No, Grey’s Anatomy, Surgeons Can’t Take Selfies in the Operating Room

Last season, Grey’s Anatomy had a particularly gross episode—even by Grey’s Anatomy standards—wherein a patient presented with worms in her stomach. A lot of them. Like many of the medical cases on the Shondaland flagship show, it has basis in reality (the condition is known as “Ascaris lumbricoides”¹). The scene of doctors taking photographs of the patient’s surgery in the operating room, however, doesn’t. That’s a surefire way for a doctor to lose their job.

"If you took photos of an anesthetized patient without their explicit prior written permission, you could get in a lot of trouble," says Annie Onishi, a general surgery resident at Columbia University. "You could lose your medical license, and you would almost certainly get fired."

Inaccuracies in TV medical dramas and movies are nothing new. But over the years there have been some real doozies. There have also been some pretty true-to-life depictions as well. Onishi breaks down the laudable (The Knick) and the laughable (The Heat) in the Technique Critique video above. Make sure you stick around to see all the things that Grey’s Anatomy gets right.

¹ Correction appended, 3/15/18, 12:05 PM EDT: A previous version of this story misidentified the type of worm shown on Grey's Anatomy. It's Ascaris lumbricoides, not Strongyloides.

Correction to video, 3/16/18, 5:01 PM EDT: There are different kinds of defibrillators and the dosage depends upon the make and model of the defibrillator. 200J is not an outdated dosage, and is not considered ineffective. According to the American Heart Association’s Guidelines for CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care, "it is reasonable to use the manufacturer’s recommended energy dose for the first shock. If this is not known, defibrillation at the maximal dose may be considered."

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