Is that flounder on the shelf 😂

I went to the ER with what ended up being a contorted ovarian cyst the size of a football. The most comforting thing was when the hospital's obgyn said that she was not comfortable doing the necessary procedure and that they'd find someone who was. I ended up getting one of the most highly regarded obgyns in the area and even he said that it was the largest he had removed. Confident and capable doctors instill confidence in patients. I love the doctor I ended up with and I have so much respect for the obgyn who was not willing to go outside her comfort zone with my body. I think true humility (not to be confused with self deprication) has to be one of the most important qualities in a surgeon.

I remember years ago reading a book written by an emergency room physician about the show ER, and when he talked about this episode, he said that it was so incorrect that he was afraid of getting sued for malpractice just for watching it. 😂

We would NEVER keep a pregnant woman in the ED like this. We’re terrified of pregnant woman here. You have a headache and you’re more than 16 weeks pregnant? You re going upstairs!

I am addicted to these "doctor reacts" episodes. I'm a pediatrician so when I get frustrated watching TV, I just make my husband mad for ruining the show/movie for him, lol. This is like watching with a friend who is yelling at the TV with me!

Literally every doctor show in an emergency: Doctor with huge ego: " Even though I've never done this and have no training, I'm gonna do it" *someone dies*

NEVER TRIGGER THIS POOR WOMAN LIKE THAT AGAIN. Only nice suggested videos or I will hurt you.

This episode was the best birth control of my teenage life.

Two immediate thoughts: 1. No ER in a hospital with an OB department would keep this patient for longer than it takes to stabilize mom’s seizure. Like ever. 2. I’m so distracted that the dad is Bradley Whitford.

Why’d y’all tell her to watch this show lol she’s stressed

The writers of this episode: “She’s staying in the ER because it’s called ER. 🤷‍♀️”

My experience in my 30+ year ob-gyn career is that ERs set land speed records getting pregnant patients to L&D

Curiously, this episode's writer (Lance Gentile) also served as the show's technical advisor, and had been an ER doctor for some years. He claimed he got the idea from when a colleague ended up doing an emergency C-section in the ER, although in that case there were OB/GYN nurses present who helped him through the procedure. Gentile took that and cranked it up to what he described as his ultimate nightmare as a doctor (by taking away the OB/GYN personnel and losing the patient), while admitting that this scenario was pretty unlikely ever to happen.

*Every medical drama ever* Writers: It's possible that X happens? Specialist: yeah...I mean, there's a 0.000000054% that it happens. If you add the possibility of everything else you combined in the scenario it would be almost impossible to happen. Writers: almost but not impossible. Right? Specialists: yeah...I mean... Writers: say no more.

When my second baby was being born, she had decels and they moved me and then moved my baby. That was so painful. Everyone in the room was so calm, but they brought in the head nurse to do the procedure, so I had an inkling something was serious. However, the staff acted like nothing was wrong, and they didn't scare me or my husband at all. Even when they were considering an emergency c-section, my doctor was calling out instructions like "Hold the OR for me," and "Is the gurney waiting at the door? Are we ready to go?" she sounded like she was discussing the weather. It wasn't until the next day, when my baby was safely nursing and I was off pain medication when my OB finally said, "You gave me a bit of a scare, for a while, there, baby girl" to my little newborn.

I remember crying when I watched this episode of ER. I was aware of many of the inaccuracies, but watching Anthony Edwards's character and the rest of the cast suffer the consequences of his hubris was hard. Watching your reaction was harder. I always love your reactions because your emotions are so genuine. Your channel a rare mix of science eduction, ethics, and compassion. Thank you.

