health).

Monsters Inside Me always makes me wonder, well, how many of those things are inside me since I do just about everything that show says you're not supposed to do (I can't calculate the percentage of my childhood spent in lakes).  Oh, well; death is preferable to over-cooked beef.

Trauma: Life in the ER is my favorite, as it feels the most like a the bare-bones documentary I have a soft spot for. Re-enactments drive me crazy more often than not, so I enjoy seeing things as they happen.

Edited April 6, 2014 by Bastet

[SPLAIN]

Yes, Monsters Inside Me can be discussed here too.

I hate the re-enactment programs as well.

Dr. G was one of my favorites. There was one episode that sticks out in my memory and haunts me so much. The story of the little girl whose skeleton was found near the train tracks. I believe it was in Texas. When the investigators went to her home, there were no pictures of the little girl. It was as if she never existed. It was later revealed she had been abused and when she died, she had been hit over her head with a hammer. Dr. G. was given her bones, but initially the DNA results came back showing the remains were from a boy, not a girl. I cannot remember why that was the case, but it hindered the investigation into who was the person and why were they left by the railroad tracks.

[auntjess]

My favorite sequel title, When Surgical Tools Get Left Behind 2, is on again, I see.
I've never watched it all the way through, but the title gives you pause, if you're going in for an operation.

[SPLAIN]

Dr. G certainly is relatable. I remember when she was on the Casey Anthony case as the medical examiner. She did an excellent job on the witness stand. She certainly makes things easy to understand when she speaks about her profession and how she comes to the conclusions she does in each case.

I see there is a "new" show called Vegas ER, but in reality it is Trauma: Life in the E.R. with episodes that took place in Las Vegas. I can't get enough of this show. I don't care what they call it.

There was a PBS documentary where they focused on medical students and then there was a follow-up ten years later on those same medical students and where they were in the present time. I think it was called, "Doctors' Diaries". Anyone else watch it?

[Bastet]

Oh, yes - about first-year Harvard medical students.  I remember when it first began (what, 20+ years ago now?) and it was so interesting to check back in on them as middle-aged professionals in the last documentary (the one called Doctors' Diaries that was half recap of the previous ones and half update).  I think there were five films made altogether, and I wonder if we'll get another one when they retire.  It reminds me of the fantastic Up series of documentaries in the way it keeps checking back in with the same people as they go through stages of their lives.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Bastet

[MrsEVH]

Don't know if this fits in this category but has anyone seen TLC's  "Sex Sent me To The  ER?"

Edited April 19, 2014 by MrsEVH

[auntjess]

The Man with the 132-Pound Scrotum is on again tonight, 4/19, and repeated early AM, on DFH.

[smittykins]

Since my layoff from work, I've noticed that Discovery Fit and Health reruns some of the pregnancy/birthing shows from Discovery Health's salad days(Birth Day, Labor and Delivery, Maternity Ward).  It makes me wonder how the kids are doing today, and realize that some of them are in their early teens now.  Which makes me feel old.

[auntjess]

I think we've seen someone with this problem on Untold Stories of the E.R..http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/01/health/diy-plastic-surgery/index.html?sr=fb070214plasticsurgery12pVODtopLink
 

[auntjess]

I've been watching My Weight is Killing Me, similar to My 600lb Life, but with different doctors.
I'm liking it better, because the focus on several different patients in a show, and continue with some of them on later shows.

You get more of what's really happening with them, rather than spending lots of time seeing them at home and cheating on their diets.

It's on TLC, some morings.

Dr.G has a show on every weekday on DFH, shown twice a day.
There was a strange one the other day, a young woman, late 20s or early 30s, found dead in her apartment after her boss called her parents that she hadn't shown up for work.
Now the thing I don't get, is she was supposed to have supper Saturday with her parents, but begged off as she was feeling well.
She had Crohn's Disease, and it turned out she died from a strangulated bowel, but didn't recognize the pain was any different, and took a pain pill.
I can't get over the parents not calling or coming by the next day, when you've got a child with a chronic condition who's feeling ill.

[Armchair Critic]

The Man with the 132-Pound Scrotum is on

 

It's on again, August 18 on Discovery Fit & Health. Heaven help me the title caught my eye so of course I am checking it out.

