Connecting fictional patients with real, common health policy issues
Like many people, my roommate and I started watching the medical TV show The Pitt as a way to relax and take our minds off of our studies every Thursday night when episodes come out. Unlike other medical shows, this one contains much less romantic drama and more stories about relevant issues that come up in hospitals like homelessness, prescription drug abuse and more. So many of the patient stories told in this show reflect real issues that real people face daily in the US medical system, and it’s important to make these connections so we can learn more about others’ experiences and make informed decisions that improve the system.
episodes 9 and 23: bias against overweight patients
In episode 9 of the series, a patient named Paula comes into the hospital after a car crash. She had visited the hospital earlier in the day and was released with medication for a UTI, but doctors had overlooked her symptoms of undiagnosed sepsis because they were attributed to her overweight status. In episode 23, Ogilvie repeatedly makes snide comments while wondering how a 470-pound patient got to his current weight. Both of these instances are examples of why overweight patients – or those who may appear so – are often not inclined to seek care when they need it. Doctors often attribute symptoms to weight when they may be signs of something serious. Some physicians can also be less understanding about a patient’s personal situation that may have some role in their health status.
episodes 17 and 19: insurance level impedes quality of care
Episode 17 tells the story of Allen, who visits The Pitt after sustaining injuries from a fall. The doctors decide that he has to be transferred to a different hospital where he likely won’t receive the same level of care because his insurance does not cover his stay. A similar situation arises in Episode 19, when the Diaz family visits with concerns about Orlando’s fainting spell at work. He reveals that he has been taking half of his prescribed insulin due to its high cost and his lack of healthcare. Despite a social worker’s efforts to lower his costs, he leaves the hospital against medical advice because care would be too expensive. Both of these situations demonstrate moments when patients received a lower level of care and likely suffered severe health consequences just because they don’t have the money for it. This is, of course, an incredibly major issue in the United States, and countless Americans make decisions similar to Orlando’s: whether to prioritize health or putting food on the family’s table.
episode 21: language interpretation services
Harlow visits the emergency room with severe stomach pain and is treated by Santos, who is frustrated with the fact that she can’t communicate in American Sign Language, which is what Harlow uses to “speak”. Santos tries to get an interpreter to the ER with little success, which prompts the use of a virtual interpreter, which also fails due to connectivity issues. She then gets frustrated with Harlow and ultimately gives her a lower and riskier level of care because of these communication issues. So many Americans don’t speak English as a first language, and hospitals aren’t always well-equipped to communicate with them, especially in rural areas. This can be scary as a patient and frustrating as a doctor, so improvements to language interpretation services are crucial to ensure quality care for all people.
season 2: ai-driven medical tools for physician productivity
Dr. Al-Hashimi is introduced in season two, and she brings along her enthusiasm for AI charting and diagnosis tools to improve the doctors’ methods for updating patient charts. This is a very relevant debate in the medical community right now. Many doctors think that these tools make for lazy physicians, or that they will start to take over jobs from those employed by hospitals, or that they won’t be as thorough as real doctors will be. Many think all three of these. In the show, AI is used as a supplementary tool to the attentive physician, who proofreads for errors. It’s important to form your own opinions about AI’s role in medicine, but I think that its use strictly as a tool and not as a doctor could be a time-saving tool in an industry where time is a coveted luxury.
episodes 14, 22, and 25: the family’s right to medical information and decision-making
These episodes highlight issues of information divulgence to family through the stories of a mother who refuses a necessary spinal tap for her son, a family who was not informed of their risk of mental illness, and a woman who decides to utilize medically-assisted suicide against her husband’s wishes. When it comes to caring for minors, when should a mother be able to put a child at risk of death in the name of her own personal convictions? Is that strictly a family decision, or is it different when the results could permanently harm the child? Regarding the family being informed of their relative’s history with schizophrenia, did they have a right to know to take preventative measures? Or does their uncle’s right to privacy trump that divulgence? Finally, to what extent does a mother and wife have to consult others when she wants to finally end her suffering on her own terms?
All of these issues are important ones for us to form our own opinions on, and there are many more to explore in The Pitt, like birth equity and medical misgendering. By seeing the personal stories and experiences of those struggling with health policy flaws and developments in a television show, we can hopefully gain a bit of empathy and desire to learn more about how our vote impacts real, valuable people.
References
The Pitt, Created by R. Scott Gemmill, seasons 1-2, episodes 9, 14, 17, 19, 21, 22, and 25, Warner Bros., 2025.