Doctors' Diaries

[MissCrabette]

I watched this on Netflix the other day, but it's available on the PBS website: http://video.pbs.org/video/1114402491 It's a documentary that follows 7 people for 21 years from the moment they enter their first year of medical school at Harvard.

Has anyone else seen this or heard about it? What did you think? I thought it was a collection of rather depressing stories for the most part. I know that happy people don't make for good TV, so maybe that's the reason behind it. I often wonder if our little group here is a representative sample or if we're the outliers.

[HeyMeganZ]

I'm going to have to check this out - this is exactly the type of thing DH would be irritated with me watching (he thinks it would make me depressed. Did you like it? Did you ever watch Boston Med? For the most part, that was pretty accurate (and at times depressing). We knew a bunch of those featured (although it was over a very short period of time). 21 years is huge!

[MissCrabette]

That's a tough question to answer. I want to say that I didn't like it because I felt like the takeaway was that medicine is a horrible field to go into because it destroys everything else in your life. It's probably a good mandatory video to show to pre-meds, but I wonder if it's maybe unnecessarily grim. We've only been doing this for a few years and know about a couple of sad stories. There will probably be many more over the span of 21 years, but this many? Really? Is that reality or is that what people want to think of doctors?

The show didn't "follow" them for 21 years in the true meaning of the word. A more accurate description would be that they checked in with these people every so often. It's still interesting to see where they are 21 years later.

ETA: Oh, I forgot to say that I did watch Boston Med, but I don't remember that much about the show anymore. I think I'm conflating a lot of the stories with Hopkins.

[bobk]

I'm so glad you started this thread as I saw the show recently too. My overall sense of it was depressing as well. However, I think the story of the ER doc was so tough that it overshadowed the others. If you took his out it might seem a bit more balanced. I don't think they intentionally picked unhappy people. This interview with the director explains a bit more about how the project started out:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/medical-tribe.html

[MissCrabette]

I thought about the fact that the ER doc's story overshadowed the others, but even ignoring his story completely, the picture didn't seem all that rosy. The Psychiatrist? Divorced. The Cardiologist? Divorced and no longer working with patients. There's nothing wrong with that per se, but she expressed regret over no longer working with patients. The Ophthalmologist? Divorced and lamenting the lack of romantic relationships. The Anesthesiologist? Divorced once, now happily married, but for how long? The Pediatrician? Single and living in a sad little apartment with her dog. No longer working in medicine, although she seems to be very happy with her nonprofit work. The primary care Internal Medicine doc? Married at 40. Again, nothing wrong with that, but she also admitted to being upset about it and thinking that she would never get married.

I'm not saying that the ultimate happiness comes from finding a partner and forming a family, but it seems like these people sacrificed a lot to be where they are now, and they're not necessarily happy with the trade-off.

[bobk]

You're right, the relationship situations for most of the doctors was more grim than I'd remembered.

[JDAZ11]

I'm going to have to check this out - this is exactly the type of thing DH would be irritated with me watching (he thinks it would make me depressed. Did you like it? Did you ever watch Boston Med? For the most part, that was pretty accurate (and at times depressing). We knew a bunch of those featured (although it was over a very short period of time). 21 years is huge!

We watched Boston Med and that one at Hopkins b/c we knew a few people on the show (or apparently were - some people told us to watch and I never noticed them! I totally didn't make it through all the episodes though, so maybe they weren't making it up ). Really can't wait for the Columbia show to air.... think it should be soon?

Anyway - I agree this PBS thing was a little depressing (For me part of it was the actual filmmaking... it's dark and depressing). I watched on Netflix at some point too. I thought the very beginning was very similar to the first semesters of law school (I didn't know DF in med school, but I don't think he was that traumatized. Me - totally traumatized by the first few weeks of law school, lol).

I felt terrible for the ER doc - it's hard not to be depressed after seeing his story. None of the others seem especially happy, but I wasn't super shocked by their current situations. It's also just a snapshot of the last 21 years - and as with all reality TV, they really pick and choose the "good stuff." They also trained before work hour restrictions, I'm not sure how anyone managed to have normal lives before that!

I did have to laugh at the guy at Duke and his wife during that interview on the couch... SUPER awkward! They should have prepped better - it wasn't an unexpected question...

I remember watching a few episodes of Boston Med and one of the residents was really creepy and sleazy and I thought "I'd never date a resident." Uh, never say never

[diggitydot]

I remember watching a few episodes of Boston Med and one of the residents was really creepy and sleazy and I thought "I'd never date a resident." Uh, never say never

Yeah, never say never.

My mom tried setting me up with med students for YEARS. She was the nurse in an office that took MSIII's for their family medicine rotation. I've never been into the gooey stuff and thought she'd lost her damn mind.

Fast forward a few years and I end up married a dude who later went on to med school. I still tease DH that it's a good thing we met when we did or else we'd have NEVER dated.

Anyway - I agree this PBS thing was a little depressing (For me part of it was the actual filmmaking... it's dark and depressing).

..

I completely agree

I did have to laugh at the guy at Duke and his wife during that interview on the couch... SUPER awkward! They should have prepped better - it wasn't an unexpected question...

Yes! I was thinking "here comes another divorce".

ED guy's story was super depressing. I googled him and it looks like he did another job, but how he could do it in his condition I don't know....

[MissCrabette]

I thought the guy at Duke and his wife were on the same page. She just didn't know that wasn't his original opinion. If anything, I thought that the comment about golf taking over was a little more indicative of potential problems in the future.

[JDAZ11]

I thought the guy at Duke and his wife were on the same page. She just didn't know that wasn't his original opinion. If anything, I thought that the comment about golf taking over was a little more indicative of potential problems in the future.

Ha! I forgot about the golf comment! I thought that one was a little more lighthearted, but yeah I can def see it pointing to a potential problem!

Her face during the couch session seemed to indicate there was a big fight coming to me - but who knows. If I made a similar face, it would mean that I was pissed - maybe not for her.

I think we need a 22 year follow up on those two

Just finished watching it and oh my goodness, that was depressing. As for the Duke guy and his wife, she looked like she was going to make him sleep on the couch that night. And I agree JDAZ, I want another follow up!

[Phoebe]

Yeah, never say never.

My mom tried setting me up with med students for YEARS. She was the nurse in an office that took MSIII's for their family medicine rotation. I've never been into the gooey stuff and thought she'd lost her damn mind.

I met my husband through this exact situation, except he was an intern. I refused to be set up by my mom but she gave him my phone number anyway.

[SoonerTexan]

DH watched it the year he applied to med school. It was interesting because it was made about the same time his parents were in med school.