HemaBlog

 In the 1960s, highly rated primetime medical dramas contributed to the rising popularity of network television viewing. Between 1950 and 1980, there were 55 drama primetime series involving physicians on the three major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC). Many of these series had medical advisors on the set; plus, they had endorsements from medical societies. Viewers had high expectations for the accurate depiction of any medical problems, all embedded within a compelling storyline.

         These television doctor half-hour or hour-long dramas eerily followed the same script-writing formula: the cast included an older physician and a younger physician, surrounded by an assortment of minor characters. Rather than foster a mentoring relationship, the older and younger doctors experienced dramatic conflict: for example, experienced versus neophyte, or humane versus scientific. The medical dramas also provided some mystery: Could the physicians correctly diagnose and successfully treat the difficult medical condition introduced each week?

         Fictional physicians, portrayed by famous actors, treated patients with hemophilia in a few of these evening broadcasts. A critical look back at some of these television doctor dramas offers another perspective on the history of bleeding disorders.

Dr. Kildare

Frederick Schiller Faust, writing as Max Brand, introduced the fictional Dr. James Kildare in a Cosmopolitan short story in 1936. Subsequent serialized short stories about Dr. Kildare appeared in pulp magazines. Paramount released a Dr. Kildare movie in 1937. Then Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought the rights to the popular Kildare character, and released nine Dr. Kildare movies and six Dr. Gillespie movies between 1938 and 1947. Lew Ayres starred in the Kildare role, with Lionel Barrymore as the older Dr. Gillespie. Ayres and Barrymore continued their roles in the The Story of Dr. Kildare radio broadcast on the MGM network for 80 episodes from 1949 to 1951.

         Radio was still a popular medium when the “Mysterious Hemophiliac Patient” episode was broadcast on May 18, 1951. At Blair Hospital, Dr. Kildare and Dr. Gillespie evaluate an anonymous patient who is found to have pyloric cancer, along with undisclosed hemophilia. The patient is an abdicated king from a small European country. Presurgical treatment includes ovarian extract capsules for two weeks, plus an intramuscular injection of 30 cc of fresh blood serum. During surgery, the patient receives direct blood transfusions. The hemophilia proves to be a greater problem than the cancer, but the patient successfully recovers from the surgery. This treatment for hemophilia was more appropriate during the 1930s, yet inappropriate in the 1950s when more effective blood products, such as fresh frozen plasma or Fraction I, were used.

         Richard Chamberlain as Jimmy Kildare, and Raymond Massey as Leonard Gillespie revived the Dr. Kildare series on television from 1961 to 1966. In 190 episodes during five seasons, NBC aired the award-winning MGM television Dr. Kildare series on Thursday nights. Apparently this popular Dr. Kildare never treated a patient with hemophilia.

Medic

NBC broadcast the award-winning television medical drama Medic for 59 episodes over two seasons, from 1954 to 1956. The 30-minute program was filmed in black and white. It was the first television medical drama to focus on medical procedures. Richard Boone starred as Dr. Konrad Styner. In “A Time to Be Alive,” the episode broadcast on January 31, 1955, 11-year-old Davey Stinson falls off his bike and bumps his knee. Due to his hemophilia, Davey spends two weeks in the hospital, where he receives four pints of blood and a leg brace. Recovering at home, Davey falls and cuts himself with broken glass. Back in the hospital, Davey receives two units of antihemophilic plasma and six units of fresh blood. His physicians worry that Davey might develop antibodies and “become refractory” (now called having inhibitors) to the fresh blood and plasma. Meantime, Davey’s untested sister worries that she might be a hemophilia carrier. Davey recovers and becomes an honor student. This hemophilia treatment was appropriate for 1954, though the amount of blood given is worrisome for circulatory overload.

Ben Casey

In direct competition with Dr. Kildare, ABC broadcast 153 episodes of the award-winning Ben Casey series on Wednesday evenings during five seasons, from 1961 to 1966. Vince Edwards played Dr. Ben Casey, while Sam Jaffe was the older Dr. David Zorba. Unfortunately, Dr. Casey never treated a patient with hemophilia. Yet National Hemophilia Foundation chose Vince Edwards—often mistaken by the public to be a real doctor—as their celebrity spokesperson.

Marcus Welby, M.D.

ABC aired the award-winning Marcus Welby, M.D. for 169 episodes on Tuesdays over seven seasons, from 1969 to 1976. The hour-long popular program, rated number 1 in its second season, was filmed in color. The American Academy of General Practice endorsed the series. Robert Young starred as Dr. Marcus Welby, while James Brolin played the younger Dr. Steve Kiley. In “The Daredevil Gesture” episode, broadcast March 17, 1970, 17-year-old Larry Bellows is a high school senior who doesn’t want his classmates to know that he has hemophilia. Larry is hospitalized about four times a year for his hemophilia, and treated with AHF (antihemophilic factor) injections. His mother, suffering from guilt, is overprotective. His sister, though never carrier tested, refuses to ever have any children. Larry defies his mother to attend a science club hike into the California canyons. He hemorrhages into his left knee while assisting a classmate with a broken ankle. Dr. Kiley rushes to the canyon with concentrate and plasma to treat Larry, who finally admits to his classmates that he has hemophilia. This episode focuses on the psychological dilemma of an adolescent with hemophilia who strives for normalcy by overcompensating with reckless behavior.

         All bleeding disorders are considered rare. The popular medical dramas broadcast on network television from 1950 to 1980 rarely used hemophilia as an interesting disease of the week. This is surprising, knowing how the misconception of bleeding to death due to hemophilia has so often been used as a plot enhancer by fiction writers. The fictional doctors on television acted more like role models, often in dramatic tension with other doctors, rather than as cooperative medical mentors to each other. Their sometimes inappropriate hemophilia treatments highlight the fact that the bleeding disorder community needed better treatment, namely through government-funded comprehensive care at hemophilia treatment centers staffed by a multidisciplinary team of medical specialists. Regrettably, televised medical dramas never showed the important advancement in hemophilia treatment that arrived in the 1970s.

©LA Kelley Communications, Inc. www.kelleycom.com Reprinted with permission.

Publication: PEN 2.20