DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
 
 
 
'New Amsterdam' Needs a Lot of Medicine If It's Going to Survive
September 25, 2018  | By David Hinckley  | 6 comments
 

NBC’s doctor show, New Amsterdam, combines medicine with fantasy, which might sound like a winning combination these days except that’s probably not what the network was trying to do.

New Amsterdam, which premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET, drops a no-nonsense new medical director, Dr. Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold, top), into a famous New York hospital that has become bogged down in bureaucracy and complacency.

Dr. Goodwin wants to change all this stat and to do so he has been given powers that President Trump could only dream about. When he looks at the cardiology department records and decides the doctors there have been more interested in billable hours than in the best courses for their patients, he fires them all, right in the middle of his get-acquainted staff meeting.

Now that’s draining the swamp, except, whoops, it turns out one of the doctors was really good and did try to tailor his treatments to individual patient needs. So an hour later Dr. Goodwin rehires him and makes him head of cardiology, with instructions to go out and hire a whole new department of the best cardiologists available.

That could be an interesting pitch: “Come work for me. We’ve got lots of openings because our new medical director just fired all the doctors who used to have this job.”

At the same get-acquainted meeting, another doctor who wasn’t fired suggests that the hospital start providing good food. Done, says Dr. Goodwin, and within hours the lobby becomes a regular farmers’ market, tables overflowing with beautiful fresh produce.

Presumably bedridden patients don’t have to crawl to the lobby to get their portions. Dr. Goodwin is too thoughtful a guy to make them do that.

With his trigger finger on the pink slips, Dr. Goodwin naturally is treated with some caution by most of the surviving staff, from brain surgeons to nurses and the custodial help.

But he finds one person he sort of seems to trust, Dr. Laura Bloom (Janet Montgomery). She’s also sort of dating Dr. Floyd Pearson (Jocko Sims), the cardiologist that Dr. Goodwin fired and rehired in the same breath.

Small world.

Dr. Goodwin seems less fond of Dr. Hana Sharpe (Freema Agyeman, left), a brilliant surgeon who seems to spend much of her time at conferences and on lecture tours. She argues that this promotion actually makes her more valuable to New Amsterdam than she would be if she were simply performing surgeries since hospitals have to market and sell themselves.

The previous administration agreed. Dr. Goodwin does not, so Dr. Sharp becomes one of the first tests of whether he really does have unlimited power in addition to an admirable understanding of “farm to table.”

Since New Amsterdam is a medical drama, of course, we will also presumably see several urgent, tense, and difficult cases tackled each week and mostly resolved.

But we can see that on a dozen other shows. New Amsterdam is selling the Dr. Goodwin character, the magic man who can sweep away bureaucracy and make this hospital a place of sensitivity, efficiency, and caring with one wave of his newly hired hand.

It’s an appealing fantasy. Wouldn’t we all like that to happen or to have happened in our workplaces? Sweep away all those pesky obstacles like budget and bureaucracy and contracts and scheduled obligations. Imagine just waving a hand and presto, making all The Right Things happen.

Too bad it doesn’t work that way. And too bad for New Amsterdam that we know it.

 
 
 
 
 
Leave a Comment: (No HTML, 1000 chars max)
 
 Name (required)
 
 Email (required) (will not be published)
 
YTPCO
Type in the verification word shown on the image.
 
 
 Page: 1 of 1  | Go to page: 
6 Comments
 
 
We Cutting Tools Co. Ltd specializes in developing and manufacturing high-quality machining inserts. We have a full capacity machining insert sales, research, and production. We also produce cemented carbide cutting inserts, grooving inserts, customized inserts, and cermet inserts., welcome to our website to learn more about carbide inserts:https://www.estoolcarbide.com
Mar 7, 2024   |  Reply
 
 
The products is as beautiful and striking as it is mechanically distinguished. You will find what is good value for money.Not to mention, new Identify cheap product defined by the last appearance of sophistication appear as icons in your collection., welcome to our website to learn more about carbide inserts:https://www.estoolcarbide.com
Mar 1, 2024   |  Reply
 
 
Those days of purchasing costly genuine carbide inserts have faded within the wind and that is why our high-end products best carbide inserts become more popular.You will notice that we aim in the direction of offering perfect client satisfaction, examining all of marvelous best ., welcome to our website to learn more about carbide inserts:https://www.estoolcarbide.com
Jan 29, 2024   |  Reply
 
 
What do they need so much medicine for after all? I mean I knoe many people there have a stiff neck but didn't hear of anything else. If you're talking about survival, then there must be something serious prevalent.
Dec 17, 2023   |  Reply
 
 
Ibutamoren, also known as MK-677, has the potential to address several aspects of the healthcare crisis, particularly in the areas of aging and chronic disease management. As a growth hormone secretagogue, it stimulates the release of growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), both of which play crucial roles in muscle growth, bone health, and metabolism regulation. This could be particularly beneficial for the elderly population, who often suffer from conditions like osteoporosis and sarcopenia (muscle loss with age). By improving muscle mass and bone density, Ibutamoren could potentially reduce the risk of falls and fractures, leading to improved quality of life and reduced healthcare costs. Furthermore, its potential benefits in enhancing metabolism could be leveraged for factors which are significant contributors to healthcare crisis
Aug 9, 2023   |  Reply
 
 
The amount of medicine that is required in order to survive is absolutely astonishing in my opinion. And the fact that Atripla is required too makes the whole ordeal even more so surprising. How did it end up being like this?
Jul 17, 2022   |  Reply
 
 
 
 Page: 1 of 1  | Go to page: