I Can’t Believe People Say This to One Another!

If you read my articles or have known me for longer than ten minutes, then you likely are aware that I’m a huge fan of the hit TV series known as Scrubs that aired from 2001–2009. It pains me to have to address one particular scene that I found to be a bit unsettling.

In the episode “My New Suit,” one of the subplots is about a morbidly obese man that was a frequent flyer at the hospital. In effort to properly diagnose him, the doctors decided they needed to do an MRI. The problem was that this patient was too large to fit in the hospital’s MRI machine, so the alternative was that they would need to transport him to the zoo to use their MRI machine. This apparently is not completely uncommon in the world of medicine.

The doctors and nurses were faced with their own shame for the condition of this patient. They began debating on who was going to tell the patient. Overhearing this, Dr. Reed, feeling slightly annoyed with the medical staff’s inability to move on this, swiftly walked over to the patient’s room and said (loosely quoted):

Dr. Reed: (confidently and boldly): You’re too big for our MRI machine, so we’re gonna have to transfer you over to the zoo and use their machine.

Patient: (Sad, with shame and disbelief) Damn!

Dr. Reed: (cold and dismissive) You…