[auntjess]

What's up with DFH, and this Sextember! thing.
Did Sex Sent Me to the ER do so well, that they've moved decided to drop "health" and go with sleaze instead.
The ads look sleazy to me.

[Jac]

This is a genre I like a lot. If I had a science-y bone in my body I'd probably be a pathologist or an epidemiologist rather than a lawyer.

Am I the only one who loves Dr G but finds her demeanour a little... off putting? I know it is probably just the detachment required to deal with the job but she seems to enjoy the science at the expense of the human story a little too much sometimes.

Did they ever screen a show called RPA outside Australia? It is a great example of the genre if you can track it down. It is much less sensationalistic than most of the American shows and a lot more fly-on-the-wall, relying on the doctors and patients to tell the story rather than narration. It tended to follow patients over the course of their treatment as well, which gave a sense of closure to the stories, some of which would run across an entire season or even several seasons. It also looked at a number of specialties rather than focusing on a single department. Some of the most memorable stories included Safari, a little African boy who suffered extensive and severe burns and was brought to Australia for plastic surgery by a charity, his story was followed across the whole series, a total of 13 years, an older lady named Delores, who had oesophageal cancer, needed her larynx removed and eventually died and some of the first micro preemies to survive in Australia.

[auntjess]

Never seen RPA, but we have Sydney ER in the US.
Dr. G does seem like that a bit, but I guess it's a fine line, because she's said, I think, that she likes a puzzle, and that can seem a bit ghoulish.

One that drives me crazy, is that when you see her driving, she's frequently on her cellphone.

[auntjess]

TLC is on a roll this evening.  Men with 200-lb tumors and 132-lb scrotum, a man with half a body, and a mashup, a Mormon woman with half a body, looking for love.

Wonder if she'll find it with someone Gypsy or Amish?

[Portia]

So excited that Monsters Inside Me is back for a new season! I didn't know until the latest show just popped up in my DVR recordings. The season premiere did not disappoint. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say "rhymes with shmerapoma spumor."

[auntjess]

You MUST see this.  Halloween costumes inspired by Untold Stories...http://www.discoveryfitandhealth.com/tv-shows/untold-stories-of-the-er/photos/halloween-costumes-from-untold-stories-er.htm?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=UntoldStoriesoftheER

 

ETA:
If you're an IE11 user, and it won't work, you'll have to use another browser, unless they fix it.  I did get it to open in Chrome, which I keep for things such as this.

 

Edited October 27, 2014 by auntjess

[iscoffy]

I love and loathe Monsters Inside Me.  Why I watch it before bed, I don't know, because then of course I dream about lung flukes, botflies and brain-eating amoebas. Shudder.

 

I didn't really get the lady with the mold sensitivity due to the aspergillus in her breast implants.  She can't live or work indoors?  Generally, there are more mold spores outside than inside, depending on species.  And since aspergillus grows on things like plants and trees, unless there's something wrong in a house/building, there would be tons more spores outside.  The whole situation was pretty awful, but it was weird to me that the show seemed to be saying you could avoid aspergillus/mold if you are outside, which is far from the truth.

 

I just can't do Sex Sent Me to the ER.  I get so much secondhand embarrassment-- like all the embarrassment these people don't seem to have, plus my own!  You could not pay me enough to relate my story on television of any of that had happened to me.  

[jaimesommers]

I like Untold Stories of the ER. I think some of those stories are fascinating, even when I want to totally smack the crap out of an obnoxious patient or parent or SO.

[auntjess]

Yep, I think untold is one of the better ones.
I liked NY, but haven't seen a new one in a very long time.  Same with Sydney.

The only Untold one that I can't watch is again is the blue urine one.

I find it ridiculous that in an entire ER, no one though "PRANK!" when the second one showed up.

Kid were slipping people things that made their urine change colors 50 years ago!

[iscoffy]

So I saw "Santa Sent Me to the ER" and "Monsters Inside Me: Holiday" listed on the guide.  I was too tired to make it through more than one of the special MIM scenarios, which wasn't really that exciting (seriously, I've seen the botfly larvae scenario a few times, it's not more exciting because it's happening over Christmas).  I was expecting accidental tinsel strangulation or something more interesting.