I remember when this show aired.. I had just had my daughter, first pregnancy with un-diagnosed Postural Orthostatic tachycardia and extremely low natural blood pressures so that when it became elevated it was in normal range.. My Doctor was just starting his practice and we were his 3'rd patient referred by my previous doctor because he didn't deliver babies any longer, so we met when I was 20 weeks and Bp's were within low normal. He didn't catch my pre eclampsia and let me go two weeks overdue. Come in 6 cm dialated to the hospital go through labor, push for 2 hours. Baby coming out sunny side up get's stuck with her head out, when I threw up, and she gets stuck on my pubic bone and her umbilical cord gets compressed. They had to do a zavenelli procedure, and emergency C section where they basically cut a T shaped incision to get her out she came out with a 0 apgar score (was an 8 at second reading) and then I started to bleed.. Bled around all of the sutures they put in. Turned out I had HELLP syndrome. I lost so much blood they were afraid to move me 2 floors to ICU and brought ICU staff down to L and D for me. 17 units of blood in something like 2 days. I only remember 2 things about those 2 days.. My husband making me look at the moniter which showed my heart beating 180 BPM because of the low blood volume and him looking white as a sheet. And them showing me a picture of my daughter 8 hours after she was born. ( weirdly they say I was lucid and oriented and answering questions) 2 weeks in ICU. Miraculously stopped bleeding when the doctor came in to tell me they had scheduled an OR to do a hysterectomy because they couldn't stop the bleeding. The ONLY reason why I am still here, is because my doctor had enough confidence to say I need a specialist this is over my head.. And the Specialist OBGYN was coming out of an OR right as things went south with me so was right there when I needed him to be... 29 years, and two more kids later.. and I am a grandma of 2. Because my Doctor asked for help... My husband threw up when this episode was playing and told me he couldn't watch it since he'd seen it in real life.

An over confident ob resident almost killed me. Sometimes it’s not a lack of training, but a lack of listening to the patient when they tell you something is wrong.

I had a Zalvanelli procedure! And I didn't know it was called that until now, and I didn't realize what a huge emergency my delivery was until now, either. That speaks volumes to my delivery team, who was f'ing amazing.

This one hits pretty hard. I ran to the ER with upper quadrant pain, 31 weeks pregnant. My bp was in the 160/90s and I had mild proteinurea, headache and vomiting and deep pitting edema. My mother begged them to admit me to L&D and they just gave me iv fluids and sent me home. The doctor Said it must be a stomach virus. About 15 hours later, I lost the feeling in my face started grand mal seizures. I had eclampsia and HELLP.

I was a teenager watching this show when it first aired and I remember this episode because it was basically a "Dr Green royally effs up" episode 😬 and his character was portrayed that he was the best, kindest, most caring... Total heartbreak to see him make all the wrong moves (then and reliving it now!) Thanks for opening up old wounds lol

I get the feeling Dr. Jones would jump into TV land and would go all "MOVE I'VE GOT THIS!"

I mean why if they can't admit her to OB, why wouldn't they have stuck her in an ambulance and send to another hospital? If you can't treat the patient with the right people, you find the right people, and get the patient to them.

You are such an excellent teacher. As a retired RN, I worked both L&D and ER, and all of this is unbelievable. There isn’t a DR in an ER who would have touched this with a 10ft pole! That pt would have been sent up to OB the minute she walked in the door. Or if no OB doc was available, TRANSFER her to a hospital where there is! This was so stressful to watch. When he said the word “thingies” I rolled my eyes so hard! Also, no medical professional would yell at each other like that, especially within earshot of the husband.

Things like what happened in this episode, even though to say they all could have been avoided would be an understatement, is the exact reason I decided to quit nursing school when I wanted to be an OB nurse. The compassion was there, the interest was there, I was prepared to do the work, the dedication to the field was all there, but something (I don’t remember what it was exactly) made me have a sudden epiphany about the true limitations of my mental capacity as it regards to potential exposures to the worst case scenarios on a semi-regular basis. I had to ask myself how many of those exposures would it take before it took an extreme toll on me & admittedly & regrettably, the answer was not that many. Which I felt, at the end of the day, would affect my ability to be a good healthcare provider so I ultimately decided that it wasn’t as a good of a fit for me as I thought. I don’t know how you do it MDJ, but I admire you because even though you get to be there for the happiest moments in people’s lives, there is always the potential for it to become the absolute worst & you accept that willingly & face that head on every day that you answer the call. At the risk of sounding cliche, you are indeed a hero.

