Bad advice on medical dramas

CNN reported today on a new study that shows that medical dramas on television do a poor job depicting how to treat someone with a seizure. It isn't the first time that medical television shows have been criticized for how they depict medical situations. But it does raise the question about how much influence these shows have. Many viewers realize that the dramas they are watching are fiction. Actual medical care is as undramatic and calm as possible.The television writers and producers have to make these things more dramatic to make them worth watching.

But do the television writers have a responsibility, even if they are writing fiction? They have a tremendous audience, and one of those viewers may encounter someone experiencing a seizure or in need of CPR. It is conceivable that a viewer will act as they have seen the doctors act on television. Does the writer have a responsibility to medical accuracy, even at the cost of drama?

Maybe, medical reality can be as dramatic as fiction.