The show: Scrubs
The episode: "My Fruit Cups," first aired November 14, 2002. This second season episode is available on DVD in the American Region, but it's still repeated on syndicated TV often enough that you can probably catch it almost without wanting to.
What happened: Dr. Reid feels pressured to become an obstetrician/gynecologist. Dr. Dorian, in voiceover, compares ob/gyn to a college sorority and has a fantasy in which the girls of Omicron Beta Gamma have a pillow fight. Dr. Reid does not want to choose ob/gyn as her medical specialty, but her father insists that she must. His first argument is that "Your highest income potential as a female physician is in obstetrics." Elliott is not swayed. So Dad's next argument is "I paid for your college, your medical school, your car, and now your apartment and all your living expenses." He cuts her off financially, and Elliott worries about moving her stuff out of the big apartment she currently lives in.
Why it doesn't seem right: It was J.D.'s fantasy that made me question the whole characterization of ob/gyn practitioners. However, a little research shows that this episode actually gets the facts right. It is true that a lot of ob/gyns practicing today are men. Old men. That makes Bush Jr.'s remarks "Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country" so hilarious. But to cut the moron-in-chief some slack, it should be acknowledged that it is a serious issue that "Too many good docs are getting out of business" (his previous remark in that speech, conveniently forgotten by the "liberal" media), and medical journals confirm this.
Medical journals also confirm that "Women are becoming obstetrician-gynecologists in increasing numbers," according to Drs. Erica Frank, John Rock and Daniella Sara ("Characteristics of Female Obstetrician-Gynecologists in the United States" from Obstetrics & Gynecology 94 (1999)). Dr. Frank et al predict that a greater proportion of ob/gyns will be women in the future. (Some of my girlfriends are happy enough with their current male ob/gyns that they wouldn't ditch him just to have a female ob/gyn, but I digress). Given that "53.0% of obstetrician-gynecologist residents in 1993 were female," it would seem that J.D.'s fantasy is not entirely off the mark as far as the facts are concerned. Furthermore, it goes to show that even today male doctors sometimes have trouble taking their female colleagues seriously.
As for Dad's dialogue, the first line quoted does mesh with statements in medical journals: female ob/gyns "reported higher personal and household incomes ... than other female physicians" (Frank et al). The second line quoted goes to the show's backstory, and given that this is the first appearance of Elliott's Dad, there is nothing to contradict his financial support of her in the previous episodes. I do wonder why, if the Reid family is so well off, is Dad so concerned with his daughter maximizing her earning potential? Would he be OK with his daughter forsaking a career to be the wife of the son of one of his colleagues? This line of questioning borders on speculation, so I'm afraid that after all this talking, I don't actually have any nits for this episode.
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1 comment:
I take it your current gynecologist is an old man who will retire long before you cease needing his services. You will almost certainly have to replace him with a female gynecologist, and then you will see what a big difference that makes. The simple biological fact is that a man just can't know what it's like to have someone stick a cold metal instrument in his vagina.
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