There's a lot of respect to the fact that even though you know it's fake and got upset at the inaccuracies, that you got honestly emotional when the patient died. I felt that.,

I’m glad you went through with posting this - the misconceptions and errors that you addressed are so important. I imagine if I were pregnant that episode would horrify me and make me worry more about delivery, so I’m glad to see someone pointing out the dramatic parts and falsities of these medical shows. I loved this show as a kid and I watch the majority of the medical dramas now and I love them too, but when you review an episode of one of them and point things out and explain what’s happening or what would actually happen, it’s quite comforting. The reality you put into the fiction helps people feel faith and trust in medicine and I appreciate that so much!! ❤️👏🏼

My daughter and her doctor had a miraculous delivery, her uterus ruptured, she was still in the labor room, nurse caught it within moments baby was delivered C section so fast. Both survived my grandson just turned seven. He was bruised everywhere and stayed in NICU for so long. But a miracle happened that day.

I cannot stop laughing 😂 I remember this episode VIVIDLY because it traumatized me as a kid-watching it now as a pregnant mama and healthcare worker, with your hilarious and justifiable outrage, is so cathartic

My baby is sitting on my lap watching this with me and you have him cracking up for some reason and he’s trying to lean forward towards you which is what he does when he wants someone to get him. He must like you. 😂

A pediatrician shouldn't work with geriatrics A cardiologist shouldn't perform a Gastric Bypass An OB/GYN shouldn't do a kidney transplant **AN ER DOC SHOULDN'T INDUCE AND DO A C-SECTION WHEN THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING**

I feel really bad because this is one of my favorite episodes for ER, and yet it's so inaccurate (and I've ragged on Grey's Anatomy for being inaccurate). But I think the point of the episode is not necessarily to demonstrate a perfectly calm, reasonable occurrence...but the result of an epic tragedy and almost a bad fever dream. Dr. Mark is a great doctor who loves medicine...who goes in to do something he CANNOT do, because he loves medicine and wants to be there. He doesn't know when to step back. He became emotionally invested in these patients (mother and baby), because he himself was a father struggling with a distant daughter and a wife who didn't want him anymore. This couple was happy and in love. All during the episode they show such sweetness to each other, the father is a model husband. They are incredibly excited for their new baby. Dr. Mark sees this and he is emotionally beating himself for not being a better man and a better husband. That's why he tries to overcompensate in this episode. He is devoted to keeping this couple together, the same way he wishes he could have kept his marriage together. It really is the culmination of a long cycle of nightmares for Mark. He has lost control of his family, of his love life, and now his job. He could have been fired for what happened here. It was absolutely insane. But as a heartbreaking character arc, it's the peak tragedy for what could have happened to Mark. It takes him a long time to recover from this scene, maybe until the end. It's a terrible example for medicine, but fantastic for a story about a man who has lost control of almost everything he cares about in life. And it really pushes him to be a man when he meets Elizabeth and has Ella. That's why it won the Emmy's. Great review though! I cringed a lot myself. But I still love the show and the episode. I do get why it's really hard to watch for a lot of people. This scenario would be horrifying for basically any family.

I was pregnant at the time this episode came out. I had Pre eclampsia at the time. I went in for my biweekly appointment the very next day and my Dr asked if I had watched this episode. When I told him no he told me to not watch reruns. I was induced at 36 weeks and everything went back to normal after delivery.

As a psychologist, I would be so worried that the husband would come out of this experience suffering from severe PTSD symptoms...

Mama Dr. Jones: "This isn't very accurate!" Me: Thank goodness!!!!!!!!!!

I’m a retired post partum nurse. I spent a lot of time with the L&D staff. I remember watching this episode with my daughter and yelling at the TV that this would NEVER happen in a hospital with L&D. That patient would have been out of that ER so fast she would have little time to breathe let alone die there. My daughter still teases me about my visceral reaction to a poorly thought out TV show.

They should’ve called this episode “Murphy’s Law”. Everything that could go wrong in this situation did go wrong - EXTREMELY wrong.

I´m pretty sure that the whole point of this episode was saying: ALL OF THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULDN´T DO. Mark not admitting he wasn´t comfortable with the procedure, not doing it in the right room, having too many cooks, the anxiety, etc, etc. The whole episode is a series of unfortunate events (and mistakes) that leads to the patient´s death.

This made me laugh. If a near term pregnant person has the sniffles the ED can’t get them up to l&d fast enough.