 

Yup, I said it.  I'm bored of botflies.

[auntjess]

 

(seriously, I've seen the botfly larvae scenario a few times, it's not more exciting because it's happening over Christmas).

Huh?  I thought this was what you got when your dead body is left exposed.

[iscoffy]

 

Huh?  I thought this was what you got when your dead body is left exposed.

 

One species (Dermatobia hominis) of parasitic botfly eggs/larvae can travel via mosquito and enter the flesh of humans, where they burrow until they are ready to drop from the host for their next stage.  Of course, most people who discover they have a botfly larvae in their skin prefer to have it killed and removed.

 

Try to imagine that delivered as obnoxiously as the talking head specialist guy on the show would say it.

[WhitneyWhit]

Did anyone watch Vanderbilt MDs on USA? It was a remake of the British series Young Doctors. I guess ratings weren't so hot because after one airing in primetime, they moved it to 6 am on Saturdays.

 

Anyway, it was ok, I guess. Train was a bit of an ass and Jeremy seemed a bit full of himself. I don't understand why Whitney became a doctor because it seemed as though she couldn't care less. Although I did enjoy her suggesting that the gentleman who had arthritis be tested for HIV and Lyme Disease. I was most interested in Tyson, Erin and Luis. Mike was forgettable.

[auntjess]

I saw a promo on A&E for a new show, Nightwatch, that looks to be about EMTs.
It's not showing up when I search the DVR on U-verse yet, but I think it's set in a couple of weeks, on Saturday night.

[auntjess]

Can we stretch this to cover's TLC's Fat and Back? 
It's about a British TV personality famous for her fat-bashing, who's trying to gain 4 stone (56 lbs) and then lose it back, to show how easy it is.
So far, she's gained the weight, but now she looks a bit over-weight, but not even close to Biggest Loser territory.
And one of the women she interviewed was a woman in the US, looks to 500+pounds, with a skinny husband who likes fat women.
That seems to be a ways away from talking of general obesity in in the UK and US populations.

Does she lump all overweight people together like that.
I'm hoping she gets stuck and keeps gaining.
Her name is Kate Hopkins, or something like that, by I haven't googled her yet.

[Jaded]

Oh she's on Celebrity Big Brother right now in the UK. That's how I was first exposed to her now I seem to be seeing her mentioned in quite a few places I wouldn't expect. Didn't know she did that show on TLC. She was flapping her gums about overweight people in her intro video for the show. She seems to be quite narrow minded when it comes some things in life.

[auntjess]

Something a bit in this category, is Nightwatch.
It has its own forum, and this is just a recommendation.  Thursday nights on A&E.

[Bastet]

Did anyone catch what seems to be a new series on Lifetime, Life Flight?  The two I saw tonight were in Houston - covering the helicopter, the ER and the OR - but a quick read indicates there may be episodes set elsewhere.  It was a bit of a parlor game guessing which scenes were recreations, and there were more of those than I'd like*, but on the whole it had a more Trauma: Life in the ER-school feel than anything I've tried in a while.

 

*I have no issue with, and would in fact expect, narrative interviews to be spliced in afterward, but from speaking in "talk to the audience" terms rather than common shorthand to not using nearly enough force for CPR, a few - but, to be fair, only a few - such scenes seemed to also be recreations of the treatment process itself.

 

I could also do without the propagation of pit bull myths in the episode containing a dog bite.  (Them having a different bite pattern than any other breed - it is not universal, nor is it unique to them - and identifying the breed over and over, when that would not have occurred with such frequency had the bite come from just about any other breed.)  There was just no need to go down that cheap road.

 

But, on the whole, I was quite satisfied, and hope to see more.  It's also nice to see something on Lifetime that isn't centered on vacuous, scheming, or victimized women. 

[Taylorh2]

New Girls On The Block:  I didn't get a chance to watch it all.  Hopefully it will repeat.

 

I would really like to request on thread for this show but some reason the TPTB here demand that you create 3-4 sub-forms to go with the original topic.

 

I just want to talk about the show.. 

