In a letter dated Febuary 6, 2006 to Peter Horton, Co-Executive Producer and Director of \”Grey\’s Anatomy\”; the President of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA); Dr. Orin F. Guidry, MD stated that the \”anesthesia community\” was alarmed at the depiction of the fictional anesthesiologist in the episode aired on ABC TV Febuary 5,2006.
During a sequence of a hospital \”code black\” the fictional character Dr. Milton, left his patient in the OR while a young paramedic was left alone to care for the patient.
ASA President Guidry noted that Anesthesiologist\’s in a true crisis would not be
likely to \”bail out\”. Dr. Guidry was cognizant of the fact that the show did not intentionally misrepresent the profession of anesthesia and that the performance was to gain the result of drama.
He pointed out that Medical Doctors of Anesthesia(MDA\’s) are trained and prepared to act in a decisive and calm manner in an emergency situation.
Dr. Gudry added, much more is involved with trying to sustain or save a patient\’s life than the fictional Dr. Milton portrayed. The ASA President then enlightened Mr. Horton that a number of factual errors took place and has offered the services of the ASA membership at no charge to provide current data and advise with medical procedures as pertain to anesthesia.
The complete letter may be viewed at the ASA website: asahq.org