I really appreciate you providing your professional insight into this episode. To me, a layperson, it just seems like a perfect storm of hubris, arrogance, refusal to admit you're in over your head, and slowly watching the situation slip completely out of your control. You hit the nail on the head that the communication was ridiculous. Why they didn't take her up to OB themselves early on even though the resident said to keep her down there, I'll never know. But again, the hubris, the "I've got this, I can handle anything" attitude. Dr. Green (the main doc) was never quite the same after this episode. I believe he was going through some marital difficulty during this timeframe and that may have played into the control aspect where he refused to relinquish control of the situation to more experienced docs -- the old "I don't have control of my personal life right now so I'll maintain total control of this professional situation well beyond the point I should have" situation. And you're absolutely right that when it first aired, it had a real ripple effect amongst pregnant women who reached out to their OB/Gyn's in a panic about the possibility of developing preeclampsia. On a positive note, it made people more aware of the condition in general, so anything that educates on a complex topic can't be too terrible. It's still one of the best episodes of ER I've ever seen and I've watched most of the seasons. Makes me cry every single time I see it. Literally a trainwreck plowing right down the tracks.

I had a Zavenelli procedure with my second daughter. The doctor literally saved my babies life. She came out gray and not breathing. Thanks to God and that doctor that my daughter is ok.

Honestly, with that ending, I really liked the episode. It was a tragic story of how terribly you can mess up when you’re in a position of power. The unrealistic-ness added to it. That guy was too cocky, he was in way over his head, and this was the result. The worst thing he could have done. He went too far and he killed someone. Had he been wiser, humbler, this woman likely would have survived. It’s a reminder of what it means to be a doctor.

When I was pregnant with my oldest I had a severe asthma attack. It was about midnight but I contacted the on call OB & luckily it was my OB he told me come in immediately & I would be admitted to OB. That time of night I had to go in through the ER & they actually didn’t want me to go up & questioned me why I was going up when they could handle it in the ER. It was a cluster f of me being talked down too & treated horribly for contacting my OB & his decision to admit me. We had to have my OB contacted again for him to have it out with the ER staff because he had been waiting on me. Then they transported me up to OB. They worked me up & gave me everything I needed & went home the next day. I’m telling this because all I could think about was this episode even though it wasn’t the same issues. My local hospital ER has a horrible reputation. In fact there is 1 doc who seems to always be there (he was there that night) & he’s a complete. To this day if I have to go to this ER I refuse to see him. If he comes in I request someone else or leave (because again he’s an ass & will talk down to you)

Mark called Coburn like 4000 times; he asked for ob support all the time. Those weren’t inaccuracies or unrealistic situations, it was Mark doing the wrong decisions which is the whole plot of the episode.

Most traumatic medical TV episode ever! I'm rewatching ER again (Yay, no commercials), and the minute that couple came in the door, I knew what episode it was. However as another commenter posted, this time I realized the whole point was to make Mark Greene's character learn that even though he's great at what he does, he doesn't know everything. In the storyline, this makes him a much better ER doctor, teacher and supervisor going forward. @mommadoctorjones Thank you for taking the horror out of watching this trauma unfold by providing the true information in context

I could tell how distressed you were discussing the zavanelli. Just because someone is a doctor doesn't mean they are competent in every specialty. I'm training to be a midwife and this gave me anxiety too. I had to remind myself it is only fiction 😂

The husband being able to watch the emergency surgery is crazy. In the hospital i delivered at its even normal to send the husband out of the room when the woman gets an epidural. They even did it in my case even though my husband is a doctor and works at the hospital i delivered at. He actually was about to have his first night shift in his pediatric rotation when our son was born (but obviously got someone else do the shift as soon as I went into labor). The attending pediatrician asked him if he wanted to do the newborn check on our son under her supervision but my sweet hubby just stood there and couldnt even remember how to walk xD

Oh my gosh. “I think I can muddle through” would be the most terrifying thing I could ever find out a doctor of mine said.

When I was in labor and told the Dr I wanted a vaginal birth, she told me "not if I decide differently." I did end up having a c-section because every time I had a contraction my son would stop breathing. So glad my Dr went against my wishes.

Imagine the lawsuit if this happened today.

Had an intro uterine monitor used with my 1st delivery, and the nurses were cracking up, because my daughter got it in her hands and was playing with it🤣

I watched this at 9 years old. It terrified me into saying I’d never have a baby. I’m now a mom of 6 😆

So, I love the fact that you are so confident in your colleagues that you would believe that none of them are negligent assholes. However, I have personal experience with one being so negligent that he cut a baby during cesarean. Not just a nick, but the baby required stitches. He was who was supposed to deliver my twins. We immediately switched doctors.

