Medical Procedural Episodes On Hulu That Make Cases More Dramatic Than Real Life

Season And Episode: Season 4, Episode 11

What The Show Depicts: When researcher Cate Milton (Mira Sorvino) takes ill while working at the research station in Antarctica, Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) and his team have to diagnose her via virtual visits. 

Milton can't evacuate due to the weather and, after her condition worsens, diagnoses such as cancer, an autoimmune disease, and a fat embolus are offered to try to help. In the end, House realizes that Milton has a fat embolus caused by a broken toe and she's treated accordingly. 

Real-Life Inspiration: The real-life counterpart to Dr. Cate Milton was Dr. Jerri Nielsen. Nielsen was a doctor at the South Pole when she was diagnosed with cancer in 1999. To get the diagnosis, Nielsen consulted with colleagues in the United States by phone. She ultimately performed her own biopsy on the lump she found in her breast.

Medical supplies were airdropped to Nielsen until she was able to evacuate. With temperatures as low as -75°, Nielsen administered chemotherapy medications to herself before undergoing numerous surgeries - including a mastectomy - when she was back in the United States. 

Nielsen went into remission but her cancer returned in 2005. Before passing away in 2009, Nielson said:

I’m not afraid of death. I’ve come to accept it as being part of life, and I think I’ve come to accept it earlier than my years because of what’s happened to me.

Season And Episode: Season 1, Episode 8

What The Show Depicts: During an episode predominantly focused on rubber ducks, one medical emergency occurs. After a patient named Jerry Manafort (Fred Melamed) eats a coin, the on-board doctors diagnose him with a bowel obstruction. 

The cause is determined to be the non-food items he consumed that are lodged in his stomach, like a key, a screw, and a gold duck. Mr. Manafort has Pica, which causes a person to eat metal, hair, dirt, and other things that aren't technically edible. 

Real-Life Inspiration: Pica is a real condition and one that is potentially life-threatening. In 2017, an Indian man named Maksood Khan was admitted to a hospital with pain in his abdomen. An initial diagnosis of food poisoning was later upended when almost 12 pounds of metal were found in his stomach.

Surgeon Dr. APS Gaharwal explained: 

We discovered in his stomach nut bolts, chains, 263 coins, and around 100 nails. The surgery took three hours to perform.

Dr. Priyank Sharma added, “There are still two to three coins in his rectum that will pass naturally.”

Season And Episode: Season 3, Episode 3

What The Show Depicts: Abigail Breslin plays Megan Clover, a young girl who is insensitive to pain. Clover is a foster child and, after she is injured, needs stitches.  

Megan reveals to the doctors that when people don't believe that she can't feel pain, she shows them by doing things such as letting a classmate “punch [her] in the stomach 25 times.” Megan believes she is a superhero due to her pain immunity.

Real-Life Inspiration: In 2018, Zoanne Clack, executive producer of Grey's Anatomy, told Entertainment Weekly that a real case of a young girl not feeling pain was the inspiration for Breslin's character. Clack explained:

That was definitely from an article… We heard about the case and the writer immediately latched onto it, and we were just trying to figure out how far we could go with this girl, thinking of all the different possibilities of how she would get injured.

It's not entirely clear which condition the patient may have had, but individuals like Ashlyn Blocker live with that reality. Blocker's doctor told her parents, John and Tara, that she has a “congenital insensitivity to pain.” To help Ashlyn from getting injured, her entire town has banded around the young girl and works together to keep her safe. 

Much like with the fictional Megan, the association with superheroes and pain immunity was part of Ashlyn's life. She reportedly was asked on one occasion if she was Superman.

Season And Episode: Season 7, Episode 3

What The Show Depicts: Jerry Adams (Art Chudabala) shocks the hospital staff when he arrives with his wife, Tess (Jolene Kim). Jerry is covered in warts and, as a result, his hands resemble tree branches.

After Jerry is admitted, he's told by Dr. Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) that the wars have been caused by HPV and, as a result of an immune deficiency, have grown out of control. Jerry is given the choice to do nothing, which will disable him, or have surgery to remove the warts, although it's later discovered that skin grafts are not possible due to the damage on his skin.

Real-Life Inspiration: Excessive warts caused by HPV can result in a condition called epidermodysplasia verruciformis or, more commonly, tree man syndrome. One individual with the condition, Mahmoud Taluli, was able to “finally live a normal life” after doctors in Jerusalem removed the lesions from his hands and other body parts in 2019. 

To prevent lesions from returning and the need for continued surgeries, Taluli's doctors would need to find a way for his body to fight the HPV. In the meantime, Taluli embraced his ability to,

Play with my children. I can go to family events. I no longer need to cover my hands when I go out in public.