[Bastet]

Since it's a five-part special (rather than an ongoing show), I suspect it wouldn't get its own forum, but would instead get a thread in the Specials, TV Movies and Other One-Offs forum (under Misc. TV).

[bubbls]

 

She had Crohn's Disease, and it turned out she died from a strangulated bowel, but didn't recognize the pain was any different, and took a pain pill.

 

Good Lord, I have Crohn's and I've done this very thing rather than spend HOURS in the ER waiting room. Yikes. Thank goodness I have several people in my life who check up on me when I'm not feeling well. 

Edited April 17, 2015 by bubbls

[auntjess]

Anyone else watch OMG EMT?

It's not up to the calibre of Nightwatch, more like Outrageous 911.

In one show, there was an older woman who needed to go to the hospital for some procedure, and was unwilling, and her daughter called 911.
Even accepting that in real life they'd have verified that the daughter had authority to make her go, I can't believe that 911 would have been responsible to haul a kicking, screaming, cussing, urine bag toss, nasty bitch, into the ambulance.
I'd think that you'd have had a home nurse sent to sedate her, or something.

[Bastet]

I almost never watch Untold Stories of the ER because of the horrible acting, but I watched a few minutes this afternoon.  A pregnant woman was in really bad shape; they delivered the baby and were still doing CPR on the woman while a doctor goes to update the patient's brother.  Then there's a talking head with that doctor when she says after learning (via the conversation with the brother) there's no father in the picture, she knows she has to save the baby's mother.  The hell?!  If there had been a daddy waiting in the wings, she'd have decided, "Eh, that's enough CPR"?

 

Really bad script!

[smittykins]

Yesterday morning, I noticed that Discovery Life(the former Discovery Fit and Health)was doing a mini-marathon of the old Maternity Ward series. One episode featured father-and-son OB-GYNs. At one point, the son expresses his hopes that someday, one of his own sons will grow up to become an OB-GYN so they would have the chance to work together.

Unfortunately, after filming was completed, the son was struck and killed by a tractor trailer while assisting a couple in an overturned vehicle. The last few minutes of the show is set as his funeral Mass, where his father says, "He was my hero."

:(

Edited August 29, 2015 by smittykins

[smittykins]

I remember her--wasn't her maiden name Piazza? I felt so angry when she was finally diagnosed, since it's my understanding that Hodgkins in very treatable if caught early. I'm glad she was able to channel her anger towards helping others.

[Jeeves]

Just FYI to anyone interested. Tomorrow (Saturday October 1), Discovery Life will have an all-day Dr. G: Medical Examiner repeat-a-thon, starting at 6 AM Eastern time.

I know, cable networks are always having marathon repeats of old shows, but I'm a particular fan of this one so decided to flag it here. 

[Bastet]

Damn, I wish I got Discovery Life, because I really liked that show!

[auntjess]

Anyone watching Body Bizarre? 
TLC or Discovery Life one, is showing lots of them.
One poor man with lumps all over his body, was all set for laser surgery removal, when they discovered his airway was too constricted for anesthesia, and his disappointment was so sad.
It's amazing in some of these third world countries, how neighbors pitch in to get the patient to a city.  One man had villagers carrying him several hundred miles.

[Jeeves]

For fans of good old Mystery Diagnosis: Discovery Life is having a marathon of repeats tomorrow, January 16, from 6am - 11pm EST.

[smittykins]

Cool!  Thanks for the heads-up!

[Bastet]

Ugh, I'm so annoyed I don't get that channel.  The slow blink they made everyone do drove me nuts, but otherwise I loved Mystery Diagnosis. 

[auntjess]

My Strange Addiction marathon on Discovery Life tomorrow.
I've got my DVR set to record the one about the woman married to-it says a 70' tall carnival ride-and I'm pretty sure this is roller coaster one.
 

[Hotchgirl18]

Mystery Diagnosis was always my favorite. Got into it in elementary school. Actually learned lots. Of course, nothing is a substitute for a doctor, but I was able to understand the human body better and what was normal and what wasn't. 

[auntjess]

Dr. Pimple Popper is coming to TLC.  Apparently, she's a youtube star.