I hate when people demonize scalp electrodes for babies because a scalp electrode literally saved me from an emergency c section due to low heart rate with my youngest and because as a nurse I know how safe they are. It drives me crazy.

That whole forceps bit cracks me up. My IUD had slipped and the doctor at the ER told me my OBGYN would have to remove it because it "wasn't his forte". It nearly fell out when the NP at the OBGYN's office went to take it out.

I'm an early career Psychologist and I love how you address competency! I am passionate about ethical practice amongst other mental-health care professionals and I love seeing your ethical passion shine!!

Thank you for reacting to this. It's a wonderful point that medicine is a team sport! We're all in this together! Lack of communication can and has killed patients. Stay safe and healthy Dr. Jones!

Ooof. 🥺 Oh man...I remember this episode - it hit my husband really hard when it aired, as we had recently suffered the stillbirth of our daughter at 38 weeks, and immediately following the delivery I almost died from a massive hemorrhage due to a partial placental previa, and also previously undiagnosed severe placental accreta. I was later told that it was VERY touch and go for a while there - I was unconscious for most of the bad parts, but he had absolutely refused to leave my side and so he saw so much that he really shouldn’t have seen. This was just a little too close to real life for both of us, and I’ll be honest...I totally understand you being stressed out watching it - even now, all these years later watching this was surprisingly triggering for me.

I am a CNA and a nursing student. I have heard it said so many times. Know you limits. It makes you a better provider when you know your limits and ask for help. The moment you get cocky or feel confident you will make a mistake. Never stop learning.

That shot of the father looking into the OR at his wife and baby helplessly breaks my heart

My poor cousin coded on the table having an emergency c section. Her baby passed away in utero at 37 weeks. After hours of labor they rushed her in for a c section during the procedure she had an amniotic fluid embolism. Luckily they got her back. I have so much respect for you and what you do.

"Of course hes not breathing what do you expect after that chaos" oh god I cant this also came out before I was born

I was pretty little when this show originally aired but did a big rewatch recently. This ep not only sticks with the viewer, it has lasting implications for the character. The father sues him and as a doc his super shook up. My first thought when I saw your post about this video was “dang, people really pushed for the MOST stressful episode!!” You are too good to us ✨ Hoping you had a hot cup of tea on standby after this one.

This was so great, thank you! Very interesting having been traumatized by it at 18, and watching it now at 45, after having kids. Still everytime I hear pre-eclampsia, I immediately think of this episode. Seeing it now, it really is less about the pregnant couple than Dr. Greenie’s internal struggle, his wife left him in the previous episode. He wants to be a hero and I think his breakdown at the end is him realizing he ruined a family by his actions.

I started watching this show for the first time during quarantine so I just watched this episode and I’m SO happy you made this! I had to keep pausing and googling “can this really happen?!”

I would love to see you and Dr. Mike do a collab!! He gives such great wisdom but also always admits when those trained in certain fields like an OBGyn need to be contacted.

Hello from team NICU! Agree with your assessment: never would’ve happened in real life. This pt would be TOP priority for OB and NICU. Nope nope nope.

Mama, I love how moved, and touched you were! You have a true heart of gold!

18:45 is exactly what the character arc was about for Dr. Greene in this episode, more than one person told him "it's perfectly acceptable to wait for an OB", which is why I still love this episode even with the wild unrealistic moments. The whole point, really, is that he got overconfident in his abilities, and this was the lesson he needed.

This episode should be showed to doctors as a lesson in what could happen when you let your ego get in the way and you don't really know what you're doing.

Not gonna lie though 16:57 where the doctor "knocks over" the tray had me laughing. She just blatantly pushed it over! Great acting there. How did this get an Emmy?

I remember watching this episode when I was like 12 with my mum, so sad. Now I'm an ObGyn myself and I find it so surrealistic! Everything is so so so wrong - at least in our countries. But still it's very sad for Mark cause he's a character who really cares about his patients. Thanks for watching with us!

I remember watching this show with my mom and experiencing so much anxiety.. While I can imagine how frustrating it may be for you, you really have put things into perspective and its good to know that while very scary situations take place, that there are educated professionals that are able to care for the world without such chaos and misguidance.

