In an early scene of The Young Doctors, The hospital administrator, Tomaselli, has a conversation in the sweltering boiler room with the new doctor in town, Dr. David Coleman, who is learning the ropes. Coleman takes out his handkerchief and wipes his brow. Does he suspect that there will be confrontations in his new assignment? He has the look of one prepared.
The Young Doctors reflects the new trend in medical dramas at the time. In the fall of 1961 both Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey premiered on TV. At the movies there were The Interns (1962) and The New Interns (1964). Of course, the first craze in medical dramas was in the late 1930s with the original Dr. Kildare movie series. The central focus of The Young Doctors is the clash of generations represented by the old guard (Dr. Joseph Pearson = Fredric March), head of Pathology and the new breed, Dr. Coleman (Ben Gazzara), assistant head of Pathology. At a doctors' meeting the recent problems at the hospital are reviewed. Among other issues, there was exploratory chest surgery on a patient, who died on the operating table. A simple chest x-ray would have precluded both the surgery and the fatality. Some of the laboratory testing is outdated. Furthermore, there is no cross file system for Pathology, as Pearson has had "no time" to achieve the improvement. Then there is the inside common-place smoking by doctors (not unusual for the time, though). The nurses line up to review a dissection of a cadaver. At the end of the lecture Pearson says, "Enjoy your lunch." "I'll never eat again," quips a lovely nurse.
The two sub-stories center around nurse Cathy Hunt, Coleman's budding love interest, who may have a tumor on her knee, and on the pregnant wife/newborn baby of Dr. Alexander (Dick Clark). As each parent of the baby has RH positive and RH negative blood, respectively, hemolytic anemia of the new baby can develop. This condition, the destruction of the red blood cells, is a severe reaction that can be fatal. One of the doctors states with confidence that only one child in 26 of the RH negative group dies (and, by the way, the mother could become sterile). As Dr. Alexander and his wife have already lost their first child, they are obviously anxious. Perceptibly, before the baby is born, Dr. Alexander wants the hospital to add the Coombs Testing (for anti-globulins in the red blood cell) in addition to the other two standard tests (including the saline), which are not always accurate. Guess which one of the two protagonists agrees with the additional expenditure? And see what happens when the Coombs Test is not accomplished. An emergency blood transfusion becomes necessary, and so the scene is tense on the operating table as a new-born infant fights for his life. Meanwhile young nurse Cathy Hunt does not want to lose her leg, which is the case if there is a malignant tumor on her knee, and Pearson insists that is the condition. Contrarily, Coleman believes that the tumor is benign. Who is right this time? How will it all turn out? Enjoyable, and a throwback to hospital life in the early 1960s.
The Young Doctors reflects the new trend in medical dramas at the time. In the fall of 1961 both Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey premiered on TV. At the movies there were The Interns (1962) and The New Interns (1964). Of course, the first craze in medical dramas was in the late 1930s with the original Dr. Kildare movie series. The central focus of The Young Doctors is the clash of generations represented by the old guard (Dr. Joseph Pearson = Fredric March), head of Pathology and the new breed, Dr. Coleman (Ben Gazzara), assistant head of Pathology. At a doctors' meeting the recent problems at the hospital are reviewed. Among other issues, there was exploratory chest surgery on a patient, who died on the operating table. A simple chest x-ray would have precluded both the surgery and the fatality. Some of the laboratory testing is outdated. Furthermore, there is no cross file system for Pathology, as Pearson has had "no time" to achieve the improvement. Then there is the inside common-place smoking by doctors (not unusual for the time, though). The nurses line up to review a dissection of a cadaver. At the end of the lecture Pearson says, "Enjoy your lunch." "I'll never eat again," quips a lovely nurse.
The two sub-stories center around nurse Cathy Hunt, Coleman's budding love interest, who may have a tumor on her knee, and on the pregnant wife/newborn baby of Dr. Alexander (Dick Clark). As each parent of the baby has RH positive and RH negative blood, respectively, hemolytic anemia of the new baby can develop. This condition, the destruction of the red blood cells, is a severe reaction that can be fatal. One of the doctors states with confidence that only one child in 26 of the RH negative group dies (and, by the way, the mother could become sterile). As Dr. Alexander and his wife have already lost their first child, they are obviously anxious. Perceptibly, before the baby is born, Dr. Alexander wants the hospital to add the Coombs Testing (for anti-globulins in the red blood cell) in addition to the other two standard tests (including the saline), which are not always accurate. Guess which one of the two protagonists agrees with the additional expenditure? And see what happens when the Coombs Test is not accomplished. An emergency blood transfusion becomes necessary, and so the scene is tense on the operating table as a new-born infant fights for his life. Meanwhile young nurse Cathy Hunt does not want to lose her leg, which is the case if there is a malignant tumor on her knee, and Pearson insists that is the condition. Contrarily, Coleman believes that the tumor is benign. Who is right this time? How will it all turn out? Enjoyable, and a throwback to hospital life in the early 1960s.