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Until I get further information, I will assume the doctor wasn't actively involved in the show's production. I'll assume that the hospital announced one or more

Until I get further information, I will assume the doctor wasn't actively involved in the show's production. I'll assume that the hospital announced one or more camera crews would be in the emergency room, and the doctor assumed the people editing the footage knew the relevant laws and would act professionally. Even so, I don't see any way for the doctor to avoid being sued. But I really doubt he had much influence on the show.

whyenot 12y ago
The doctor was wearing a mic. I think it would be very hard to argue he wasn't involved in the production. He also has at least a moral obligation to protect the privacy of his patients. It's a shame these things end in lawsuits, but he does deserve some kind of punishment or reprimand. Maybe suspend his license for a few months.
- maxlybbert 12y ago
  I have never been involved in a reality TV show (and my job isn't exciting enough for the TV crews to come knocking) so I have to only guess how it works. But I would expect that wearing a microphone doesn't give the doctor much input on which segments to use, and that the doctor wouldn't have been involved in getting permissions from the patients and families. It's obvious in this case that the show wasn't able to get permission from the family (and, given that the family was surprised; the show wasn't able to contact the family), so they blurred the guy's face and thought that made him unidentifiable. I don't believe the doctor had any influence on that decision.
  - maxlybbert 12y ago
    I find it amusing that I got downvoted for stating the doctor probably had little creative input in the show.
justin66 12y ago
> I'll assume that the hospital announced one or more camera crews would be in the emergency room Okay, think about that. Just the thought of making critically injured people or their families deal with that (are they confronted by a release form? do they even get a choice, or do they have to go to a different ER if they want to receive treatment with some privacy? WTF?) is completely disgusting. The whole thing is trash that no medical professional should be involved in at all.
- maxlybbert 12y ago
  I can see how that could reflect poorly on the hospital, but it's less obvious to me that it reflects poorly on the doctors. Unless you expect the doctors to have refused to staff the emergency room until the camera crews left.
  - justin66 12y ago
    I think the doctors could have killed this scheme well before it came to whatever kind of standoff in the ER you're envisioning, and yes, they certainly should have. But they wanted to get paid. In any case, it doesn't take an enormous amount of moral courage to say "there is no possible way this person or his family has consented to being filmed so I'm taking the microphone off and you are taking your cameras out of the room."
    - classicsnoot 12y ago
      You are clearly unfamiliar with the nature of the relationship between doctors and the Hospital companies that employ them. They have little to no say in anything that happens on the grounds, and with typically high student loan debt and 'the resign' as their only real resort, they cannot make whiteknight stands on emotional bases.
      - justin66 12y ago
        Can we drop the "white knight" terminology? Doing something ethical doesn't make someone a mythological figure, it means they're living up to their moral obligations. I'm sure a resident might have reasons to be intimidated. I'm sure there was also an attending physician.

whyenot 12y ago

The doctor was wearing a mic. I think it would be very hard to argue he wasn't involved in the production. He also has at least a moral obligation to protect the privacy of his patients. It's a shame these things end in lawsuits, but he does deserve some kind of punishment or reprimand. Maybe suspend his license for a few months.

maxlybbert 12y ago
I have never been involved in a reality TV show (and my job isn't exciting enough for the TV crews to come knocking) so I have to only guess how it works. But I would expect that wearing a microphone doesn't give the doctor much input on which segments to use, and that the doctor wouldn't have been involved in getting permissions from the patients and families. It's obvious in this case that the show wasn't able to get permission from the family (and, given that the family was surprised; the show wasn't able to contact the family), so they blurred the guy's face and thought that made him unidentifiable. I don't believe the doctor had any influence on that decision.
- maxlybbert 12y ago
  I find it amusing that I got downvoted for stating the doctor probably had little creative input in the show.

justin66 12y ago

> I'll assume that the hospital announced one or more camera crews would be in the emergency room Okay, think about that. Just the thought of making critically injured people or their families deal with that (are they confronted by a release form? do they even get a choice, or do they have to go to a different ER if they want to receive treatment with some privacy? WTF?) is completely disgusting. The whole thing is trash that no medical professional should be involved in at all.

maxlybbert 12y ago
I can see how that could reflect poorly on the hospital, but it's less obvious to me that it reflects poorly on the doctors. Unless you expect the doctors to have refused to staff the emergency room until the camera crews left.
- justin66 12y ago
  I think the doctors could have killed this scheme well before it came to whatever kind of standoff in the ER you're envisioning, and yes, they certainly should have. But they wanted to get paid. In any case, it doesn't take an enormous amount of moral courage to say "there is no possible way this person or his family has consented to being filmed so I'm taking the microphone off and you are taking your cameras out of the room."
  - classicsnoot 12y ago
    You are clearly unfamiliar with the nature of the relationship between doctors and the Hospital companies that employ them. They have little to no say in anything that happens on the grounds, and with typically high student loan debt and 'the resign' as their only real resort, they cannot make whiteknight stands on emotional bases.
    - justin66 12y ago
      Can we drop the "white knight" terminology? Doing something ethical doesn't make someone a mythological figure, it means they're living up to their moral obligations. I'm sure a resident might have reasons to be intimidated. I'm sure there was also an attending physician.