This episode hit me hard 😢 I feel like if I was taken to labor and delivery when I arrived in an ambulance instead of taken to the ER, my son would probably be alive today. I gave birth(25 weeks along) in the ER bathroom, very scared, young and alone and the ER Dr didn't even let me see him, I don't even know what they did with his body. It still haunts me to this day. *Edit to add that this video encouraged me to ask the hospital why everything happened the way they did, now they opened an investigation.

"Medicine is a team sport that requires excellent communication." Yes! Saying "I don't know" does not mean "I am incompetent" or "I am a failure". In any field. Unless you are a professional knowledge bank, I guess.

Great reaction video as always but it must not be forgotten than ER was pretty accurate about the medical techniques when it was first broadcasted... lot of theses techniques are pretty old school now. ER was pretty new in its way of filming and writing the series at this time and a lot of supporting roles like the nurses was in fact real medical personal outside of the set...

My first baby was kinda like this. The baby's heartbeat dropped and nurses and Dr came flying in and pulled me down, ripped blanket off and flung my legs open. They started putting the monitor on before I could get out WTF. So times and in sync. If I wasn't so scared I would have congratulated them. Then the nurse explained it all after and was really nice to say that it wasn't an emergency just a precaution. 👍😐 Now I know the truth LoL

MDJ! Never seen you this stressed! And, actually watching to the end, as a woman who was treated shoddily resulting in the death of my son 37 years ago, I so love that you care. Because my "doc" didn't.

SPOILER: * * * * * * * * The father sued Dr. Green for malpractice in a later season.

Man this was difficult to watch and felt like it went on forever. The writer at least nailed how stress inducing this chaos is when everything goes wrong.

I’m a nurse and seriously I love this channel so much, she is amazing. I was cringing so much during that episode. She said one of the most important thing to know, if you are a health care professional, what makes you good is to know your limits and to know when to say « This is over my head, I need help .» Not knowing doesn’t make you a bad doctor or a bad nurse, it’s not knowing when to stop and to do something you are not qualify for, that could hurt your patient the most.

They actually do set up, in earlier episodes, a serious antagonism between the ER and obstetrics (especially the ob resident), as well as the general dysfunction of the ER and the hospital. (It leads to staffing changes, etc.) So yeah, you're spot on in calling out the dysfunction, and Greene's arrogance. They were the point, tho.

Concerning the comment after the scene with the OB saying she should have been called when Mark knew he was in over his head--in fact, Mark was CONSTANTLY trying to get someone from obstetrics to come down, but no one came until it was too late. As for the part about this sort of thing ending careers, in the following episodes, Mark goes through a lot of difficulties, even hesitating before treating another pregnant person. It affects him deeply.

My son had a scalpe electrode 31 years ago. I was nervous about it. My OBGYN explained why what & how. Explanation really helped. It was no big deal

This episode was a lawsuit filing itself 🤦🏽‍♀️

The crazy part of all of this is that while yes, this would never happen today... when women first started having their labors in hospitals, I'm sure there were plenty of doctors forcing their egotistical will onto a laboring woman. This actually happens in less developed countries where they hold her down as the force their procedures on her. It's insane, but this type of attitude towards a laboring woman is still around. It's few and far between and typically much much older male doctors/surgeons who have this attitude who have long since closed their mind off to new or less traumatic labor. While yes, there is a lawsuit in the show, plenty of those old school stuck in their ways doctors get away with traumatizing women because of the "You're labor complaints are meaningless because you got your baby, didn't you?" Yes there has been a lot of progress in obstetrics, but it wasn't all that long ago we were still in the shadow of dark ages of female reproductive care. And I only hope the intent of this show airing back in the 90s was to infuriate people about this kind of attitude and maybe even helped to start a discussion that has influenced the demand for better treatment of women in labor we see today. But if you dig into PTSD associated with child birth, it's still very much an issue we need to keep talking about and addressing. So thank you Mama Doctor Jones for toughing it out through this episode, which I feel is intentionally bad to show as a reminder how awful things can go when a doctor's ego goes to their head. Best case people get hurt, worst case they die. You saw the train wreck coming a mile out and that shows how a professional should handle a situation. Not like he did here.

I was pregnant with my first child during this episode, it scared the life out of me and I regretted watching it. When they put the scalp monitor on my daughter, I kept thinking about this episode and I ended up having an emergency C-section. I was terrified because of this episode.

I watched this episode of ER back in the day when it aired having been an L&D nurse at a major teaching hospital and was absolutely horrified.

This episode was literally infuriating. Literally a lawyers goldmine.

My contractions did go well, and my sons hart-rate dropped from 120 to 50 but my gynecologist didn’t panic at all, just telling me not to freak out for nothing. My contractions stopt but his hart rate didn’t normalize. I told the midwife I’m scared and worried about my son. She brought that doctor back , to hear her say send home and come in if contractions start up again. But his not due yet. And left us all godsmacked because even the midwife was worried. So the head nurse went after her. Came back said you’re staying, so we can monitor you both. When i asked why she was like that? She was angry at an other woman that was demanding her full attention! Told the nurse look if she can’t handle the stress of this job she should stop or at least don’t put every labor as the same. Im not a drama queen. Next morning they gave me besides the Iv a tablet it didn’t go that well and my sons hartrate did go up so they called in for epidural and made a call for C section in case. That doctor was mad at me for putting my feet down. After the birth of my son, it was hell, he didn’t want to eat, and i couldn’t give him breast feed because it didn’t work out. He cried so much. So i asked if i could get a bath with him. The doctor said no; so after her back i asked the midwife and we did it anyway i said look i write down its on my own request and my risk. He calmed down so much, he still got problems with feeding but was less stressed. Later found out that she was fired from the hospital because her lack of being involved and left a child after her ignoring complaints with a shoulder problem and one kid with a disability. My son would be her third victim if I didn’t made a fuss, and put my feet down.

OMG, I remember watching this episode when it aired right around my son's first birthday. All my new-mom emotions were in high gear, and I just *lost it* at the end!! 😭😭😭

The pilot of this show was actually written in the '70s as a movie. They never found a studio to pick it up and put it aside. My confusion with the later lawsuit was that the OB (Coburne?) who didn't drop what she was doing at the other hospital wasn't included in the subsequent lawsuit the hospital attorney wanted to settle, and Greene refused to settle.

I would love to see her react to the grey's anatomy episode when Warren delivered the baby in front of the elevator. I would be cool to get a her insight and do the any real world procedure in place for something like that.

would love to see you watch more Call The Midwife, it’s one of my fav shows and i want to see how accurate it is

I'm a surgical tech and have worked at 2 different trauma centers. I've never seen such a shit storm as this. Chaos is the worst thing that can happen in an OR or trauma bay. MDJ, your frustration is what I normally feel during most medical dramas. They typically have me yelling at the TV throughout most of it. It's so unrealistic and hurts the reputation of medical professionals.

I have several chronic illnesses and one of the things I value most in a doctor is when they admit what they don’t know and are willing to do research and/or find someone else who does know. I suffered from insomnia for years under doctors who basically just went « iunno, here’s a different antidepressant and maybe try harder » only to find out that I have a circadian rhythm disorder and my body literally doesn’t even produce melatonin at the right time. Nobody even ever got me a sleep study. My doctor now is a damn angel and I love her, she takes me seriously, listens, admits when she doesn’t know, does research and not just the bare minimum of whatever she can accomplish in the timeframe of that appointment, and isn’t afraid to refer me to a specialist.

I used to watch ER when I was in high school with my mom who is a general internist. At the beginning of every commercial break she would turn to me and say "none of that was real" and explain why. It was only the later seasons though so she never got to do the run down on this one.

Why do I have a feeling the ER doctor did this because the "If you feel comfortable" thing bruised his ego and he had to stroke it back to life and "show her he could do it"?

l&d nurse here-that safety pin analogy is great! I’ll definitely be using that in the future 🥰

I am obviously older than you and was not a nurse at this time but I was an adult in my young 20’s. That being said, I knew that this was not realistic at all. The episode, the show, all of it. The aftermath of the lawsuit, the father’s anger, etc. was more realistic than the episode. It terrifies me now to encounter a provider (any kind of health care provider) who is cavalier and can’t admit that they 1) don’t know something or 2) can’t admit they are wrong. Thank you for teaching that and communicating that. Please keep it up!